AUSTRIA SUPPORTS ADOPTION OF THIRD ADDITIONAL

UNCLAS VIENNA 003704 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/AGS (VIKMANIS KELLER),PRM/MCE (SANTOS AND FITZGIBBONS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC PHUM PREF PREL IS SZ AU ICRC SUBJECT: AUSTRIA SUPPORTS ADOPTION OF THIRD ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO GENEVA CONVENTION REF: STATE 206954 ¶1. (U) On 14 November, EconPolOff met with Bert Theuermann, Director for Human Rights in the Foreign Ministry, and Eva Schoefer from the same department to discuss adoption of a Third Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Convention. If a vote is necessary, Theuermann said, Austria and the EU plan to vote in favor of the Third Additional Protocol at the 5-6 December diplomatic conference, hosted by the Swiss Federal Council. ¶2. (SBU) The issue of admitting the Israeli National Society, Magen David Adom (MDA),into the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has been ongoing for sometime and is an extremely important issue for the EU, Theuermann said. "The conference must not be a failure," he said. The only outstanding question is how to deal with opposition to the measure from the Arab block. According to Theuermann, the EU demarched the Arab League and other Arab capitals to lessen their resistance to convening the conference, and he expressed hope that ongoing diplomacy between now and the start of the conference would pave the way for the adoption of the protocol. VAN VOORST