EL SALVADOR: COMPREHENSIVE CONVENTION ON

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 002027 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL ES UNGA SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: COMPREHENSIVE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM (CCIT) DEMARCHE REF: A. STATE 127272 ¶B. STATE 128008 ¶C. SAN SALVADOR 1975 ¶D. NEW YORK 1508 ¶1. (SBU) Poloff provided Ref A talking points to Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister Ambassador Marisol Argueta de Barillas and to MFA Director of Multilateral Affairs Mario Rivera on June 8. During a July 13 follow-up meeting with Poloff, Rivera stated that the CCIT topic had been briefly discussed at a July 11 meeting of the GOES's working group on UN Reform, which is led by Ambassador de Barillas. Rivera stated that El Salvador sees the 14th Convention as an important complementary convention to the existing 13 and believes that it should be passed as soon as possible and in the broadest form possible. He stated that El Salvador's PermRep to the UN Gallardo de Hernandez was aware of the proposed changes to Article 18 and the push to generate support for the passing of the convention this fall. ¶2. (SBU) Rivera added however, that reform of the Commission on Human Rights, the creation of the Democracy Fund, the establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission and the push for management and administrative reforms are also important to El Salvador. He also restated the Salvadoran sentiment reported in Ref C that the reforms should be approached in an integral way, and that El Salvador does not want UNSC reform to be rushed, or to displace other important topics in the lead-up to the UNGA this fall. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT. While El Salvador supports the passing of the CCIT, can be counted on to vote for the CCIT, and is a strong supporter of the global war on terrorism and international conventions to suppress terrorism, USUN New York reports that GOES PermRep Gallardo Hernandez has indicated that, at least in the context of the UNGA this fall, a terrorism convention is not the highest priority item for El Salvador (Ref D). This, combined with Rivera's indication that other topics are of equal or greater importance indicate that El Salvador will not likely expend a great deal of effort to push other countries to support the CCIT. END COMMENT. Silverman