FRANCE ON UNDEF PRIORITIES

UNCLAS PARIS 001368 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL FR UNGA SUBJECT: FRANCE ON UNDEF PRIORITIES REF: STATE 33441 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE TREAT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) Deputy Polcouns discussed reftel points March 3 with MFA IO DAS-equivalent for human rights and humanitarian and social affairs Beatrice le Fraper du Hellen. Le Fraper said France's position tracked well with that of the U.S., although there were a few minor differences of emphasis. Her perception was that the U.S. was focused more on election projects, whereas France believed it was also important to incite governments to implement their international human rights commitments. She cited the case of certain transition countries which may schedule elections regularly and keep up basic democratic appearances, but which do not accept fully the Western model and the need for human rights protections. France saw a need for balance between media support and elections, and respect for human rights. As an additional nuance, she stated that France preferred the broader term "participation in democratic processes" to "elections." ¶2. (SBU) Asked for French views on how UNDEF will operate, le Fraper read from an instruction cable to make the following points: (1) France believes the group should be chaired by a country from one of the geographical regions rather than by one of the larger donors, as the latter could evoke the criticism that only money talks; an alternative would be to choose a prominent personality as chair. (2) France will insist on translation into French; she did not specify whether she was referring to translation of documents or interpretation of discussions, or both. (3) Noting reftel's references to the UN Department of Political Affairs and UNDP, she advocated a role for the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well, given that her mandate included a focal point on democracy; le Fraper insisted that this should not be controversial. (4) France shares the U.S. view on the importance of concrete projects, but worries that the calendar for implementing them may be too tight. (5) Finally, she said the current minimum threshold for a project was USD 100,000. Based on its experience in small African countries where there was often no involvement by Western-based organizations, France believes it is possible to support local civil society institutions with as little as USD 50,000. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton