CZECHS VIEWS ON AMENDMENT TO CUBA EMBARGO

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001318

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM UNGA CU EZ
SUBJECT: CZECHS VIEWS ON AMENDMENT TO CUBA EMBARGO
RESOLUTION

REF: A. STATE 163498


B. WARSAW 2222

C. PRAGUE 1252

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Michael Dodman for reas
ons 1.4 b+d


1. (C) Summary: The Czech Republic will support a proposed
amendment to the UN resolution on the Cuba embargo that would
highlight Cuban human rights abuses. They continue to
question the wisdom of the move, and are certain that
procedural concerns will prevent many countries who are
sympathetic to the cause from speaking out in favor of the
amendment. The Czech MFA has heard that the Dutch are
considering having the EU issue a statement tied to the vote
on the resolution that would include some of the language
proposed for the amendment. End summary.


2. (C) Pol-Econ Counselor met October 20 with Czech MFA UN
Department Director Jan Kara to follow up on earlier
discussion of an amendment to the annual UN Cuba embargo
resolution that would include language addressing Cuban human
rights violations (reftels). Kara confirmed that the Czech
government would support such an amendment. We noted that
the Poles were currently considering a U.S. request to
formally sponsor the amendment, and that they would perhaps
welcome a direct communication from the Czechs confirming
that there would be other support for this move. Kara agreed
that a phone call made sense and promised to discuss this
further among colleagues at the ministry. Pol-Econ Counselor
subsequently discussed this issue with the Acting Director of
the Americas Department who agreed immediately to call the
Polish MFA Americas Director to discuss. He also informed us
that he had heard talk of a Dutch proposal to submit an
"explanation of vote" to the certain EU vote in favor of the
Cuba embargo resolution. This "explanation" would make
reference to the human rights language the U.S. was seeking
in the amendment, and could therefore offer a solution.


3. (C) UN Director Kara, while noting that the Czechs were
certainly on board in terms of the language in the amendment,
nonetheless expressed concern about the amendment itself. He
said he was certain that many UN members, including strong
supporters of the U.S. position on human rights in Cuba,
would vote against the proposed amendment on procedural
grounds. He feared the result would be a "bad taste for many
members" which could in the end hurt U.S. efforts. He
repeated earlier statements that a resolution in the Third
Committee on Cuban human rights would make more sense
(although there was no guarantee of passage in that committee
either). Kara went on to note, with noticeable
disappointment, that the Czechs had been surprised that no
other member states had been prepared to discuss the idea of
the USG-proposed amendment when the Czech delegation raised
it in EU working groups (COHOM and CONUN) last week. He went
so far as to question whether the USG had, in fact, raised
this in other EU capitals. We assured him that the
instruction had been sent to all capitals, and further
explained that the USG had specifically reviewed the entire
proposal with Presidency officials in Helsinki.
GRABER