http://www.internationalspecialreports.com/africa/00/tunisia/13.html

Equal pay for equal work for Tunisian women since 1957

In Tunisia, women account for 48 percent of university students, 12 percent of senior business executives, 21 percent of civil service employees, 23 percent of magistrates, 35 percent of doctors and 63 percent of pharmacists. The situation of women in this country where 98 percent of the population is Muslim is a big surprise for first-time visitors. During a visit to Tunisia in 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton commented “I am very much impressed by the gains accomplished by Tunisia in favor of women.” Tunisia shatters all expectations and preconceived ideas regarding the place and the role of women in a Muslim country. No veiled women hide behind massive wooden doors here. A walk down the streets of Tunis ought to convert any remaining skeptics. Young women dressed in the latest Western fashions stroll down Avenue Bourguiba, the hub of the downtown, with a self-assurance that rivals that of women in most Western countries.

The situation of women in Tunisia has become a model in the African and Arab-Muslim worlds. The achievements of this small country have been recognized during the latest Women World Forum at the United Nations in New York. Tunisia is different from its neighbors and from much of the Arab Muslim world in its accomplishments toward women’s rights. This difference, said Leila Khaiat, president of the Tunisian chamber of Women Business Owners, can be attributed to “our leader Bourguiba. He recognized that the passage to a modern society would naturally entail giving rights to women. This message was well accepted and all participated to make this a success.”

The current status of Tunisian women is the result of a progressive policy first started by President Habib Bourguiba at the outset of independence and built upon by the current president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In 1956, Bourguiba ushered in a new social era with the Code of Personal Status placing the status of women among the highest in the world. The code is still unique among the Arab Muslim countries. This text was revolutionary for its time not only for Tunisia but also for the rest of the world. It abolished polygamy, established judicial divorce proceedings granting both spouses the right to request divorce. It set the minimum age for marriage at 17 for girls and provided that they must consent to the marriage. It also granted the right of custody of the minor children to the mother in case of the father’s death.

In 1987, with the change of presidency from Bourguiba to Ben Ali, women were waiting with anxiety to see whether their rights would remain the same. Mrs. Khaiat describes the general atmosphere, “On Nov. 7 1987, women were concerned about their destiny. We were relieved when President Ben Ali consolidated women’s rights in Tunisia. Indeed, the emergence of women in the economic arena is a direct result of a political will of the New Era. Ben Ali’s new government has put in place a program whereby the complementary competencies of men, women and youth will become the instruments to propel Tunisia dynamism and competitiveness on the world market.”

Ben Ali announced new amendments that were enacted by the Chamber of Deputies in July 1993. Among those were the creation of a fund to guarantee payment of child support and alimony to divorced women and their children.

Aside from civil rights, the women’s cause was furthered by a number of measures in different areas. Maternal health care was made more readily available to remote rural areas. Education is often the vehicle through which women can move forward, and in Tunisia improvements have been phenomenal in a short period of time. Illiteracy has been nearly eradicated, a successful measure that earned the country the 1994 UNESCO prize for literacy. Girls now account for 48 percent of the total number of students in higher education. Girls also benefit from vocational training. For example, girls represented 48 percent of skilled technical graduates in 1996.

Changing the composition of the labor force

With better access to education, women are entering the workforce in record numbers. In 1975, 21 percent of women between the ages of 25 to 29 worked outside the home. In 1997, that number had climbed to 36 percent. Tunisian women are now present in all sectors of activity. There are 2,000 women heads of business enterprises; 1,500 women farmers; and countless policewomen, attorneys and doctors.

The Tunisian Women’s Chamber of Commerce regroups women entrepreneurs. The chamber started in 1990 with 200 members. Today it has 1,000 members representing all sectors of the economy. The objectives of the chamber are to promote women entrepreneurship, to defend women entrepreneurs within the public sector, to train and educate them, to assist in market access and to organize international fairs. Expo femina is the latest program initiated by the chamber. It was originally an exposition aimed at promoting the “made in Tunisia by women entrepreneurs” label. Once again, Tunisia has proven its leadership skills in furthering the cause of women. Expo Femina has now become an international affair. Women from more than 16 countries displayed their products and services at last year’s fair.

