UNHRC: Ambassador reviews U.S. priorities at

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000438 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, IO, DRL NSC FOR E. MILLARD E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/14 TAGS: PREL PHUM CE UNHRC SUBJECT: UNHRC: Ambassador reviews U.S. priorities at upcoming session with Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Refs: (A) Colombo 402; (B) State 41252 (U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. Reasons 1.5 (b,d). ¶1. (C) As requested Ref B, Ambassador discussed upcoming UNHRC session with Foreign Secretary Bernard Goonetilleke on March 11. Goonetilleke is the number two in the Foreign Ministry and highest-ranking career official. (Embassy had previously presented similar material to MFA's Director General for UN, Human Rights, and Multilateral Affairs -- see Ref A.) Ambassador noted that we were trying to make the UNHRC a more effective and credible organization, described U.S. goals for the UNHRC session, and asked Goonetilleke what Sri Lanka's goals were. ¶2. (C) Goonetilleke candidly replied that the GSL had not focused on these issues thus far, and was "mainly reactive" to them, developing its positions as issues came up. He noted that our delegations had traditionally cooperated well in Geneva, while also noting that there would of course be issues where we differed. He did say that Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando would attend the high-level portion of the session. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Sri Lanka's actions in the UNHRC are traditionally driven by a variety of (sometimes conflicting) factors: desire to be close to the U.S., sympathy for smaller nations with big neighbors (e.g., Cuba),and old-think in the MFA combined with desire not to alienate traditional NAM buddies (e.g., Iran.) or powerful neighbors (e.g., China). We can probably get Sri Lankan cooperation on some of our issues, but almost certainly not on all. Keys will be: --working with Sri Lankan delegation in Geneva, and --approaching Foreign Secretary here on key issues where Sri Lanka feels it has some maneuverability. END COMMENT. ¶4. (U) Minimize considered. LUNSTEAD