REPORT OF FIRST G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BERLIN 000321 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM OTRA PTER UNGA KJUS GM SUBJECT: REPORT OF FIRST G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN PRESIDENCY: FEBRUARY 12-15, 2006 ENTIRE TEXT SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The first meeting of the G-8 Lyon-Roma Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group (LR/ACT) under the German Presidency was held in Berlin from February 12-15, 2006. The U.S. delegation was co-chaired by INL DAS Elizabeth Verville and S/CT Director for Trans-Regional Affairs Roopa Rangaswamy, and included representatives from the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security. Highlights include: - Substantial German resistance to moving forward in Lyon-Roma on any aspect of the U.S. cash smuggling initiative (perhaps based for some on lack of understanding of discrete law enforcement aspects on which they invited a U.S. follow-on paper); - Resistance by the Japanese to the text of the political declaration on the need for all states to adopt and enforce effective child pornography laws including possession (U.S. to coordinate follow-on); - Cooperative counterterrorism efforts between the G-8 and EU and recommendations on how to implement the efficiency and effectiveness of the UN CT work; - Agreement to three U.S. project proposals on Critical Energy Infrastructure; - Cooperative actions to promote UN Convention Against Corruption and UN Transnational Organized Crime Convention implementation; and - Finalizing a U.S.-led best practices paper on quality control of data submitted to Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database for use by Interpol's advisory group. END SUMMARY CASH COURIER INITIATIVE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The U.S. urged support for its initiative/project that sought to address law enforcement aspects of the use of bulk cash smuggling as means for financing terrorist activities. The German chair expressed strong opposition, denied that bulk cash smuggling is a means of financing terror, saw no role for the Lyon/Roma group, and recommended that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) or Finance Ministers tackle the issue. Italy also suggested that the initiative be pursued by Finance Ministers, but was willing to consider Lyon-Roma participation for any law enforcement related projects. Japan thought the project could help raise awareness of the threat and also thought that Lyon-Roma could address law enforcement related projects. The United Kingdom and Canada both provided support for the U.S. proposal, but observed that in their territories bulk cash smuggling was largely an issue related to organized crime and narcotics trafficking. The UK noted that the cash courier projects could provide valuable intelligence relating to the strategic routes used by smugglers to transfer funds across borders. The European Commission noted that on July 15 new legislation will go into effect requiring states to put measures in place to detect the physical cross-border transportation of currency over Euros 10,000. The United States agreed to revise its concept paper by the end of February to further refine the threat posed by cash smuggling and to delineate work that Lyon-Roma could appropriately address to complement FATF. DECLARATION ON COMBATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The U.S. presented its draft declaration intended for JHA Ministers outlining the serious nature of the problem of child pornography and the need for strong action to implant the international legal framework against it. Most delegations support a strong statement, but Japan expressed concerns with its emphasis on addressing all forms of criminal activity relating to child pornography, including possession and receipt, as Japan does not criminalize receipt or possession without intent to distribute. Side discussions with Japan produced possible compromises, but U.S. and others made clear that dilution of the statement was not acceptable. Several delegations will provide written comments and we BERLIN 00000321 002 OF 005 will send out another draft. UN RELATED COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Germany briefed the L/R Heads on UN actions in New York including the adoption of the UN global counterterrorism (CT) strategy and the establishment of a CT Implementation Task Force. The group discussed a Russian draft non-paper containing possible G-8 CT priorities. G-8 partners decided not to pass the Russian paper to the UN task force and clarified that the 2006 St. Petersburg CT Summit Statements should serve as a blueprint for advancing CT work at the UN. Partners agreed to convey bilateral priorities separately. ¶5. (SBU) As part of the 2006 St. Petersburg Declaration on Counter-Terrorism, the G-8 agreed to report in 2007 on results of efforts to support and strengthen UN CT efforts and to enhance the role of the entire UN system in coordinating its work. Germany agreed to circulate a draft report in the next month for consideration by the G-8 partners. ¶6. (SBU) CCIT: All G-8 partners reiterated support for the conclusion of the UN's Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and shared initial reactions to the