A good example of the achievements of women entrepreneurs in Tunisia is Maille fil, a cotton spinning company owned and managed by the Bouchamaoui sisters. With a strategy anchored on three fronts — quality, equipment and training programs for the labor force — the sisters have been able to carve a niche for their business. High-end designers, such as the children’s clothes manufacturer Petit Bateau of France, are now using their cotton. Amel, one of the owners, was educated in the United States. She remembers that her classmates were always surprised to hear that women in Tunisia have been getting the same wages as men for equal work for the past 40 years. She equates the status of women in her country to that of women in the most developed countries. “Protective policies are in place. Women get a 30-day maternity leave. Women cannot work in the mill during the night shift. What has been enacted as law is implemented. Opportunities for women are the same as for men.” Always looking forward, Tunisia is now trying to get rid of the stereotypical view of the women participating in the labor pool as hairdressers and stylists. Women are assuming a diversity of activities and positions in each sector of the economy. Girls attending schools are not satisfied with just their bachelor’s degrees; they are now looking to get their doctorates. Women are also more active in the association and political arena. Tunisia now has four female cabinet ministers.

A Tunisian woman chosen as spokesperson for women of the world

Mrs. Khaiat is the embodiment of the status of women in Tunisia. She is not only the chief executive officer of a group of companies in the textile sector and the president of the Tunisian Chamber of Women Business Owners but also was recently chosen as president of the World Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the FCEM (Femmes chefs d’entreprises mondiales in French.)

French owner and operator of a steel works, Madame Foinant founded the FCEM in 1945. This association aims at furthering the cause of women entrepreneurs in more than 35 countries by organizing forums, providing networking opportunities and support to its more than 30,000 members. To become a member, women must qualify as the head of a business. They must own or control a company whether they operate alone, or with co-directors or with members of their family. The defining criterion is that they have capital at risk and are financially responsible for their business commitment.

The FCEM has a consultative status at the United Nations, and Mrs. Khaiat noted, “This association needs to be better known so as to further the cause of women entrepreneurs around the world.” Mrs. Khaiat is an active promoter of female entrepreneurial initiatives at the national, regional and international levels.

Although women in Tunisia have one of the highest statuses in the world, they are still fighting for the same causes as women in the United States and other developed nations.

The notion of a glass ceiling is not specifically known here but the experiences of women suggest that it does exist. Mrs. Khaiat noted, “I think the glass ceiling exists in Tunisia. In spite of the obvious political will, the mentalities of the people have not followed at the same rhythm. I travel all over the world and I have come to realize that this is a global challenge. Women are still the minority in decision-making positions due mostly to prejudices.”

The challenges still facing the Tunisian women are similar to those facing women entrepreneurs around the world. In a message intended for the attendees of the 47th World Congress of the World Association Women entrepreneurs, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton summarized the challenges that lie ahead for women around the world as follows: “If they [women] are to succeed, they must be given tools of opportunity-access to capital, training and encouragement.”

Tunisia continues to lead the way with respect to women’s rights. President Ben Ali recently enacted revolutionary laws that exist in very few countries. As an example, the nationality code stipulates that the mother can give her nationality to her children.” Asked what her hopes for the future are, Mrs. Khaiat responded, “I would hope that Tunisia would continue on its current path of political and social stability, dynamism and development. I hope that Tunisia will remain what it is, a country that believes in democracy and freedom for all.”


