FINLAND: VIEWS ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SPECIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000786 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2016 TAGS: MOPS PHUM PREL PTER IS LE FI SUBJECT: FINLAND: VIEWS ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SPECIAL SESSION ON LEBANON REF: SECSTATE 130145 Classified By: POLOFF DAVID ALLEN SCHLAEFER FOR REASON 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (SBU) Poloff spoke with Johanna Suurpaa, Director of the MFA's Human Rights Unit, about the proposed Special Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Lebanon. Poloff emphasized that at this critical point in the Lebanon crisis (reftel),any HRC Special Session would be an unhelpful distraction that could threaten to undermine the Security Council's efforts. Suurpaa replied that the GoF agreed that the timing was poor, but that the HRC had no choice given the strong pressure exerted by the Islamic Conference countries, by Russia, and by China. She said that the meeting has already been scheduled for Friday, August 11. Finnish and other EU legal experts in New York and Geneva had determined that there was no Article 12 conflict since the HRC and Security Council were debating simultaneously. ¶2. (C) Suurpaa said that Finland would work with other HRC members toward securing a balanced statement that did not solely address Israeli actions; that took into account attacks by Hizballah on Israeli civilians; and that called for an end to all deliberate attacks on civilians in the region. Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja was enroute to Egypt to meet his counterpart and discuss, interalia, the HRC situation. Suurpaa said that Tuomioja will warn the Egyptians about any push for an unbalanced HRC that might complicate the UNSCR process and the international community's efforts to broker a cessation of hostilities. Suurpaa opined that she herself was "not optimistic" that such a session could be avoided; and that she thought it unlikely any compromise language could be agreed to, despite the efforts that Finland and other like-minded HRC countries intended to make . WARE