EU IN FAVOR OF DRAFT DECLARATION ON INDIGENOUS

UNCLAS VIENNA 001483

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO/P, DRL, EUR/PGI, EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL EUN AU
SUBJECT: EU IN FAVOR OF DRAFT DECLARATION ON INDIGENOUS
RIGHTS

REF: STATE 78740

This message is sensitive but unclassified.


1. (SBU) Embassy Vienna Pol Unit chief accompanied
Australian Embassy First Secretary Cameron Archer on a
demarche to Austrian MFA A/S-equivalent for Human Rights
Engelbert Theuermann on May 19. Archer made a detailed and
vigorous presentation of the views of Australia, New Zealand
and the U.S. on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) that tracked closely with reftel
instructions. He also gave Theuermann six non-papers
identical with those in reftel.


2. (SBU) Theuermann thanked us for the information and noted
particularly that the proposals for revising the draft DRIP
would be extremely useful. He said that EU member states had
participated actively in the last Working Group meeting and
were aware that Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. had a
number of concerns about the draft declaration. However, he
made it clear that the 25 EU member states had arrived at a
common position that they were prepared to support the
declaration in its current form. Still, the EU thought that
the views of other key countries, particularly those with
significant indigenous populations, were important.


3. (SBU) There was enormous frustration that this process
had already taken eleven years, Theuermann said, and the EU
was looking for a way forward. However, the worst outcome
from the EU's point of view would be an extension of the
mandate of the Working Group. The EU expected the Mexican
Ambassador to the new Human Rights Council to become the
Chair-designate, and wanted to work with him on a process of
consultation and facilitation to line up the first session of
the HRC.


4. (SBU) In the EU's view, the HRC's order of business
should include consideration of the reports of all five
intergovernmental working groups, including those on:

-- Racism, to extend its mandate
-- The right of development, to extend its mandate
-- The Draft Convention on Disappearances, which the EU would
like the HRC to adopt
-- The Optional Protocol on Economic and Social Rights
-- The Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples


5. (SBU) According to Theuermann, the EU's reasoning was that
one needed to read the first article of the draft declaration
in conjunction with Article 45, which referred to the
provisions of the UN Charter that deal with territorial
integrity. It was also clear (he said) that the DRIP, a
non-binding declaration, could not undermine legally binding
treaties, such as the UN Charter and the International Treaty
for Civil and Political Rights (ITCPR).


6. (SBU) Theuermann noted that the views of the Scandinavian
EU member states were strongly in favor of DRIP, and that the
solid support DRIP had among the Latin American countries was
also an important factor. He urged the U.S. and Australia to
participate actively in the consultations in Geneva in early
June. He said he also hoped to discuss the draft declaration
with U.S. officials in a DVC (inlcuding DRL) on Wednesday,
May 24.

Phillips