Table of Contents

A crash course in 3000 years of world history

Tunisia offers tourists more than just sea, surf and sand

Preserving a nation's heritage for future generations

Lucas to start shooting Star Wars episode II in Tunisia in September

History Time Line

The Tunisian Stock Exchange: small but efficient

IT: The backbone of the new economy in Tunisia

Tunisia on the Internet

Reforms in the banking sector almost complete

Social and economic development: Dual goals of equal importance

Improvement in Economic and Social Indicators

Sustainable development: The Tunisian example

Equal pay for equal work for Tunisian women since 1957

Creating the entrepreneurial spirit

Percentage of girls compared to boys in rural areas elementary schools

Tunisia ranked first for competitiveness in Africa

GDP Growth 1992-1998

Promoting peace and cooperation throughout the world

Tunisia and the United States

Large increase of foreign investments in Tunisia

President Ben Ali calls for the creation of an international solidarity fund

Investment Opportunities

Raising a nation's competitiveness

Tunisia speeds up its privatization program

count

May 23: 2954

June 12 3195 11:45 p
June 13 3210 10:30p
June 14 3228 7:30p
June 15 3238
June 16 3249 11:45p
June 18 3274 8 a.m.
June 18 3288 10p.m
June 20 3350 11p.m
June 22 3371 8 a.m.
June 23 3381 10 a.m.
June 24 3408 10 p.m
June 26 3435 8 a,m.

June 27 3455 4p.m.
June 28 3465 9p.m.
June 29 3486 7p.m.
June 30 3501 11p.m.
July 1, 3547 11.p.m.
July 2 3585
JUly 3 3649 11 p.m.
July 6 3718 4p.m.
July 15 3830 10 p.m.
July 16 3885 11 p.m.
July 18 3997 1 p.m. afternoon
July 19 4024 1:30 p "
July 20 4071 1 p
July 21 4097 8p
July 23 4131 8p
july 28 4210 1 a.m.
Aug 6, 4308
Aug. 12 4500 11:30 P.M.
Aug 18 4674 6:p

A Potential Tool for Protecting Human Rights in the Third World
August 16, 2007 1951 GMT

By Bart Mongoven

The International Financial Corp. (IFC) announced recently it is joining forces with the United Nations' top expert on the business/human rights issue to study the impact of investment agreements on citizens in the developing world. The study suggests the United Nations is at least considering taking a powerful position regarding standards for Western multinational corporations operating in developing countries. It also suggests a tool might be coming to limit the degree to which state-owned enterprises can undo the efforts of these multinationals to protect citizens.

At issue are investment contracts that put a corporation's rights -- to water, for example -- above those of the people who live in the vicinity of a major development project. The study could recommend that such contracts include clauses that allow a government to break the deal in order to avoid human rights violations. If the recommendation is implemented, then, governments that might put their citizens' need for water second to the desire to maintain a lucrative contract no longer would have the excuse that their hands are tied. Such a clause would not directly force changes in what governments do -- ultimately governments will do what they are going to do -- but it would clarify state and corporate complicity in human rights problems.

Corporations and Human Rights

For more than two decades, major industrial projects in developing countries have been beset by questions of where corporate responsibility regarding human rights begins and ends. Major industrial projects in developing countries often result in massive changes to the landscape and environment -- and thus affect the people who live nearby. They also bring labor market changes and changes in social relations. When these changes rise to the level of human rights violations, companies are faced with two questions: First, to what degree are they responsible for either scaling back operations or stopping the violations? Second, under what conditions must they act to stop abuses in their sphere of influence?

In April 2005, then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Harvard professor John Ruggie as the U.N. special representative for business and human rights. Ruggie was tasked with assessing the existing status of rules, norms, codes of conduct and informal agreements on corporate responsibility regarding human rights globally and with recommending ways of combining these into one clear set of ideas.

The creation of Ruggie's role was a result of the change in attitude toward globalization during the first half of the 2000s, in which human rights, labor and other activists stopped seeing corporations as villains that needed restraint and began to see them as potential tools for positive change in globalization. The United Nations' first attempt at addressing this -- a document issued in 2003 and referred to as the U.N. Norms -- called for corporations to be considered nearly as equally responsible as states in protecting and ensuring human rights.

The Norms were heralded by campaigners as the epitome of the new view of corporations, since they not only held corporations to high standards of behavior, but also assigned them responsibility to act and react to changes on the ground. Governments, however, chafed at being put on par with corporations -- or losing jurisdictional ground to some unknown enforcement mechanism -- and corporations cringed at the prospect of being told to ensure human rights in places where they have little control over the actions of local and national governments.

