LEGAL ADVISER BELLINGER MEETS WITH HIGH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 001174

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SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM OTRA SU
SUBJECT: LEGAL ADVISER BELLINGER MEETS WITH HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS LOUISE ARBOUR


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Summary
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1. (SBU) While in Geneva for the U.S. presentation before
the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva, State's Legal
Adviser John Bellinger met May 8 with UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Louise Arbour. Her agenda included a
request for more funding, a grim report on her Sudan trip,
and a reminder of her outstanding request for a meeting with
the Secretary. Arbour led by requesting formal, biannual
consultations with the USG on OHCHR business, a request the
U.S. delegation welcomed. She also pressed the U.S. on
detainees and counterterorrism practices. She asked about
secret prisons, secret flights, renditions, and diplomatic

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assurances for returned terrorism suspects. L/A Bellinger
told Arbour that United States was committed to meeting its
human rights obligations. U.S. efforts over the past four
years had resulted in significant improvements in both
practices and law. L/A Bellinger and delegation have cleared
this message. End Summary.


2. (U) Participants:

U.S.: Legal Adviser John Bellinger III, IO DAS Mark Lagon,
DRL/MLA Director Julieta Valls Noyes, U.S. Mission Legal
Adviser Jeff Kovar, and U.S. Mission PolCouns Velia
DePirro(notetaker).

OHCHR: High Commissioner Louise Arbour; Sr. Advisor Jonathan
Prentice; Chief of Staff Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh; Paul Oertly and
Richard Lapper.

Sudan: Worse Than A Year Ago
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3. (U) In a May 8 meeting with State Department Legal Adviser
John Bellinger, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise
Arbour led off with a discussion on Sudan. Arbour, who had
returned from a week-long visit to Sudan May 5, described the
situation in Darfur as even worse than a year ago. She
stressed that the security situation was precarious at best.
Arbour worried that little progress had been made on the
Comprehensive Peace Accord and that the new peace agreement
would fare no better without significant pressure on the
Sudanese government to disarm the Janjaweed. Pointing to the
Deputy Secretary's role in the just concluded peace accord,
L/A Bellinger stressed U.S. commitment to finding a solution
to the situation in Sudan.

Appeal for More Funding
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4. (U) Arbour thanked L/A Bellinger for U.S. funding for
OHCHR activities, noting that the USG is the largest
individual donor to her organization. At the same time, she
asked for increased funding not tied to the Voluntary Fund
for Victims of Torture. (Note: The U.S. gave the fund close
to six million dollars in 2005 -- just over half of all its
funding. End Note) Arbour said it was important for OHCHR to
carry out its mandate as the UN's lead human rights agency
regardless of how the new UN Human Rights Council developed.
The OHCHR Strategic Management Plan, published earlier this
year, laid out a roadmap for OHCHR reform and activities, but
to be successful OHCHR needed more funding. Asked about
increasing voluntary contributions to OHCHR, IO DAS Lagon
noted that U.S. support for the doubling of OHCHR's regular
budget over the next five years, despite a longstanding USG
preference for voluntary funding schemes in the UN system,
automatically meant an increase in U.S. funding. He
reaffirmed U.S. continued support for OHCHR. He highlighted
our interest in seeing increased funding used to staff and
expand field operations rather than the body's Geneva
headquarters. L/A Bellinger said that greater attention
should be drawn to the U.S. role as the major donor to human
rights efforts worldwide. Too often it is taken for granted
with little recognition for its work in promoting and
protecting human rights.

Request for Formal, Regular Consultations
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5. (U) Arbour indicated that other donors to the OHCHR held
regular consultations with her staff about their activities,
which she characterized as extremely helpful. She requested
more regular, perhaps biannual, higher-level consultations
between OHCHR and the USG. DRL/MLA Director Noyes said the
USG agreed this would be useful, and coincidentally had just
requested all its missions overseas where there is an OHCHR
presence to report on coordination with the USG in the field.
Arbour welcomed this news and said she would be very

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interested to learn the results of this survey. DAS Lagon
suggested that the first round of formal consultations could
occur in July, when he and other USG officials would return
to Geneva to present another Treaty report to the UN.

