BAHRAIN: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - ANTICIPATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 001087 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM BA ROW HUMRIT SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - ANTICIPATED OIC ASSAULT ON ISRAEL REF: A. STATE 99490 ¶B. MANAMA 1064 ¶C. STATE 95619 Classified by A/DCM Steve Bondy for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) A/DCM met with MFA Assistant Under Secretary for Coordination and Follow Up Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa June 17, prior to receipt of Ref A. Shaikh Abdul Aziz said he would depart June 18 for Geneva, where he would head the Bahraini delegation to the UN Human Rights Council inaugural session. He made no mention of any anticipated action against Israel. ¶2. (C) A/DCM raised the U.S. interest in a session focused primarily on non-controversial procedural matters, per Ref C, and Shaikh Abdul Aziz agreed with this approach. He said the GOB was concerned that human rights organizations with anti-Bahrain agendas could try to embarrass Bahrain during the HRC meeting. He was prepared to deliver a positive evaluation of Bahrain's progress on human rights issues while acknowledging that the GOB could do better in some areas. He said that his personal view is that the GOB should be in direct contact with human rights groups to work cooperatively with them on perceived problems. ¶3. (C) Upon receipt of Ref A, A/DCM delivered the demarche to Shaikh Abdul Aziz's personal assistant, who pledged to fax it as a non-paper to him via the Bahraini mission in Geneva. ¶4. (C) In a previous June 14 conversation, MFA Director for International Organization Affairs Ghassan Shaikho told A/DCM that Bahrain agrees with many of the U.S. positions on the HRC (Ref B),but has some "variations" on other points. Shaikho affirmed that these issues would be handled in a way so that there would be the "smallest gap possible" between the U.S. and Bahrain, and no harm done. While he did not specifically address Israeli-Palestinian matters, he said that Bahrain would do what it could to narrow differences with the United States. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ ********************************************* ******** MONROE