The strong reaction to the Norms resulted in Ruggie's appointment -- and most saw his task as simply combining the Norms with other codes of conduct, including some developed by the IFC, into a comprehensive, workable system that would be palatable to governments, though not necessarily to corporations. However, Ruggie's first report, issued in March 2006, dashed any hope that he would limit his work to those boundaries. In it, he criticizes the Norms for putting corporate responsibility on par with that of governments. Though the mission of his office, he said, was to find a way to define corporate responsibility as it pertains to human rights, the primary responsibility for protecting those rights rests with governments.

Ruggie's initial report led many to believe that his recommendations would amount to a document suggesting ways of looking at the issue. Instead the second report included a comprehensive overview of work done on the issue so far, but Ruggie's actual recommendations for moving forward were put off for another year. The announcement that he and the IFC are going to investigate contracts and those areas where contracts could use reform suggests that he sees his report for the IFC study as far more powerful than many thought.

Specifically, Ruggie and the IFC will examine clauses in contracts between lenders and states that either freeze the human rights laws that affect investors, or that compensate investors for the costs incurred by complying with new human rights laws. The study will look at the potential impact of these clauses on the host states' ability to adopt and implement new human rights laws.

The power to develop contracts is central to business and the inviolability of them is necessary for successful commercial relationships. The study points not to finding ways to abrogate current contracts, but essentially to develop a norm for new contracts. The key is that many contracts contain clauses that say a country cannot change labor, environmental or other laws after a project contract has been signed. In some extraordinary circumstances, these agreements can indeed stop governments from undertaking their traditional role in preventing human rights crises.

For instance, if a contract guarantees a specific water supply for an industrial project, states cannot divert that supply to humanitarian purposes in the event of drought. The company can argue that without a guarantee that the water supply will be stable, it cannot profitably run the operation. The company is not causing the humanitarian crisis and it might not be preventing government action deliberately, but the effect is to limit the government's ability to act to protect human rights.

The Larger Context

In inserting himself into contracts between companies and states, Ruggie is clearly saying that he is willing to make a difference in how the international community views corporations' responsibilities on human rights. It goes beyond what some believed would be the limited scope of his work and, given the wide amount of buy-in to his work from all the relevant parties, it instead points to the inevitability of a new set of rules that will affect businesses working globally.

It also is clear, however, that Ruggie is planning to have a powerful impact on governments in developing countries. In his interim report, Ruggie said he aimed to achieve a workable balance between governments as the primary guarantor of human rights and corporations as upholders of the standards. To achieve his mission, he is looking for models and guidelines, and the IFC Guidelines are one of the most influential. In 1995, the IFC issued its own standards for lending and human rights. The IFC guidelines are a thorough and relatively strict set of standards that banks must follow when lending to a project that involves the IFC. The guidelines have been held out by campaigners and corporations alike as a reasonable way to address the issue, and they have influenced almost every similar effort that has followed, including the Equator Principles, a code of conduct signed on to by banks representing more than 80 percent of private development lending.

The problem, however, is that while the IFC can simply decline to do business with certain banks, there is no mechanism to enforce the Equator Principles -- outside of the threat of public condemnation. Even if the Equator Principles are followed to the letter, they do not constrain the activities of some 20 percent of projects that get development lending. Those projects that cannot get funding from Equator banks can get it elsewhere. Similarly, the effectiveness of the numerous codes of conduct developed by Western companies is severely limited by the fact that a state-owned company will step in if Western companies will not take on a project because it is considered too risky from a human rights point of view.

Western companies see this as lost business, while human rights campaigners see it as a step backward -- from a responsive party taking on a delicate project to an uncontrollable party taking it on. Governments of many poor developing countries, meanwhile, see it as a blessing not to have corporations and their lenders meddling in internal affairs.

Ruggie's answer, alluded to in his interim report, is that a future regime of "shared responsibility" must emphasize and clarify government responsibilities when faced with corporate activities that could have or are having a deleterious effect on human rights. He suggests that, through international cooperation and internal capacity building, states can become better at policing human rights abuses. This appears to be a return to the traditional situation in which human rights protection is the responsibility of states, which may or may not care to act.

On one hand, the criticism is accurate; it would be a return to the status quo -- governments bear responsibility. On the other hand, it would set up a situation in which, if states are given guidance and resources, they no longer can claim that human rights abuses surrounding industrial projects are outside their control. In possibly setting up a robust support system for developing country governments, Ruggie essentially is calling the bluff of despotic leaders who say they are powerless to stop corporate abuses.