Treaty Body Reform
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6. (U) Arbour raised her ambitious plan for treaty body
reform. She admitted that numerous legal complexities,
practical questions and turf battles will have to be resolved
before the plan for a single treaty body to replace the seven
existing bodies is a reality. Adviser Bellinger noted that
the United States has serious concerns with the proposal,
including the U.S. view that each human rights instrument
would need to be amended and re-ratified to eliminate the
treaty body it established.

Protecting Human Rights in Conflict Against Terrorism
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7. (SBU) Arbour then turned the discussion to U.S. handling
of detainees in Guantanamo, secret prisons, secret flights,
and renditions. Arbour said she understood the need for
states to protect their citizens from terrorism -- a
fundamental human right. Arbour asked whether so much secrecy
regarding information on terrorism suspects and detainees was
necessary to U.S. national security. She speculated that the
debate on U.S. terrorism policy and practices would be
circumscribed if the USG released more general information.
L/A Bellinger reminded Arbour that the U.S. provides the ICRC
access to the vast majority of detainees even though not
required to do so and that even the Geneva Conventions
recognizes that certain categories of detainees who pose a
threat to the security of the detaining state are deemed to
have forfeited their right to outside communication. The
United States was trying to balance transparency with the
need to safeguard intelligence and protect the American
people, noting intelligence cooperation plays an important
role in international efforts to bring criminals to justice.
Although U.S. efforts to be transparent have been met with
ever more ridiculous allegations, the USG has decided that
rebutting each false allegation would serve little purpose
and could compromise intelligence. While the United States
could not reveal information regarding intelligence
arrangements with foreign governments, cooperation occurred
with the consent of both governments across a range of
activities. L/A Bellinger said the United States had asked
European governments to try to calm speculation in their
countries.


8. (SBU) The High Commissioner asked about the U.S.
practice of seeking diplomatic assurances that detainees
returned to their country of origin would not be tortured.
She said seeking such assurances undermined the ultimate goal
of her office and others to minimize the incidence of
torture. L/A Bellinger explained that the U.S. commitment
against torture remained firm, and that the U.S. would not
return someone to a place where torture was more likely than
not. The U.S., he said, was trying to manage a difficult
situation. Critics call for the release of detainees, but
oppose their return to their home countries because of
torture concerns. Obtaining assurances was a practical way
to address these concerns. Those who criticize U.S.
arrangements to fight Al-Qaeda need to provide pragmatic
solutions. Neither the United States nor any country should
be expected to accept persons considered dangerous to its
citizens. He emphasized the huge effort made by the United
States to look for countries to accept released terrorism
suspects, e.g., the Uighurs transferred to Albania May 4.


9. (SBU) Arbour called for more judicial oversight of
Guantanamo and detainees. L/A Bellinger noted that U.S.
courts are heavily engaged in the process. He stressed that
many of the complaints against the United States were based
on information and practices from 3-4 years ago, and did not
take into account significant improvement in the last few
years. He specifically asked the High Commissioner to ensure
that UN human rights staff give objective and balanced
treatment to the United States. The five Special
Rapporteurs, who reported on Guantanamo, had failed to do
this. They did not meet with USG officials, turned down the
invitation to visit Guantanamo, and ignored the substantial
information provided in writing by the United States. Arbour
defended the Rapporteurs' decision ("on principle") not to
visit Guantanamo because they would not have had access to
the detainees, but said the Rapporteurs could have handled
the process better.

Request for Meeting with the Secretary

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10. (SBU) In closing, High Commissioner Arbour reiterated
her request to meet with the Secretary. She said that she
understood that the Secretary's travel and meeting schedule
was extremely heavy. Arbour noted, however, that she was
approaching the half-way point in her term without having had
the opportunity to meet the Secretary. L/A Bellinger assured
Arbour that, although scheduling a meeting has been
impossible to date, no slight was intended. He said that the
Secretary's travel schedule has been heavy but he committed

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to explore the possibility of a meeting.
ROBINSON