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