The key point is that, because of the pressure from human rights campaigners, Western multinationals are unlikely to place their contracts above the need to protect human rights. To use the example of a water guarantee, no company with shareholders and a consumer market in the West could withstand the public blowback of placing its water needs above those of a dying population. Though some examples are far messier than the water diversion issue, public companies are sensitive to the possibility of criticism and few are willing to take the chance of holding back the hand of a government that is actively trying to protect human rights.

One important aspect of this approach, then, is that it appears to place pressure on deals between Third World governments and corporations owned by foreign states, such as a Chinese or Malaysian national oil corporation working in an African country. A global norm regarding these contracts will not, by itself, solve human rights problems caused by industrial projects, but it will give governments a way to circumvent contracts when the concern is human rights. Clauses in contracts providing an out for governments would make clear in the event of a human rights crisis that governments have actively decided to favor commercial interests over humanitarian ones, or vice versa. The excuse that contracts are stopping them from action will have been forcibly removed.

In one effort, therefore, Ruggie has sent two distinct messages. First, he has signaled that his report will provide tangible rules that likely will evolve into international norms. Second, he is setting the stage to call the bluff of governments that use lending agreements (and, more broadly, commercial contracts) to justify human rights violations -- or inaction in the face of them. This also will set the stage for companies to demand harmonized human rights impact assessments -- a goal that Ruggie and activists share.

Chinese flocking in numbers to a new frontier: Africa
By Howard W. French and Lydia Polgreen
Friday, August 17, 2007

LILONGWE, Malawi: When Yang Jie left home at 18, he was doing what people from China's hardscrabble Fujian Province have done for generations: emigrating in search of a better living overseas.

What set him apart was his destination. Instead of the traditional adopted homelands in North America and Europe, where Fujian people have settled by the hundreds of thousands, he chose southern Africa, making his way to this small, landlocked country where Stanley and Livingstone's legendary meeting occurred.

"Before I left China," said Yang, now 25, "I thought Africa was all one big desert," a place forever bathed in terrible heat. So he figured ice cream would naturally be in high demand, and with money pooled from relatives and friends, created his own factory. Malawi's climate, in fact, is subtropical, but that has not stopped his ice cream company from becoming the country's biggest.

Stories like this have become legion across Africa over the last five years or so, as hundreds of thousands of Chinese have discovered the continent, setting off to do business in a part of the world that had been terra incognita for their compatriots. The Xinhua press agency recently estimated there were at least 750,000 Chinese working or living for extended periods on the continent, a reflection of burgeoning economic ties between China and Africa that reached $55 billion in trade in 2006, compared with less than $10 million a year a generation earlier.

Even when Yang arrived here in 2001, he said he could go weeks without encountering another traveler from his homeland. But as surely as his investments in the country have prospered, he said, an increasingly large community of Chinese migrants has taken root, running everything from small factories to health care clinics and trading companies.

During the previous wave of Chinese interest in Africa in the 1960s and 70s, an era of radical socialism and proclaimed third world solidarity, European and American companies held sway over economies across most of the continent. Here and there, though, the Chinese made their presence felt, often as a curious sight: drably dressed, state-run work brigades that built stadiums, railroads and highways, often crushing rocks and performing other heavy labor by hand. Today, in many of the countries the new Chinese emigrants have settled in, like Chad, Chinese-owned pharmacies, massage parlors and restaurants serving a variety of regional Chinese cuisines can be found; the Western presence, once dominant, has steadily dwindled, and essentially consists nowadays of relief experts working with international agencies or oil workers, living behind high walls in heavily guarded enclaves.

At first, this new Chinese exodus was driven largely by word of mouth, as pioneers like Yang relayed news back home of abundant opportunities in a part of the world where many economies lay undeveloped or in ruins, and where even in the richer countries many things taken for granted in the developed world awaited builders and investors.

Conditions like these often deter Western investors, but for many budding Chinese entrepreneurs, Africa's emerging economies are inviting precisely because they seem small and accessible. Competition is often weak or nonexistent, and for African customers, the low price of many Chinese goods and services make them more affordable than their Western counterparts.

