UNGA 59: DUTCH CAUTION ON CLONING, DEMOCRACY

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001791 SIPDIS IO FOR LAGON; DRL FOR KOZAK; GENEVA FOR DELAURENTIS; USUN FOR SIV, TAMLYN, SPIRNAK, ZACK E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2014 TAGS: ECON PHUM KDEM AORC NL UNGA UN SUBJECT: UNGA 59: DUTCH CAUTION ON CLONING, DEMOCRACY CAUCUS, MIDDLE EAST REF: A. STATE 152009 ¶B. THE HAGUE 1737 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY ANDREW SCHOFER, POLCOUNS, FOR REASONS 1.4 AND D ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: IO DAS Lagon shared Reftel A points with Karel van Kesteren, Director of UN affairs at the MFA, on July 12. Poloff follow up on July 14 to get additional reactions and to receive a review of th EU's own paper (reported septel). ¶2. (C) The Dutch would support a ban on reproductive cloning but oppos the USG's sweeping opposition to all types of cloning. The Dutch suppo the theories behind the Democracy Caucus and are cautiously willing to learn more about how it might work in practice. Reducing Middle East resolutions in the current climate, however welcome, will not happen. Despite its merits, a stand-alone Anti-Semitism Resolution would confli with the broader, established resolution on Religious Intolerance, according to the Dutch. Trafficking in persons is an area for collaboration, particularly relating to children. So is "advancing economic freedom," a politically-charged formulation the Dutch prefer rendering as "private sector development." End Summary. SUPPORTIVE ON ADVANCING ECONOMIC FREEDOM ¶3. (SBU) Van Kesteren agreed completely with reftel points on Advanci Economic Freedom, although he preferred the title "private sector development." The latter seemed less threatening or politically charged those we are trying to convince, he said. UN diplomats from some major developing countries seem stuck in a time warp, he noted, arguing again reftel points using old political theories discounted by finance and foreign ministers at home. Now that there was consensus around reftel points, as demonstrated by the Monterrey Consensus and other agreements van Kesteren said we needed to find ways to help such Ministeries get t word to their UN diplomats in New York. SUPPORT FOR COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ¶4. (U) DAS Lagon emphasized that this year, the USG would focus on stopping the exploitation of children and work for a resolution in addition to the Philippines resolution on trafficking. Van Kesteren sa that focusing on children would be useful and would pose no problem for the Dutch since it fell outside our differences regarding the sex busin for adults. SKEPTICAL ABOUT PROMOTING THE DEMOCRACY CAUCUS ¶5. (SBU) As reported Ref B, the Dutch are warily interested, albeit w a "degree of skepticism" in the Democracy Caucus DC) and are considerin if and how to be engaged in New York. Van Kesteren told Poloff he was somewhat relieved by our explanation that the DC would augment, not replace, established UN groups. NO SUPPORT FOR BANNING ALL HUMAN CLONING ¶6. (C) The Dutch regret that our effort (supporting the Costa Rican text) covers both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Van Kesteren s he was certain the UN could get action banning human cloning if it were taken up separately. He predicted UNGA deadlock again this year, prompting the suggestion that a subsequent move to UNESCO's Bioethics Committee might be a way to get it off the UNGA agenda. A measure that might be passed by a only narrow majority would not be useful, he said. The Dutch see merit in delaying discussions until after the US election he added. NO REDUCTION IN MIDDLE EAST RESOLUTIONS AND ANTISEMITISM RESOLUTION UNLIKELY ¶7. (C) The USG would "run into our own wall at the UN this year" on Middle East resolutions, van Kesteren said. The Dutch have consulted w the Palestinians in New York, who refuse to go along with consolidation since multiple actions "were one of their only ways of getting back at Israel." It might be possible to look at the UNRWA resolutions, howeve A dedicated Resolution on Anti-Semitism in the Third Committee would be too hard to pull off, he said, and the EU wants to ensure passage of th Religious Intolerance Resolution which has anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Christianophobia references in it. A stand-alone resolution would accrete references to other forms of intolerance, duplicating the other resolution, he concluded. COMMENT ¶8. (C) The Dutch support half our UNGA proposals this year and characterized all of them as drawn with a broad brush, designed for politics and public consumption. We have good friends in the Dutch who will tell us the truth as they see it this year in New York, even if it not always what we want to hear. RUSSEL