proposed Greek draft compromise on section 18.5. All members agreed that the original draft remains optimal, and supported Germany's proposed tactic to await a response from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) before formally responding to the new proposed compromise text. ¶7. (SBU) UNSCR 1624: The United Kingdom distributed a compilation of reports prepared by G-8 partners on implementation of UNSCR 1624. Given that only 69 countries have submitted reports on implementation of UNSCR 1624, the UK stressed the importance of sharing G-8 experiences on implementation to serve as an example for other states. The United States and Japan referred to Constitutional and other limitations on the ability of their governments to participate in an effort to develop best practices. Canada raised the diversity of G-8 partners, legal systems. The UK acknowledged these sensitivities and proposed a discussion of next steps at a meeting in New York in three weeks. RADICALIZATION AND RECRUITMENT OF TERRORISTS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The UK circulated a proposal to hold a seminar on deradicalization in September/October. The project would enable the G-8 to learn from the experiences of countries that have established deradicalization and rehabilitation programs for terrorists. While the G-8 would be heavily involved in organizing the seminar, it would not be characterized as a G-8 event. The European Commission reported it is spending Euros 750,000 on radicalization projects and studies focused on cross-cultural dialogue, ideologies and youth awareness. TWO PROBLEMATIC GERMAN CT PROPOSALS -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The U.S. Delegation worked closely with Germany and Russia to successfully narrow the scope of two problematic German counterterrorism proposals. Germany's proposed project to examine expulsion and surveillance measures for terrorists was revised to focus on elaboration and sharing of domestic laws and authorities to facilitate the removal of persons with a known or suspected terrorist background. The German proposal to examine measures taken against news broadcasters was revised to focus on television and radio broadcasters owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of terrorist organizations. Afghanistan Ad hoc Experts Group -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The ad hoc meeting on Afghanistan experts met on February 12. Despite broad areas of agreement, there was no consensus on eradication, and the U.S. was alone in its BERLIN 00000321 003 OF 005 support of herbicides. The UK will be handing over the G-8 CN matrix to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and will be developing a new matrix to address G-8 lobbying targets. The European Commission offered to develop an "action oriented" paper to enhance coordination on CN and justice issues. Italy will be hosting a Rome Conference in May to address the justice sector and rule of law. Lastly, the Russian Federation handed out a draft resolution on Drug Trafficking Routes. They would like for it to be a G-8 sponsored resolution for the CND; however, Canada and Germany expressed concern about a G-8 sponsored resolution. The U.S. reserved its position. Germany reported on the Experts Group in Heads, and several countries praised the usefulness of the meeting, and Germany announced plans for another one in April. Subgroups -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The Migration Experts Subgroup finished the final Secure and Facilitated Travel Initiative (SAFTI) project on the facilitation of visa issuance processes. The best practices paper emphasized the need to abide by domestic law and policies, while enhancing security and streamlining procedures. The subgroup also revised and finalized the U.S. best practices paper on quality control of data submitted to Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database. The subgroup requested that Lyon-Roma heads approve the work and provide it for use by Interpol's advisory group. In addition, the subgroup agreed to conduct another joint interdiction exercise aimed at fraudulent passports from Brazil and Korea. ¶12. (SBU) The Criminal-Legal Affairs Subgroup discussed the U.S. project on extraterritorial jurisdiction for child sex offenses, but was unable to agree on best practices for prosecuting such cases. Participation by other states was limited, as they had not brought experts or submitted the U.S. paper for review prior to the meeting. We intend to continue efforts to produce a report by April on the experience of G-8 countries. The group also agreed to pursue a Canadian proposal to hold an eight-way video conference in April to discuss developments in mutual legal assistance and extradition and promote the use of video conferencing technology. ¶13. (SBU) The Law Enforcement Subgroup focused on several new projects. The German IPR project was approved subject to the U.S. caveats that the nature of the project's final product be reconsidered after questionnaire responses have been provided and that it not duplicate the principles developed by the IPR experts' group last November. There were initial discussions on two of the three U.S critical energy infrastructure projects. Russia offered to cosponsor both projects. ¶14. (SBU) On