VATICAN SUPPORTS AND WILL ADVOCATE FOR U.S. AMENDMENT TO CSW

C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000453 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/WE-JLEVIN; IO E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/3/2015 TAGS: PHUM PREL VT SUBJECT: VATICAN SUPPORTS AND WILL ADVOCATE FOR U.S. AMENDMENT TO CSW DECLARATION REF: STATE 035876 CLASSIFIED BY: D. Brent Hardt, Charge D'Affaires, EXEC, STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Per reftel, Charge met March 2 with Holy See Undersecretary for Relations with States Monsignor Pietro Parolin to urge the Vatican to lobby key countries in favor of the U.S. amendment to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Declaration prior to the March 4 vote in New York. ¶2. (C) Monsignor Parolin made clear that the Holy See fully supported the amendment, adding that the Vatican was "very, very pleased with this initiative." He told Charge that the Holy See has already been actively engaged in lobbying for the amendment in New York and with Embassies to the Holy See here in Rome. He had been in close contact with UN Permanent Observer Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who he understood had met with U.S. officials the day before to coordinate strategy. ¶3. (C) Parolin indicated that he would have been happy to contact the Vatican's nuncios in our target countries as the U.S. desired, but that the short timeframe would not allow the Nuncios to make contact with ministries in time for the ministries to instruct their UN delegations. Instead, Parolin said the Secretariat of State would directly contact the Ambassadors to the Holy See from the key countries to request that they convey the Vatican's high-level interest in this issue and recommend support for the U.S. amendment. ¶4. (C) In fact, based on his earlier conversation with Archbishop Migliore, Parolin said he had already contacted the Ambassadors from Slovakia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua to outline the Holy See's position and urge support for the U.S. amendment. Looking at the additional countries mentioned in our demarche, Parolin said he would also contact the Ambassadors from Gabon, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Australia, and Chile. Parolin noted that he would try with Argentina, but that in the wake of Argentina's position on cloning, he doubted it could be brought on board. ¶5. (C) Regarding the other countries, Parolin pointed out that the Nigerian, Ugandan and Kenyan Ambassadors were not located in Rome, and would be more difficult to contact. East Timor would require the Vatican to contact their Nuncio in Jakarta, which they would endeavor to do, but which might not work in time for the vote. The Holy See does not have diplomatic relations with Somalia. bringing the meting to a quick close, Parolin said he would immediately begin his round of calls to the key Embassies. HARDT