Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04GUATEMALA3161
2004-12-10 18:31:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

GUATEMALAN OHCHR OFFICE NEGOTIATIONS AT DELICATE

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL GT UN 
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101831Z Dec 04
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 003161 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, IO/SHA, AND DRL/MLA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2014
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL GT UN
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN OHCHR OFFICE NEGOTIATIONS AT DELICATE
STAGE

REF: A. GUATEMALA 2868


B. GUATEMALA 2965

Classified By: PolOff Nicole Otallah for Reasons 1.5 (b). and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 003161

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, IO/SHA, AND DRL/MLA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2014
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL GT UN
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN OHCHR OFFICE NEGOTIATIONS AT DELICATE
STAGE

REF: A. GUATEMALA 2868


B. GUATEMALA 2965

Classified By: PolOff Nicole Otallah for Reasons 1.5 (b). and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The DCM and Polcouns met with Ambassador
Carla Rodriguez, MFA Director of Multilateral Affairs, on
December 9 to discuss the state of play of negotiations
between the GOG and UN to establish a local Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Following
divided recommendations from Congressional Committees on
November 11 (Ref A),the GOG has spent several weeks trying
to negotiate changes that would overcome Congressional
objections, and therefore make the office a reality. Though
the OHCHR and GOG are constantly moving closer to common
ground on the agreement's language, they still need to tweak
several points. We recommend that the US Mission in Geneva
urge the High Commissioner to show flexibility on final
changes (see para 9). Local European missions have
informally indicated to us that they will send the same
message to the OHCHR and PolOff will make the point with
Project Coordinator for the Guatemala UN OHCHR, Birgit
Gerstenberg, at a scheduled December 13 meeting. End Summary.


2. (C) After the Foreign Relations and Human Rights
Committee reported out contradictory recommendations
regarding the establishment of a local OHCHR office on
November 11 (Ref A, Foreign Relations against and Human
Rights in favor),the GOG stepped in to negotiate changes to
the agreement's text that would ensure that the agreement
could gain Congressional approval. On December 6, Vice
President Edward Stein indicated to the Ambassador and DCM
that the GOG has put a pause on negotiations with Geneva in
order to let overheated negotiations on both sides cool down.
The OHCHR and the GOG have ironed out most of their
differences, but frustration has grown while they decide on
the final language for the agreement.


3. (C) On December 9, Ambassador Rodriguez told the DCM that
the MFA received what they regarded as a confusing letter
from Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner, which suggests
that the OHCHR's latest version on the agreement for a local

Guatemala office has already been accepted by the GOG. To
the contrary, the GOG had decided to take a break from the
final negotiations and resume in early January with cooler
heads. The MFA is concerned that the OHCHR, in its published
"Annual Appeal 2005" and its December 13 funding request
meeting with donor countries may be misconstruing the status
of the negotiations. The GOG is still trying to reach an
agreement that could win congressional approval -- it
believes the December 1 text proposed by Louise Arbour would
not garner that approval.


4. (C) The key problem seems to be in point 4 of Article V.
Where the OHCHR would like the first two sentences to read:

"The High Commissioner shall report to the Commission on
Human Rights in an addendum to her own report (Item IV),on
the Office's activities and on the country's human rights
situation. The report shall also contain such comments and
recommendations as deemed appropriate by the High
Commissioner."


5. (C) The GOG would like the first two sentences of point 4
in Article V to say:

"The High Commissioner shall report to the Commission on
Human Rights in her report under item IV of the agenda on the
Office's activities. The report shall also contain such
comments and recommendations as deemed appropriate by the
High Commissioner to strengthen the promotion and protection
of human rights in Guatemala." (Rodriguez thought that this
formulation of the second sentence gave the OHCHR sufficient
leeway to report on the human rights situation, i.e., in
making recommendations, the report would necessarily have to
cover the human rights situation in Guatemala.)


6. (C) The MFA believes the latter formulation is more
consistent with the mandate outlined in the preamble:

"Bearing in mind the interest of the Government of Guatemala
to establish an OHCHR office in Guatemala, with a mandate to
provide technical assistance to Guatemalan authorities in
formulating and implementing policies and programs for the
promotion and protection of human rights, monitor the
evolution of the country's human rights situation and submit
to the High Commissioner reports on the establishment of the
Office and the activities it carries out pursuant to its
mandate;..."


7. (C) Rodriguez indicated that FM Briz had accepted the
notion of being reported under item IV (items III, IX, and
XIX were problematic in their own ways),and that the MFA was
prepared to try to sell the renegotiated agreement on this
basis over the expected objections of influential
congressional critic Antonio Arenales Forno (who sits on both
the Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committees and who is
a former Guatemalan Ambassador in Geneva). The MFA was
clearly frustrated that the OHCHR's December 1 message made
no acknowledgment of the GOG's proposal for Article V point 4
(above). Rodriguez also noted that OHCHR was claiming that
intransigent donors were insisting that OHCHR tow the line.
If this were not the case, MFA was wondering if donors could
encourage more flexibility out of Arbour's office.


8. (C) In informal consultations, local representatives
from Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands reported their
belief that the OHCHR needs to show more flexibility about
the conditions of human rights reporting from the Guatemala
office.


9. (C) Comment: We recommend that the US Mission to Geneva
approach the OHCHR to urge flexibility on the wording of
final language. The OHCHR has achieved its principal goals
by convincing the Guatemalans to include direct references to
reporting in the agreement's text and by including the report
in Article IV. Donor countries have more interest in the
swift establishment of a Guatemalan OHCHR office than
insistence on specific terminology that is unlikely to affect
the eventual functioning of such an institution. PolOff will
meet with the Guatemala UN OHCHR representative, Birgit
Gerstenberg (who will remain in Guatemala until early
February, despite the public closure of her office in
November),on December 13 to communicate the same message.
HAMILTON