CYPRUS REPORTEDLY HOSTS CONFERENCE ON ESTABLISHING

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000375 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2021 TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV CY IZ SUBJECT: CYPRUS REPORTEDLY HOSTS CONFERENCE ON ESTABLISHING HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IN IRAQ Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher; Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On March 13, Sotos Liassides -- Director of Multilateral Affairs at the MFA -- called polchief to report that Cyprus had hosted a conference in Larnaca March 8-10 on the issue of establishing a national human rights commission in Iraq. According to Liassides, Environment Minister and Acting Minister for Human Rights Nermin Othman headed the Iraqi delegation. The GOC did not participate in the conference, but provided considerable logistical and material support. Cyprus had agreed to host the meeting at the request of UN officials in Geneva. Liassides stressed that the government was keeping even the fact of the conference confidential. There would be no public announcement and the SIPDIS MFA hoped to avoid any press coverage. In truth, Liassides confessed that he was not certain what, if anything, had emerged from the conference in the way of substance. ¶2. (C) Comment: We consider Cyprus's hosting a conference like this to be positive, as it pushes the GOC to look beyond the parochial questions that surround the interminable Cyprus issue and engage with some of the larger concerns that occupy the rest of the world. Cyprus likes to bill itself as "a bridge to the Middle East." It is nice, on occassion, to see the government take constructive action on the basis of that self-definition. SCHLICHER