DEMARCHE DELIVERED: U.S. CANDIDATE FOR THE UN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUCHAREST 001300 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2016 TAGS: PHUM US UNHRC RO SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: U.S. CANDIDATE FOR THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTTEE REF: STATE 130666 Classified By: PolChief Ted Tanoue for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Acting Director for UN Affairs Eugen Mihut confirmed to PolOff on August 16 that Romania would support U.S. candidate Ruth Wedgwood for the Human Rights Committee. He said the MFA had just sent those instructions to NY. ¶2. (C) Mihut added, however, that this support meant that Romania would definitely not/not support the U.S. candidate for the UN International Law Commission. He explained that Romania had to make promises of mutual support to other countries to collect votes for Romanian candidates. He listed the U.K., France, Russia, and China as among those countries to which Romania has promised an exchange of support. He noted the U.S. policy forbidding it to exchange votes in that manner, but said that Romania had to rely on that mechanism to gather support for its many candidates for various UN positions. Taplin