You Xianwen sold his pipe-laying business in Chengdu this year to move to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to join a startup company with a Chinese partner he had previously only met online.

"Back where I come from we are pretty independent people," said You, 55. "My brothers and sisters all supported my decision to come here. In fact, they say that if things really work out for me, they would like to move to Africa, too."

You said that before settling on Ethiopia, he had considered other African countries, including Zambia. "Luckily I didn't decide to go there," he said, explaining that he had been frightened by the recent anti-Chinese protests in that country.

His new business, ABC Bioenergy, builds devices that generate combustible gas from ordinary refuse, providing what You says would be an affordable alternative source of energy in a country where electricity supplies are erratic and prices high.

You's partner here, Mei Haijun, first came to Ethiopia a decade ago to work at a Chinese-built textile factory and has since married an Ethiopian woman, with whom he has a newborn child. "When I first came here you could go two months without seeing another Chinese person," he said. "But it is a different era now. There's a flight to China every day."

Air traffic has picked up between China and countries like Ethiopia, with Chinese carriers scrambling to add new routes, as the Chinese government and big Chinese companies increase their stake in Africa.

Much of that activity reflects an intense appetite for African oil and mineral resources needed to fuel China's manufacturing sector, but big Chinese companies have quickly become formidable competitors in other sectors as well, particularly for big-ticket public works contracts. China is building major new railroad lines in Nigeria and Angola, large dams in Sudan, airports in several countries, and new roads, it seems, almost everywhere.

One of the largest road builders, China Road and Bridge Construction, has picked up where the solidarity brigades of an earlier generation left off. The company, owned by the Chinese government, has 29 projects in Africa, many of them financed by the World Bank or other lenders, and it maintains offices in 22 African countries.

On a recent Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Beijing brimming with Chinese contractors, workers from Road and Bridge and other companies swapped notes on the grab bag of countries they work in, and debated about the difficulties of learning Portuguese and French in places like Mozambique and Ivory Coast.

Africans view the influx of Chinese with a mix of anticipation and dread. Business leaders in Chad, a central African nation with deepening oil ties to China, are bracing for what they suspect will be an army of Chinese workers and investors.

"We expect a large influx of at least 40,000 Chinese in the coming years," said Renaud Dinguemnaial, director of Chad's chamber of commerce. "This massive arrival could be a plus for the economy, but we are also worried. When they arrive, will they bring their own workers, stay in their own houses, send all their money home?"

In Zambia, where anti-Chinese sentiment has been building for several years, merchants at Lusaka's central market said that if Chinese people want to come to Africa, they should come as investors, building factories, not as petty traders who compete for already scarce customers for bottom-dollar items like flip-flops and T-shirts.

"The Chinese claim to come here as investors, but they are trading just like us," said Dorothy Mainga, who sells knockoff Puma sneakers and Harley-Davidson T-shirts in Lusaka's Kamwala Market. "They are selling the same things we are selling at cheap prices. We pay duty and tax, but they use their connections to avoid paying tax." Although Chinese oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria and in Ethiopia, where nine were killed by an armed separatist movement in May, the growing Chinese presence around the continent has produced few serious incidents.

Misunderstandings are common, however, and resentments inevitably arise. Africans in many countries complain that Chinese workers occupy jobs that locals are either qualified for or could be easily trained to do. "We are happy to have the Chinese here," said Dennis Phiri, a 21-year-old Malawian university student who is studying to become an engineer. "The problem with the Chinese companies is that they reserve all the good jobs for their own people. Africans are only hired in menial roles."

Another frequently heard criticism is that the Chinese are clannish, sticking together day and night.

In Addis Ababa, in what is a typical arrangement for most large companies, the 200 Chinese workers for China Road and Bridge all live in a communal compound, eating food prepared by cooks brought from China and even receiving basic health care from a Chinese doctor.

"After a day off you wonder what you're doing here, so we like to keep working," said Cheng Qian, the country manager for the road building company in Ethiopia. He added that his family had never visited him during several years of work there. "They have no interest in Africa," he said. "If it were Europe, things would be different."

