FINLAND: CHR RESOLUTION ON GUANTANAMO

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000463 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/NB, IO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM FI SUBJECT: FINLAND: CHR RESOLUTION ON GUANTANAMO REF: SECSTATE 69823 ¶1. (SBU) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Johanna Suurpaa, Director of the MFA's Human Rights Unit and Finland's CHR Coordinator. Suurpaa said that she understood the U.S. position and believed that under no circumstances would any EU country support the Cuban resolution. She said that the fact that the U.S. pledge not to call for no-action was appreciated, since Finland would have had to oppose any such U.S. move on principle. Suurpaa told Poloff that the EU was working toward a common position, but that none had been agreed as of mid-day Wednesday, April 20. She said that for Finland, the most important issue was securing a common EU approach. ¶2. (SBU) Suurpaa went on to opine that the Cubans had used a smart approach when drafting their resolution. She said that it was written with a view toward splitting the U.S. and EU, and contained language about visitations, etc., that was lifted almost verbatim from EU sources; this made it difficult for the EU to reject the Cuban gambit outright. Suurpaa said that she believed the EU countries might abstain and release a statement supporting the "positive elements" in the resolution (visitations, etc.),but pointing out that the resolution seemed politically motivated, and that the Cuban position was inconsistent since Cuba itself violated the very principles it claimed to support. Finally, she said that the Cubans in Geneva had already reserved a large room for a press conference in anticipation of, among other things, "blasting" EU countries for using a double standard by refraining from criticizing the United States over Guantanamo. MACK