C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001806

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/MLGA, IO/RHS AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KTIA SU UN IS AJ
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL'S
SPECIAL SESSION ON SUDAN

REF: STATE 195763

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jason P. Hyland per 1.4 (b,d).


1. (SBU) ADCM delivered ref demarche to Deputy Foreign
Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev on December 11. Mammadguliyev
said that, according to his information, the EU and Africa
groups were consulting in Geneva today, December 11, and that
Azerbaijan supported the two groups' efforts to find a
compromise on the resolution. In Azerbaijan's view, the
Human Rights Council (HRC) should adopt resolutions that will
result in concrete, positive improvements to the specific
human rights problem. As such, Mammadguliyev continued, the
Human Rights Council should adopt resolutions that have the
support of all parties to the problem, and are not one-sided.
"How could a resolution on Sudan be effective if it does not
have the support of the Government of Sudan?" Mammadguliyev
asked. For this reason, Azerbaijan was working within the
OIC to try to find a compromise between the EU and Africa
groups.


2. (C) Noting that Azerbaijan had denied that atrocities
were taking place in Darfur (reftel), ADCM pressed
Mammadguliyev on Azerbaijan's purported even-handed approach.
Mammadguliyev admitted that, although Azerbaijan strives to
exert a moderating influence within the OIC, it does not
always succeed. In the case of Azerbaijan's recent
intervention at the Human Rights Council, Mammadguliyev said
that the GOAJ had adopted the OIC's line. "We are the chair
of the OIC Foreign Ministers Conference," Mammadguliyev said,
"What do you expect us to do?" (UK and German colleagues who
demarched Mammadguliyev earlier on the Sudan resolution told
us that they received a far less diplomatic response;
Mammadguliyev bluntly told them that Azerbaijan would vote
with the OIC, without trying to argue that Azerbaijan was
playing a moderating role within the OIC.)


3. (C) Drawing on reftel's Israel-specific points, ADCM
noted that to date, the HRC has addressed only issues
pertaining to Israel. If Azerbaijan truly seeks a balanced
approach that ensures the support and cooperation of all
parties to a conflict, how could Azerbaijan support the Human
Rights Council's anti-Israeli resolutions? Mammadguliyev
responded that Azerbaijan has good relations with Israel but
has certain obligations as Chair of the OIC Foreign Ministers
Conference. He said that although Azerbaijan seeks to play a
moderating role within the OIC, it faces severe pressure from
Iran and Pakistan, which promote a more aggressive tack on
Israeli-Palestinian issues. Mammadguliyev said Azerbaijan
recognizes that the resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict passed by the HRC will not be implemented, and these
resolutions are not the "step-by-step, constructive approach"
that Azerbaijan would prefer to see the HRC adopt.
Nevertheless, Mammadguliyev repeated, Azerbaijan has certain
obligations to the OIC and relies on the OIC for "big
support" on issues related to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
ADCM cautioned that if the HRC continued in this anti-Israeli
vein, it will prove itself an ineffective, politicized body -
exactly the opposite of Azerbaijan's stated goal for the new
organization. She urged Azerbaijan to keep this in mind as
it weighed the Sudan resolution.
HYLAND