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Created
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07BERLIN806
2007-04-20 10:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Berlin
Cable title:  

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

Tags:  KCRM KJUS OTRA PTER SNAR UNGA GM AF 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BERLIN 000806 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS
FOR NSC ELIZABETH FARR AND STEVE NEWHOUSE
DOJ FOR DAG SWARTZ
STATE FOR E, P, EEB
UNVIE FOR HOWARD SOLOMON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KJUS OTRA PTER SNAR UNGA GM AF
SUBJECT: REPORT OF SECOND G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN
PRESIDENCY: APRIL 16-19, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BERLIN 000806

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS
FOR NSC ELIZABETH FARR AND STEVE NEWHOUSE
DOJ FOR DAG SWARTZ
STATE FOR E, P, EEB
UNVIE FOR HOWARD SOLOMON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KJUS OTRA PTER SNAR UNGA GM AF
SUBJECT: REPORT OF SECOND G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN
PRESIDENCY: APRIL 16-19, 2007


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The second meeting of the G-8 Lyon-Roma
Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group (LR/ACT) under the German
Presidency was held in Berlin from April 16-19, 2007. The
U.S. delegation was co-chaired by INL DAS Elizabeth Verville
and S/CT Deputy Coordinator Virginia Palmer and included
representatives from the Departments of State, Justice, and
Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Highlights include:

- Agreement on U.S. initiative to pursue specific projects to
inhibit illicit cash smuggling;

- Circulation by the U.S. of a revised draft of the German
Counterterrorism Summit Statement, and brief presentation of
substantive additions that U.S. FASS tabled in Bonn;

- Agreement to U.S.-drafted G-8 Justice and Home Affairs
Ministerial Declaration on Combating Child Pornography;

- Discussion of further actions to promote substantive
progress on the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and
UN Transnational Organized Crime Convention implementation;
including designating asset recovery experts to consider how
best to implement UNCAC asset recovery articles. END SUMMARY.

Cash Courier Initiative
--------------


2. (SBU) Lyon-Roma Heads approved the revised U.S. paper on
inhibiting illicit cash smuggling and observed that the
revised draft had addressed the concerns raised at the
February meeting. Canada and Japan continued to stress the
importance of ensuring that the cash courier initiative
projects not overlap with Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
activities. The UK noted that the initiative also could
produce intelligence on terrorist networks and terror
financing routes. Germany, which had expressed opposition to
the initiative in February, endorsed the U.S. proposal, but
noted that it would provide specific comments in the coming
days. The U.S. agreed to develop project proposals that
would avoid duplication with FATF work and encouraged other
partners to do so as well.


G-8 Summit Statement on Counterterrorism
--------------


3. (SBU) The U.S. noted the importance of having a concrete
statement which mentions specific G-8 commitments to inhibit
bulk cash smuggling, promote economic recovery i the
Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, preventWMD proliferation
financing, and enhance the secrity of critical energy
infrastructure. The U.S circulated a revised text including
these elements and mentioned that the U.S. Foreign Affairs
Sos Sherpa (FASS) would be tabling the document for
discussion at the April 16-17 FASS meeting. The K and
Canada provided language on radicalizationand recruitment of
terrorists for inclusion in the statement. Japan and Canada
asked that the statement include a categorical rejection of
terrorism and expressed reservations about the inclusion of
language that directly connected economic
stability/prosperity with counterterrorism activities.
Another draft report will be circulated by the Presidency
after input on the results of the FASS discussions in Bonn.

Summit Report on G-8 Efforts to Strengthen the UN,s
Counterterrorism Activities
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Heads approved in principle a draft summit report on
Efforts to Strengthen the UN,s CT Activities and agreed to
submit additional written comments by May 4 for inclusion in
a revised draft the Presidency will circulate. Heads also
discussed an Italian draft non-paper on ways to facilitate

BERLIN 00000806 002 OF 006


the UN CTC/CTED,s delivery of technical assistance and
agreed to provide additional comments by May 4. After the
paper is revised, Germany will host a meeting in New York to
discuss how the paper might be used, ideally as the basis for
a discussion in New York with CTC and CTED.

JHA Ministerial Declaration on Combating Child Pornography
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) The U.S. finalized and obtained Heads, agreement on
its JHA Ministerial Declaration outlining the serious nature
of the problem of child pornography and the need for strong
action to enforce the international legal framework against
it. The U.S. Delegation addressed the concerns of Japan, UK,
Russia, and Canada in order to successfully reach agreement
on the declaration.

