SPAIN'S VIEWS OF USG PRIORITIES FOR UN REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002452 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV KUNR AORC SP UNSC SUBJECT: SPAIN'S VIEWS OF USG PRIORITIES FOR UN REFORM REF: A. SECSTATE 111657 ¶B. SECSTATE 111637 ¶C. MADRID 2365 Classified By: Charge Bob Manzanares for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Charge and Polcouns discussed USG priorities for UN reform with Rafael Dezcallar, MFA Director General of Foreign Policy, on June 22. Dezcallar said he was responding on behalf of Foreign Minister Moratinos who had received our initial demarche (Refs A and C) on the issue. Polcouns also discussed our priorities in greater detail with Arturo Laclaustra, MFA Director General for International Organizations, and Juan Manuel Gonzales de Linares, MFA Deputy Director for UN Affairs, on June 23. Dezcallar and Laclaustra both stressed that the GOS strongly agrees with the need for UN reform. The GOS strongly supports the creation of a Human Rights Council, the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission, and the adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism (CCIT). The GOS favors increased development assistance and debt relief for the poorest countries and shares USG goals, although their approach towards foreign aid may differ slightly, supporting the 0.7 percent target. The GOS does not favor additional permanent members on the UNSC and welcomes the approach laid out by Undersecretary Burns on the need to move forward on UN reform before tackling the issue of UNSC expansion. The GOS and other EU member states favor more discussion on the Responsibility to Protect issue. The GOS believes that the discussion should not go beyond the Ping report and that the issue should not be opened to the UNGA, but rather remain in the UNSC for discussion. END SUMMARY //DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE// ¶2. (C) The GOS is a strong proponent of increased development assistance and believes that debt relief for the poorest countries is essential. Laclaustra said that he was glad to see that development assistance ranked high on the U.S. reform agenda for the UN and he looked forward to discussing development assistance proposals. The GOS and its EU allies may have some different approaches to foreign aid, but they share overall U.S. goals. Spain is increasing its commitments of official development assistance (ODA) and has announced a goal to achieve 0.33 percent of ODA/GNI (gross national income) by 2006 and 0.5 percent in 2008. According to Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain plans to cancel an increasing amount of debt owed to developing nations and is working toward the 0.7 percent target of ODA/GNI. //COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS// ¶3. (C) The GOS favors the creation of a Human Rights Council and agrees that the Commission of Human Rights is in need of reform. The GOS prefers more members on the council than the 20 proposed by the USG and will likely differ with USG views on membership eligibility. Laclaustra noted that in a council with fifty odd members, which GOS supports, it would be difficult to find "fifty holy countries" to judge human rights cases. //PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION/COMPREHENSIVE CONVENTION ON TERRORISM// ¶4. (C) The GOS strongly supports the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission and a Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism (CCIT) and believes these should be one of the highest priorities of UN reform. Laclaustra and Gonzales de Linares agreed with USG views that efforts to find acceptable "definition" language on terrorism should not distract from the work of the convention to combat terrorism. The GOS strongly supports a global strategy to combat terrorism, and would like to see stronger efforts to protect the victims of terrorism, including greater emphasis on the issue in the CCIT. Dezcallar said this would be one of Spain's top priorities. The GOS strongly agrees with SYG Annan's "principled, comprehensive strategy" to fight terrorism that he proposed in Madrid on the first anniversary of the March 11 terrorist train bombings. Laclaustra stated that the UN should focus on Annan's five D's: dissuading disaffected groups from terrorism, denying terrorists the means to carry out their attacks, deterring states from supporting terrorists, developing states' capacity to prevent terrorism, and defending human rights. //SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM// ¶5. (C) The GOS favors obtaining consensus through a "sober and reflective" discussion of UNSC reform, but does not support new permanent members on the UNSC (Ref C). The GOS also agrees with the U.S. approach on reserving the veto for P5 members only. The EU does not have an official position on UNSC reform, and Gonzales de Linares noted that other EU members had thwarted Germany's desire to create a common position advocating UNSC reform at meetings in Brussels on June 20 and 21. Laclaustra said he hoped that G-4 (Japan, Germany, Brazil, and India) efforts to expand the UNSC would not distract from other important UN reforms and hoped they would not put forward their draft resolution in September. He questioned whether Annan had tried to accomplish too much reform at once with his UNSC suggestions and noted that Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, had been more reserved in proposing incremental reforms. ¶6. (C) The GOS also agrees with the U.S. that pursuing UNSC changes before addressing the broader issue of UN reform could derail the prospects for meaningful UN reform. The GOS welcomed the USG priorities, as elaborated by Undersecretary Burns, but was concerned that the proposal for "two or so" new permanent UNSC members, one to be taken by Japan, could cause difficulties with the Africa Group which might then be precluded from a permanent seat. //RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT// ¶6. (C) Spain and other EU member states feel strongly about the Responsibility to Protect and the need to endorse a collective international responsibility to protect people from mass atrocities. The GOS believes that debate of when and how force can be used for protection should not go beyond what is contained in the UN reform document of UNGA President Jean Ping. Laclaustra said that discussions of the use of force for protection should not be opened to the UNGA, but should remain in the UNSC for discussion. Laclaustra favored more discussion of USG and EU priorities, but he added that more elaborate details of the criteria for intervention could hurt the overall debate. Laclaustra stated that any discussion of UNSC reform would have to carefully consider under what situations the UNSC could impose the use of force and what would happen in a crisis of the UNSC could not reach consensus on whether it should intervene. //OTHER ISSUES// ¶7. (C) The GOS would like the USG to take careful consideration of the Spanish candidate for the International Court of Justice, Julio Gonzalez Campos. MANZANARES