NETHERLANDS: RESPONSE ON CCW REVCON DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002264

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UBI, L/PM (A DEEKS),ISN, PM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2016
TAGS: MCAP PARM PREL NL
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS: RESPONSE ON CCW REVCON DEMARCHE

REF: STATE 168629

Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Schofer, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: While the GONL sees the value in pursuing an
"opt in" annex for an anti-vehicle mine (AVM) protocol at the
upcoming Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Review
Conference, the Dutch have historically opposed optional
clauses. MFA Head of Arms Control and Export Policy Matthijs
Wolters said the Dutch will likely support the EU mainstream,
but could not speculate where EU members will fall out on the
issue. Wolters also argued in favor of a CCW discussion on
cluster munitions, and made a pitch for the Arms Trade Treaty
(ATT). End summary.


2. (C) Polmiloff discussed reftel points with Wolters and
Deputy Head Vincent van Zeijst on October 18. Wolters and
van Zeijst took the point that countries like Russia,
Pakistan, China, Belarus, and Cuba would not likely adopt an
AVM protocol at the CCW review Conference. From that
perspective, van Zeijst said that an "opt in" annex made
sense, especially as consensus on the protocol would be a
marked improvement over the status quo.


3. (C) That said, Wolters noted that historically the
Netherlands has not supported optional clauses -- "no text is
better than bad text." He suspected the Netherlands would
agree to follow the EU member mainstream on the issue, but
could not speculate at this point what that might be -- he
doubted it will be feasible to gain an EU consensus on such a
controversial issue. Not familiar with the AVM
coordinator-circulated paper from the last CCW meeting in
Geneva, van Zeijst asked if both detectability and active
life obligations would be included in one or several "opt in"
annexes; polmiloff agreed to pass the question back to
Washington.


4. (C) Wolters and van Zeijst took issue with the USG
position that other topics -- especially the use of cluster
munitions -- were not sufficiently mature to warrant
discussion in the CCW. Van Zeijst argued that the CCW was
"the forum" to discuss cluster munitions, especially
following their recent use in Lebanon, and pointed to the
October 13 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
proposal as a potential CCW agenda item. Wolters noted
strong public and political momentum building in the
Netherlands to ban cluster munitions, and related similar
efforts in other EU countries like Belgium, Germany and
Norway. He referred to a recent UK paper suggesting cluster
munitions would be obsolete in 15 years time -- why not begin
working on retiring cluster munitions now? At the very
least, Wolters said, constructive discussion in the CCW could
focus on cluster munitions standardization and safety.


5. (C) On a separate item, Wolters raised the Arms Trade
Treaty (ATT),noting a "clear majority" appears to support
it. He acknowledged U.S. reservations regarding the treaty,
but added that a USG vote against it would be "rather
unfortunate."
ARNALL