Lydia Polgreen reported from Dakar, Senegal

from www.washingtontimes.com


Article published Aug 17, 2007
U.S. collaborates on Pacific maritime network

August 17, 2007

By Richard Halloran - HONOLULU — The United States and five other countries, including China and Russia, are quietly developing a maritime network to battle drugs, human trafficking and poaching fishermen.

One exercise involves the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Boutwell, which recently sailed from Honolulu to Shanghai to pick up a Chinese law-enforcement officer. It will then sail on to the northwestern Pacific to look for vessels engaged in illegal fishing.

During the patrol, the ship is scheduled to call at Yokosuka, Japan, and Petropavlovsk, Russia.

Boutwell"s voyage reflects what a Coast Guard officer called "a developing network for maritime security" that includes the U.S., Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Without much fanfare, coast guards and other law-enforcement agencies have been working together.

Besides having ship riders on U.S. cutters, Chinese patrol boats have exercised with U.S. cutters and helicopters, while Russian and Japanese coast guards have coordinated operations against North Pacific drift-netters who violate international agreements.

A Japanese coast guard officer said they had captured a vessel smuggling drugs because a Chinese crew had radioed ahead a description of the vessel that had outrun them.

Several weeks ago, officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, China"s Border Control Department, Japan"s Coast Guard and South Korea"s Coast Guard gathered at the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum in Honolulu to discuss "best practices."

The Russians didn"t come but are to host an upcoming high-level meeting in St. Petersburg.

High on the agenda were differences in legal systems, which the officers agreed were perhaps the biggest obstacle to working together, because each nation gives different authority to its officers.

China"s legal system tends to be draconian. Japan"s is layered with German and then U.S. concepts. Korea"s legal system, imposed by Japan"s occupation of 1910-1945, is infused with ancient Confucianism.

On the other hand, an exchange of ideas on how to find hidden compartments went easily.

"We know how to measure rather precisely," said a U.S. officer. "We can make sure they can"t put drugs in a secret place."

Much was the same in swapping ideas on counterdrug operations, on training and certifying people to board ships suspected of wrongdoing, and on when the use of force was permissible.

A computerized U.S. information system to track vessels on the high seas drew considerable interest from the Asian participants.

Even so, the coast guards, all on tight budgets, have far to go and maritime relations among the six nations can sometimes be tense.

Japanese military analyst Kazuhisa Ogawa was quoted in a Tokyo newspaper as saying: "Japan, as a seafaring nation, does not have an adequate maritime monitoring system."

Somehow, a ship from Vancouver, Canada, managed to slip into the port of Osaka, Japan, with 640 kilograms of illicit drugs hidden in a shipment of lumber.

Customs officials, suspecting something amiss, X-rayed the lumber to find a record cache. They arrested four Chinese, who contended they only came to pick up the lumber.

Two months ago, the Russians arrested the captain of a Japanese trawler and charged him with catching salmon illegally.

The trawler, which had permission to fish in Russian waters on the Pacific side of the Kamchatka Peninsula but not to take a certain kind of salmon, has been detained until the owners pay a fine of about $390,000.

In a wider perspective, the U.S. Coast Guard has been seeking to engage China as have the U.S. military services, State Department and the Treasury.

The point is to draw the potentially hostile Chinese into constructive international activities — and to persuade them not to miscalculate U.S. capabilities and intentions.

The director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, Lyle Goldstein, wrote this month: "The U.S. Coast Guard is opening the door to a cooperative relationship with China."

The Chinese have what Mr. Goldstein called "an impressive array of boats, ships, helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft," but they are "not deployed with maximum efficiency" because they are operated by different agencies that often don"t support each other.

China"s coast guard also "lacks aircraft and centralized command and is subordinated to regional border defense commands, limiting it to inshore enforcement," he wrote.

Mr. Goldstein pointed to "notable differences in priorities as the [U.S.] Coast Guard is focused more then ever on the terrorist threat, while Chinese authorities are currently most focused on trade, safety and, of late, environmental issues."

"Still," he wrote, "the fundamental tie between the organizations is that the U.S. Coast Guard has centuries of experience in civil maritime management, while the issue is a comparatively new priority for China."