SPAIN ON UN THIRD COMMITTEE COUNTRY-SPECIFIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002869

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL KTIA UNHRC UN SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN ON UN THIRD COMMITTEE COUNTRY-SPECIFIC
RESOLUTIONS

REF: A. STATE 182267

B. STATE 183547

C. STATE 156800

Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Emboff delivered reftel A and B demarches to the MFA
Subdirector General for Human Rights Fernando Fernandez-Arias
on November 8. Fernandez-Arias said, "You have nothing to
worry about from Spain" with respect to these resolutions.
He said he thought it was a good strategy to have an up or
down vote on the Belarus resolution on human rights in the
U.S. He did note, however, that the two Belarus resolutions
were well-crafted this year in contrast to previous
retaliatory resolutions, and he said that the U.S. might face
difficulty in gaining support outside of Europe. Emboff
stated that country-specific resolutions were traditionally
used by the UN only to address the issues of gravest concern,
and that placing the U.S. in this category seemed
inappropriate. Fernandez-Arias agreed, and noted that Spain
has been very careful about limiting the number of
resolutions it has proposed, despite the fact that he very
much wants a resolution on human rights in Darfur.


2. (C) Emboff told Fernandez-Arias that the second Belarus
resolution was more thoroughly and objectively addressed in
other resolutions already under negotiation; his colleague
Antonio Garca Roger, himself just returned from New York,
said that this is an opinion which is gaining traction in New
York among European nations. On lobbying for the U.S.
resolution on Belarus, Fernandez-Arias said that Spain is
happy to help, but he noted that the EU typically divvies up
the world according to areas of influence when lobbying for
resolutions, so he expected that Spain would receive a more
specific instruction from Brussels or New York on where and
how to support the resolution. With respect to the U.S.
resolution on Uzbekistan, Fernandez-Arias said he thought it
inconceivable that Spain would not support it, though he said
that they had withheld their initial support because of
wording issues.


3. (C) Fernandez-Arias made a special point of saying that
Spain greatly appreciated the United States being the first
nation to sign on as a cosponsor (after the EU) of their
religious freedom resolution. He emphasized how much Spain
appreciated this gesture. Lastly, he asked if the U.S.
intended to seek membership on the Human Rights Council.
Emboff summarized the points from Ref C and said that the
organization is not proving itself much more effective than
its predecessor.

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AGUIRRE