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