UK child protection proposals, the international most wanted web site was approved and the G-8 Day of Action was deferred pending completion of the HODs JHA Ministerial declaration on child pornography. The revised U.S. proposal addressing distribution of controlled drugs via the Internet was also approved. Russia informally broached a project that would share best practices for counter narcotics and counterterrorism personnel training methods. ¶15. (SBU) LEPSG addressed several ongoing projects. Under the UK lead, agreement has now been reached on a DNA Search Request Network utilizing the Interpol 24/7 secure communications system. Initial testing of the network will occur this spring. The Group was briefed on the outcome of the Radicalization and Recruitment/Neighborhood Policing experts' meeting and all agreed that the project is complete. The UK will present a follow-on proposal on de-radicalization at the next meeting. The U.S. briefed the prison radicalization project, and all agreed that an experts' meeting will be held in conjunction with the April meeting to review the project's conclusions and consider whether a follow-on project should be proposed. ¶16. (SBU) The Counterterrorism Practitioners enjoyed a BERLIN 00000321 004 OF 005 productive session. The subgroup agreed to update the U.S.-drafted analytic assessment on terrorist safe havens and circulate it for final review at the April meeting, after which it will be provided to Heads of Delegation's (HODs) for their use within Counterterrorism Action Group (CTAG). On the projects relating to securing critical energy infrastructure, the subgroup agreed to expand the existing project of compiling analytical assessments of the terrorist threat to oil and gas infrastructure to include all other aspects of critical energy infrastructure. There was also consensus to hold several ad hoc experts meetings in the coming months, including a March 14 meeting in Moscow for G-8 Improvised Explosive Device (IED) experts to update a compendium of IEDs used in combat zones, and two meetings to be held in Berlin on the Monday preceding the April meetings, dealing with prison radicalization and aviation security issues. The U.S. also agreed to raise a German request that we will consider hosting this year's annual gathering of G-8 hostage rescue and personnel recovery experts in the fall. Germany and Canada hosted the previous two meetings of the group. ¶17. (SBU) The High-Tech Crime Subgroup's continuing mandate is to enhance the abilities of law enforcement to prevent, investigate and prosecute criminal and terrorist acts that make use of computer networks and other new technologies. To this end, the HTCSG agenda focused both on terrorist exploitation of the Internet, and law enforcement use of the Internet for criminal investigations and open-source data collection on terrorist groups. Other topics of discussion included malicious software (viruses and worms),online payment systems, and critical information infrastructure protection. The HTCSG also discussed the current state of the 24/7 Network of high-tech crime points of contact which is managed by the group. ¶18. (SBU) The Transportation Security Subgroup considered and agreed upon next steps for three projects led by the United States related to explosives detection technology research and development, the use of behavior observation techniques in the aviation environment and identifying future threats to civil aviation. Canada furthered its project on security management systems and addressed a new project approved in November 2006 in the area of transportation security clearances. Canada and Japan sponsored a new project to establish best practices in auditing the security of port facilities, which is undertaken for the purpose of sharing results with the International Maritime Organization (the reference to which was removed as a result of interventions by European Commission observers, a point of contention for the U.S.). One other new project led by France was considered as a future proposal. It deals with Chemical, Biological, Radiological (CBR) decontamination and business recovery. Conclusion -------------- ¶19. (SBU) Prior to the Lyon-Roma meeting, the Egyptians demarched some of the Eight bilaterally to gauge whether they could attend the LR/ACT meeting as observers. The Germans responded informally that observer status for Egypt was not possible. After extensive discussion, including possibilities for engaging Egypt in other ways and fora, the Heads of Delegation decided that the informal German response was adequate and agreed to pursue any relevant CTAG issues with the Egyptians bilaterally. ¶20. (SBU) COMMENT: The Germans ably chaired the first meeting of LR/ACT. As outlined above, we have been able to identify several projects for presentation at the Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial. As we have not received any indication on possible CT deliverables for the German Presidency, we should continue to press the Germans for a robust CT initiative, including our cash courier and Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) proposals, which we outlined for Heads. END COMMENT ¶21. (U) This cable was drafted and cleared by the U.S. delegation prior to departure from post. BERLIN 00000321 005 OF 005 TIMKEN JR