Terrorist Use of the Internet
--------------


6. (SBU) Heads approved a collection of G-8 national
practices related to preventing terrorist use of the Internet
to be included as a deliverable for the JHA Ministerial. The
U.S. succeeded in narrowing the scope of the project by
revising the project from a best practices document to an
"analysis of national practices;" Germany, France, and Russia
pushed for follow-on work. The U.S. resisted, but ultimately
agreed to consider further steps after examining specific
project proposals that may be put forward.

Implementation of UNSCR 1624
--------------


7. (SBU) Partners supported the UK effort to develop a paper
that described the various G-8 national approaches to
implementation of UNSCR 1624. The UK acknowledged the
sensitivities related to this issue and stressed that the
paper is a compilation and a tool to assist states in
enhancing implementation. The UK proposed that G-8 UN
missions in New York coordinate on an approach to the UN CTC
to share the final paper as a UK non-paper in informal
discussions with CTED and CTC. Germany asked that all
comments on the UK draft paper be submitted by May 18.

Radicalization and Recruitment
--------------


8. (SBU) Heads approved the UK,s proposal to identify,
analyze, assess and catalogue deradicalization interventions
from third countries at a seminar to be held in the fall in
London. The UK expects to invite 50 participants to the
seminar and asked for recommendations on which third
countries should be invited. The UK proposes to invite
presentations by Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan. The
U.S. previously suggested inviting Indonesia, Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, Morocco, and Algeria. All G-8 Partners could
participate in the seminar. A report on the seminar would be
provided to the CT Practitioners Group and Heads. There were
sensitivities expressed in the subgroups about countries to
be invited and all agreed to consult prior to the event.

UN Related Efforts to Combat Organized Crime
--------------


9. (SBU) CND: The U.S. provided a brief update to efforts
made in the 50th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The U.S.
noted the four resolutions adopted at the CND aimed at
preventing the diversion of precursor chemicals used in the
production of illicit drugs. Also, the U.S. requested
close-consultations with G-8 member states to coordinate any
future recommendations on the rescheduling of substances to
the World Health Organization. Lastly, the U.S. expressed
appreciation for the attention that was given to Afghanistan

BERLIN 00000806 003 OF 006


at the CND.


10. (SBU) Crime Commission: The U.S. previewed four focal
points for the upcoming UN Crime Commission meetings in
Vienna. First, the U.S. reiterated the importance of work
done to combat child sexual exploitation and urged support
for a resolution it was putting forward. Second, the U.S.
noted it will call attention to the problem that gangs have
caused in the U.S. and Western Hemisphere, and highlight what
the U.S. is doing domestically and internationally to combat
the problem. Third, the U.S. stressed the importance of
Indonesia and Brazil working together to come to a consensus
on the illegal logging resolution. Last, the U.S. raised the
importance of governance and the need for the G-8 to work
together to overcome budgetary issues.


11. (SBU) UNCAC: The U.S. reiterated the need for G-8
members' outreach to ten other governments to encourage them
to respond in a timely manner to the UN Convention Against
Corruption self-assessment checklist and offer to provide
assistance in this regard. The U.S. welcomed France,s
willingness to engage UNCAC parties and signatories,
particularly those in Africa. The UK noted it was still
deliberating on its ten countries, but that it was funding a
three-year program through the Commonwealth to fulfill UNCAC.
Canada said that it was in the process of finalizing its ten
countries. Germany expressed an intent to reach out to EU
Member States. Japan, Italy, and Russia raised concerns with
reaching out to others as they have not "ratified" the
Convention.


12. (SBU) The U.S. also attempted to reinvigorate the G-8
asset recovery initiative and Lyon-Roma attention to this
issue. The U.S. identified the various substantive areas in
which Lyon-Roma could implement UNCAC asset recovery
articles, such as increasing enhanced scrutiny, educating
countries on mutual legal assistance, and developing
legislative or regulatory tools to confiscate and return
assets. The U.S suggested holding an asset recovery meeting
prior to the scheduled meeting(s) of the Corruption
Convention Conference of State Parties (COSP) Working Group
on asset recovery in August.
Germany supported the idea and proposed an exchange of asset
recovery points of contact to allow experts to communicate
prior to the COSP meeting. The U.S. offered to take the lead
in arranging contacts once contact points are named. Germany
proposed a follow-up asset recovery ad hoc meeting in
November, if any follow-on was required.

New Projects
--------------


13. (SBU) Russia introduced a proposal on the sharing of
counternarcotics law enforcement training experiences and
information. The U.S., UK, Germany, and Japan all agreed in
concept, but requested more time to make further refinements
to the proposal.


