UKRAINE: FM TARASYUK ON COALITION AGREEMENT,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 002526 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL AORC KCRM PINR IZ UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: FM TARASYUK ON COALITION AGREEMENT, ANTI-SEMITISM REF: A. KIEV 2503 ¶B. KIEV 2500 Classified By: DCM Sheila S. Gwaltney for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a June 23 meeting with the American Jewish Committee (AJC),Acting Foreign Minister Tarasyuk said Ukraine would not join moves against Israel in the new UN Council for Human Rights and undertook to examine the possibility of withdrawing Ukrainian membership in the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. He also said he would pass on several of AJC's suggestions regarding ways to counter anti-Semitic activities of MAUP and to deal with anti-Semitic crimes. Tarasyuk said the Orange Coalition agreement committed the next government to maintain President Yushchenko's foreign policy goals and to undertake sweeping reforms of Ukraine's law enforcement bodies to bring Ukraine in line with European standards. End summary. Support to Israel -------------- ¶2. (U) Acting Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk had a cordial meeting June 23 with an American Jewish Committee delegation led by AJC Executive Director David Harris. Tarasyuk noted the Ukrainian government planned to host an international forum on the Holocaust on September 27, the 65th anniversary of Babyn Yar. Harris said AJC was aware of the gathering and planned to attend. ¶3. (SBU) After describing atmospherics at the delegation's other stops on its trip, Harris appealed for Ukrainian government help at the United Nations. Since 1965, the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People had been part of a systematic attack by certain UN member-states on the legitimacy of the state of Israel. Its 25 members included Ukraine. Harris encouraged Ukraine to quit the committee. Harris also congratulated Ukraine for its membership on the new UN Human Rights Council. AJC was watching the Council's first meetings with interest, but its hopes that the Council would be a marked improvement over its predecessor organization were not materializing. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) had met and, pushed particularly by Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan, was advocating a separate discussion at the Human Rights Council on the status of Israel. Harris encouraged Ukraine to oppose negative developments that would mean the Human Rights Council would fail to be an improvement over its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission. ¶4. (SBU) Tarasyuk thanked Harris for drawing his attention to the fact that Ukraine's membership on the UN Committee on the Palestinian People was an irritant in AJC's relationship with Ukraine. He promised to put the matter on the agenda for the Ukrainian government's internal discussions. Tarasyuk said Ukraine had begun to align itself with the U.S. and EU positions in the earlier UN Commission on Human Rights and planned to continue to do so in the new Council. Ukraine would not participate in any campaign that was hostile to Israel and would not support attempts such as the one Harris described. Tarasyuk would send instructions to the Ukrainian delegation not to side with countries attacking Israel. Anti-Semitism and MAUP -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Harris said anti-Semitism was a global phenomenon and not limited to Ukraine; every country should be vigilant in countering manifestations of anti-Semitism. Law enforcement and the judicial system had to prosecute hate crimes aggressively, and the educational system needed to promote tolerance. AJC would look to Tarasyuk and his colleagues to do everything possible to combat anti-Semitism, especially since the Orange Revolution had been partly a struggle by defenders of pluralistic values. Tarasyuk agreed with Harris but noted that he did not believe that manifestations of anti-Semitism were systemic in Ukraine or that Ukrainian law enforcement was lax. In fact, he could cite several criminal cases in which perpetrators had been punished. The Ukrainian government was also continuing to take action against the anti-Semitic Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management (known by its Ukrainian acronym MAUP) and had withdrawn licenses for several of MAUP's regional offices. ¶6. (SBU) Harris said AJC was aware that MAUP licenses had been revoked, but stressed that MAUP's activities had become a matter of high-level concern that had reached the ears of some members of the U.S. Congress. He urged the Ukrainian government to pursue revocation of additional licenses and KIEV 00002526 002 OF 002 suggested that it could also investigate MAUP's sources of funding. Harris had heard, for example, that MAUP had received financial and material support from the Palestinian Embassy. While the question of whether Ukrainian laws had been violated was an internal Ukrainian decision, Harris hoped there might be grounds to prosecute if funds were provided for the purpose of inciting racial hatred. ¶7. (SBU) Harris noted many countries preferred to prosecute acts of anti-Semitism under "hooliganism" charges, since proving intent or pre-meditation to establish a hate crime was difficult. Nevertheless, more serious charges were sometimes warranted. OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) had developed a good course directed to law enforcement personnel on procedures to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. Harris said he was pleased to inform Tarasyuk that Ukrainian law enforcement had participated in the training. Tarasyuk undertook to relay Harris' suggestions to the Ukrainian Prosecutor's General Office (PGO) and the Ministry of Interior (MOI). Coalition Agreement: European and Euro-Atlantic Course -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Responding to Harris' question, Tarasyuk said the coalition agreement was important because it would define the ruling coalition's future activity. The coalition agreement would change the Ukrainian government's approach on many issues, including law enforcement and the essential activities of the PGO, MOI, and the judiciary. After a long debate, the newly agreed-upon Orange Coalition (or "Coalition of Democratic Forces") would make fundamental reforms. ¶9. Providing one example, Tarasyuk noted the responsibility for carrying out criminal investigations was spread across the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU),the PGO, and MOI. The planned reform would concentrate the function in a new investigative body, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),which Tarasyuk expected would be stood up by the end of the year. The reforms also envisioned transforming MOI from a Soviet-style structure to a structure patterned after Western European ministries. The judiciary would also be reformed, so that it was a less corrupt institution. In this regard, Tarasyuk was grateful for USG assistance provided through the Millennium Challenge Corporation. ¶10. (C) After a hot debate, Orange Coalition members had also agreed on an approach that would introduce market mechanisms into sales of agricultural land, Tarasyuk continued. Tarasyuk could not relate all the details, but the Orange Coalition had also overcome resistance from the Socialists (who, Tarasyuk commented wryly, were not socialists but really communists). There would be no change of President Yushchenko's foreign policy objectives under the second Orange Coalition incarnation, Tarasyuk averred. Ukraine would continue to pursue membership in both NATO and the EU, as well as passing legislation in the fall necessary for WTO membership. Orange Coalition members had agreed internally and privately that the new prime minister would send a letter to NATO expressing the Ukrainian government's continuing interest in receiving a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP). Harris assured Tarasyuk that AJC, while an NGO and not a governmental representative, remained an enthusiastic supporter of Ukraine's NATO aspirations. It maintained offices in Brussels, Rome, Berlin, and Warsaw and would utilize its contacts to support Ukraine's push for NATO membership. ¶11. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor