CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WEEKLY WRAP-UP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000680

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WEEKLY WRAP-UP
FOR 12 MARCH 2004

This is CWC-36-04.

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GENEVA GROUP - OIO REFORM
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1. (SBU) On March 8, the Geneva Group discussed U.S.
proposals for reform of the Office of Internal Oversight.
There was general consensus on the need to strengthen the
ability of the OIO to perform its oversight functions
properly, but a concern about undoing the "political"
agreement that outlines the current arrangements on the
designation of the OIO Director. Peter van Brakel (Canada)
said that it would be advisable to begin the effort to
strengthen the OIO now. Ian Mundell (Canada),the OIO report
facilitator, agreed that steps are needed to improve the
performance of the OIO, but emphasized that this had to be
done without overturning the political arrangements on senior
staffing, which included the OIO Director. Any action
touching on that arrangement, agreed upon after arduous
discussions with regional groupings, would fail.


2. (SBU) Mark Matthews (U.K.) stressed that it might be a
bad time to take an action which would give the appearance of
undercutting the Director-General, a point echoed by Peter
Beerwerth (FRG). However, both expressed support for the
goal of strengthening the OIO, and Beerwerth added that the
DG's response that he was still not able to provide a
solution on the home leave travel issue clearly indicates
that oversight reform is needed. Beerwerth indicated that
while far-reaching changes were not advisable, he thought
proposals that do not touch on "political" arrangements could
be acceptable. He went on to emphasize that States Parties
need to have the political will to make the DG and the TS
accountable, and it is somewhat disingenuous to exert the OIO
to take action on issues SPs are afraid to touch.


3. (U) Ruth Flint (Switzerland) said that the good
relationship with the DG is a valuable commodity, and
suggested that it might be best to talk to the DG on this
issue informally. Moreover, it might be a bad idea to have
too many challenging administrative issues on a 2004 agenda
that already includes results-based budgeting. She added
that it is indeed hard to imagine that the OIO Director will
criticize the boss, and echoed Beerwerth's point that it is
important for the States Parties to hold the DG and TS
accountable.


4. (U) Chiho Komuro (Japan) said that Japan supports the
goal of greater independence of the OIO, but echoed the
"political" concerns voiced by others. Johan Verboom
(Netherlands) said that it is not clear if far-reaching
structural change is needed and questioned whether this is
the moment to approach the issue. However, he supported a
discussion on what "non-political" steps could be taken
immediately. Dominique Anelli (France) noted that it will be
difficult to attack this issue simultaneously with the
implementation of results-based budgeting.


5. (SBU) The consensus decision of the Geneva Group was to
avoid any action which would impact on the "political"
decision regarding the OIO director. That would mean:
-- no minimum professional qualifications for the OIO
Director,
-- no EC confirmation of the Director's appointment, and
-- no change in the contract for future OIO Directors.

There was support for the "non-political" proposals:
-- prohibiting service on the Management Board and other
committees,
-- employing a consultant to develop procedures and
methodologies for the OIO,
-- holding regular "Executive Sessions" in which the head of
the OIO meets independently with the EC (the consensus was to
hold such sessions every three months),
-- specifically authorizing the EC to request the OIO to
address specific issues and concerns,
-- reviewing the staffing structure of OIO,
-- reviewing Article 12 of the Financial Regulations to
ensure relevant regulations are unambiguous and adequate,
-- on the External Auditor, amending the Annex to the
Financial Regulations to specifically require "value for
money audits, a point which Mundell said has now been
implemented for the current External Auditor.
The question of providing the OIO with a small consulting
budget was left open pending the review of the consultant.


6. (SBU) The group supported Mundell's suggestion that some
general point on the importance of strengthening the
capabilities of the OIO should be made at upcoming
facilitations on the OIO report. If there are no objections,
that could be included in Mundell's oral report to the EC and
become the basis for future action on the specific measures
noted above. Flint added that these topics, as appropriate,
also could be included in the budget discussion. Moreover,
funding for the consultant could be found in the existing
consultation budget.

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UNIVERSALITY
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7. (U) TS officials led by Huang Yu, Chief of External
Relations Division, hosted a March 8 meeting to inform
delegations of the status of TS activities and POC
nominations (faxed back to AC/CB),and to alert delegations
that the TS paper on States not Party was awaiting final
approval by the DG (note: the paper was published on March 9,
EC-36/S/9). Huang has been busy since the first of the year,
having traveled to Egypt, Ethiopia, and Rwanda in his role as
"Mr. Universality." He established relationships with the
African Union (AU) headquartered in Addis Ababa, and the
United Arab League (UAL) in Cairo where he focused on
meetings with UAL Disarmament Division officials. UAL
officials recommended that disarmament workshops not focus
solely on CWC but needed to include all WMD to encourage
broad attendance from its member states. Huang reported that
the UN was indeed sponsoring such a workshop and that the
OPCW would be a participant.


8. (U) Huang reported that Madagascar requested 500 copies
of the CWC in French (which the TS provided) as well as
technical assistance for its accession effort. Rwanda
reported that its instrument of accession was currently in
the President's Office, and that it hoped to deposit its
documents in New York by the April 2004 workshop in Addis
Ababa.


9. (U) Huang noted that Norway and Japan made voluntary
contributions to the TS efforts on universality. He also
invited SPs to send senior representatives to the upcoming
universality workshops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (April),and
Malta (May). Huang is particularly concerned about the Malta
workshop and stressed the need for SPs to demarche Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon, and Israel to encourage their attendance.
Huang reported that nine SPs have appointed POCs (Chile,
Mexico, Oman, Palau, Poland, Slovak Republic, Tajikistan, UK,
US). Japan and South Korea noted that their capitals were
about to appoint POCs.


10. (U) Ito sends.
RUSSEL