14. (SBU) Japan introduced a proposal for the Migration
Experts Subgroup (MESG) to do a best practices paper for
ensuring that airlines comply with their duty to ascertain
that passengers have the proper documents before boarding
airplanes. The U.S. expressed its full-support, but, at the
request of the UK and Germany, it was sent to the
Transportation Security Subgroup (TSSG) for further review.


15. (SBU) France proposed a project on traffic recovery after
a chemical/biological/radiological attack. Heads postponed
review of the project to provide the Transport Security
Subgroup a chance to review and approve the project. Most
partners expressed support for the concept.

JHA Ministerial Deliverables

BERLIN 00000806 004 OF 006


--------------


16. (SBU) The U.S. presented a comprehensive report for
presentation to the JHA Ministers on the 2004 Asset Recovery
Initiative. The 2004 initiative encompassed many different
projects, some of which were undertaken by Heads and others
by the Criminal Legal Affairs Subgroup. The report to
Ministers summarizes all work that has been done on this
initiative and also serves as a platform on which to deliver
the various papers Lyon-Roma asset recovery experts have
developed. The U.S. will provide the final of the Report and
recommendations on release of papers to Germany to circulate
for final Heads approval.

Afghanistan Ad Hoc Experts Meeting
--------------


17. (SBU) The ad hoc meeting on Afghanistan experts met on
April 16 to discuss recent developments on counter-narcotics.
Despite the potential increase from last year,s record
harvest, the UK argued there was significant progress in the
North and other regions, attributing these successes to the
presence of governance, stable security and access to
alternative livelihoods. The U.S. supported this assessment,
arguing for a balanced approach that included incentives like
the Good Performance Initiative as well as disincentives,
such as targeted eradication. The U.S. and the UK emphasized
the growing nexus between narcotics and terrorism in
Afghanistan and urged adoption of ideas in the March 2007
resolution on Afghanistan. G-8 countries appeared amenable
to this with the exception of Italy. The U.S. urged greater
attention to the increasing use of Africa as a point of
transshipment for Afghan heroin, pointing to reports from the
UNODC, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB),
Pakistani law enforcement, and media reports. A number of
delegations highlighted the importance of encouraging
producer and transit countries to remain focused on precursor
chemicals for heroin, working with INCB and UNODC to
strengthen border controls and prevent diversion and
smuggling.

G-8 Prisons Ad Hoc Experts Meeting
--------------


18. (SBU) The U.S. chaired an experts meeting on April 16 to
help develop next steps related to the G-8 Project on
Terrorist Recruitment in Prisons. The G-8 produced a
beneficial practices document by incorporating survey
responses and the discussions of the April 2006 experts
meeting. Most partners expressed support for the experts
meetings as a means for exchanging information. Partners
agreed to maintain an on-going dialogue outside the context
of Lyon-Roma meetings.

Aviation Security Ad Hoc Experts Meeting
--------------


19. (SBU) Experts from three subgroups -- TSSG, Law
Enforcement Projects Subgroup (LEPSG) and CT Practitioners --
met to discuss future threats to aviation security. There
was universal agreement that targeting of aviation remains a
key strategic goal for terrorists, despite the availability
of softer, more accessible targets. Specifically, experts
noted common concerns over the potential use of high impact
devices such as IEDs, Vehicle Borne IEDs, MANPADS, liquids
and gels explosives, weapons of mass destruction, and
low-tech devices such as shoes, cell phones and other
concealed or disguised objects. The threat posed by
insiders, suicide bombers, and stowaways was mentioned
repeatedly. There is broad agreement that cargo and small
aircraft have associated vulnerabilities that need further
exploration. Also discussed was the possibility of
innovations in explosives, concealment measures,

BERLIN 00000806 005 OF 006


cyber-terrorism, model aircraft, and unmanned airborne
vehicles. The discussions will form the basis of important
work for current and future G-8 projects.

Critical Infrastructure Protection Ad Hoc Meeting
-------------- --------------


20. (SBU) LEPSG and CT Practitioners subgroups reported that
the three U.S./Russia led critical energy infrastructure
protection projects would be completed by November. The
threat assessment project will be combined with an existing
CT Practitioners project to compile analytical assessments of
terrorist threat to oil and gas infrastructure.

