BAHRAIN: PROMOTING U.S. PRIORITIES ON UN REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000892

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, IO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2015
TAGS: KUNR PREL PGOV BA UNSC
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: PROMOTING U.S. PRIORITIES ON UN REFORM

REF: A. STATE 114051


B. STATE 111657

C. STATE 111637

Classified by A/DCM Helen H. Hahn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Pol/Econ chief June 21 delivered reftel demarches on
promoting U.S. priorities on UN reform to MFA Director for
International Organization Affairs Ghassan Shaikho. (Note:
Ambassador will deliver Ref B demarche to Foreign Minister
Shaikh Mohammed following the Minister's return to Bahrain
from Europe.) Shaikho promised to read through Ref A and C
non-papers in detail, and offered comments on several of the
issues.


2. (C) Shaikho gave his enthusiastic agreement, and relaxed
considerably, upon learning that the USG wants to move
forward on those issues where we can be successful while
continuing to work on other issues that will take more time.
He said there was no reason to hold up agreement on some
items until there was agreement on all.


3. (C) On the Human Rights Council proposal, Shaikho
wondered about the criteria the Council would use to label a
human rights abuser, and suggested it be flexible enough to
accommodate unexpected situations. He agreed that the goal
should be to prevent flagrant offenders from joining the
Council. On the point regarding voting Council members out,
he thought this could be extremely difficult. A "gentler"
way would be to remove them after their term on the Council
runs out, thus using an election rather than a confrontation
in the Council to remove them. He agreed on keeping the
Council in Geneva.


4. (C) Regarding the Democracy Fund, Shaikho said that
Bahrain is supportive but the MFA did not instruct the
Bahraini PermRep to sign the letter to the SYG because of
concern that signing the letter obligated or implied that the
country would provide financial support for the Fund.
Bahrain was not able to do this but is looking for the best
way to support the Fund politically.


5. (C) Shaikho asked about the relationship between the
proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
(CCIT) and the 12 UN conventions on terrorism. He
recommended that the UNSC be the monitoring/supervisory body
for adherence to the CCIT.


6. (C) Shaikho concurred with the U.S. message that there is
no need to rush into decisions on UNSC reform, saying that
the U.S. ideas "suit Bahrain well." He suggested dealing
with Security Council reform slowly, on "a low flame." He
understood U.S. support for Japan only, but asked if it was
realistic to expect Japan to join the UNSC without the other
members of the Group of Four. He thought it better to take
some time and develop a package of reform that all could
agree on rather than pushing for a quick decision. Shaikho
commented that, given the U.S. position, Germany and Japan
would likely put off a vote in the UNGA to avoid being
embarrassed.

MONROE