Subgroups
--------------


21. (SBU) The Criminal Legal Affairs Subgroup focused on two
deliverables for the JHA Ministerial which will form the
basis for discussion for Ministers in Munich. First, the
group completed work on several papers that are the final
aspects of the 2004 Asset Recovery Initiative. Also, the
group completed a paper collecting G-8 experience
implementing laws establishing extraterritorial jurisdiction
over sex crimes against children committed by their nationals
-- so-called "child sex tourism." All of these projects were
led by the U.S. and the completed papers, once public, will
be of use in U.S. work on corruption and child sexual
exploitation issues in other multilateral fora. The group
also participated in a nine-way videoconference organized by
Canada among authorities responsible for extradition and
mutual legal assistance in the G-8 states and with Eurojust.


22. (SBU) The Migration Experts Subgroup focused on the
terrorist expulsion project. The group exchanged domestic
legal authorities and discussed a draft of a findings
document summarizing the Member States, submission. This
stocktaking will be a deliverable for the JHA Ministerial.
The group also prepared for the next joint interdiction
exercise by exchanging intelligence about fraud including the
targeted documents. Finally, the group had a presentation
from Interpol on its Human Smuggling and Trafficking
messaging database.


23. (SBU) The Law Enforcement Projects Subgroup (LEPSG)
considered three counter-narcotics projects. The first is a
Russian proposal on training of narcotics investigators. It
will undergo revision and be re-circulated by June 1. The
second is a German project on synthetic drugs which was
concluded. Germany will circulate a report for approval and
submission as a ministerial deliverable. The third is the
U.S. project on rogue Internet pharmacies that reviewed the
results of our questionnaire. Draft best practices will be
circulated prior to the next meeting. The group also
reviewed several law enforcement projects. In the area of
DNA, the existing project will be advanced through an
experts' meeting to be hosted by the U.S. in June, with the
objective of finalizing the project and having a G-8 search
request network operational by the November meeting. The
Italian draft proposal for an additional DNA project will be
evaluated at the experts' meeting. The U.S. reported on the
prison radicalization experts' meeting, and LEPSG endorsed
the conclusion that interested G-8 experts would continue to
collaborate, outside the context of the G-8, and report back
at the second Lyon-Roma meeting in 2008.


24. (SBU) The High-Tech Crime Subgroup discussions included:
Critical information infrastructure protection; law
enforcement issues arising from Internet telephony; criminal
exploitation of the Internet domain name system; criminal use
of online virtual payment services; terrorist use of the
Internet; and the spread of malicious software and
BOT-networks. The Chair reported on an important Council of

BERLIN 00000806 006 OF 006


Europe Cybercrime Conference and 24/7 Network workshop to be
held 11-12 June in Strasbourg, at which the Subgroup will be
represented.


25. (SBU) The Transportation Security Subgroup agreed to
complete surveys by May 31 for two projects led by the U.S.
related to explosives detection technology research and
development and the use of behavior observation techniques in
the aviation environment. Canada furthered two projects on
security management systems and transportation security
clearances. Canada and Japan reviewed their joint project to
establish best practices in auditing the security of port
facilities. The UK and U.S. offered suggestions on how to
enhance the survey and end product that were approved. The
deadline for comments on the joint project draft survey was
extended to May 15 and for completed surveys to July 31. The
chair announced that a random test of the G-8 aviation
security point-of-contact network will be launched in the
coming weeks.


26. (SBU) The German chair of the Counterterrorism
Practitioners Subgroup (CTPSG) requested an additional four
weeks to review U.S. revisions made to a joint analytic
assessment on terrorist safe havens, which Germany will
recirculate to all G-8 partners for review and approval by
the November meetings, after which it will be provided to the
Heads of Delegation for their use within the Counterterrorism
Action Group (CTAG). The assessment focuses currently on the
Pakistan/Afghanistan border areas, Yemen the southwestern
part of the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and the
Sahel and Maghreb. The CTPSG completed its joint interim
threat assessment that primarily focused on the threat of
al-Qa,ida and plans to review the compilation of G-8
partners, measures taken to counter terrorists, misuse of
broadcasters in the next few weeks. In addition, Germany
made a presentation on the suitcase bombs which were found on
German regional trains in July 2006; Italy presented on
investigations which led to the dismantlement of a left-wing
terrorist group; and the U.S. presented on the role and
responsibilities of the National Counterterrorism Center.
The U.S. announced at the Heads meeting it will host the
third annual International G-8 Conference on Kidnappings, to
be held in conjunction with the ad-hoc hostage negotiators
conference being held in September. S/CT will fund the
conference.
TIMKEN JR