WAR CRIMES DEPUTY ASKS EU FOR HELP ON GUANTANAMO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 003543

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2017
TAGS: PREL KJUS CB EUN
SUBJECT: WAR CRIMES DEPUTY ASKS EU FOR HELP ON GUANTANAMO
AND KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL

Classified By: Acting Deputy Political Counselor Vincent Carver for rea
sons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Milbert Shin, Deputy for War Crimes Issues,
met with EU officials Dec. 12-13 to request EU assistance in
facilitating U.S. agreements with European states to accept
transferees from Guantanamo. While obtaining no commitments,
he did receive assurances from officials in the Council
Secretariat that they would raise the request with High

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Representative Solana's Representative for Human Rights. In
separate meetings, he discussed funding plans and concerns
about corruption in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) with the
European Commission. End summary.


2. (C) S/WCI Deputy Shin told officials at the Council
Secretariat that the U.S. is asking countries with strong

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human rights records, including many EU member states, to
accept approximately 23 Guantanamo detainees who are
scheduled for transfer but cannot be sent back to their home
countries for fear of persecution. The only European country
to so far accept former detainees from Guantanamo is Albania,
which took eight people, Shin said. He noted that the U.S.
is not seeking to make the transfers an EU issue, but is
instead requesting that High Representative Solana use his
good offices to facilitate discussion among the U.S. and EU
member states that have expressed a willingness to consider
accepting transferees. Claudia Gintersdorfer, administrator
in the Council Secretariat's Human Rights Unit, asked why the
U.S. doesn't accept the Guantanamo transferees itself. Shin
replied that the combination of domestic political opposition
and legal hurdles (including immigration restrictions on
those giving material support to terrorists) make that option
untenable. In response to Gintersdorfer's query about
security mitigation measures the U.S. would offer, Shin said
the U.S. does not ask countries to hold detainees on its
behalf, but rather asks that they undertake measures to
mitigate the risk an individual may pose, ranging from
investigation and prosecution to travel restrictions and
surveillance measures. Christiane Hohn, of the Council
Secretariat's Transatlantic Relations Unit, said the EU would

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like to see Guantanamo closed, but it is up to each member
state to decide about accepting former detainees. Morten
Knudsen, who follows UN and International Criminal Court
issues at the Council Secretariat, described the potential
acceptance of transferees from Guantanamo as "legally
complicated and politically controversial." Gintersdorfer,
Hohn, and Knudsen agreed to present Shin's request to Riina
Kionka, Solana's Representative for Human Rights. Shin also
met with EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove,
the content of which will be reported septel.


3. (SBU) In a separate meeting, Shin spoke with European
Commission Cambodia officers Thomas Gnocchi and Daniele Dal
Molin about EU funding for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, the UNDP
audit report, and the proposal for a UN Special Advisor to
the Secretary General for the court. Gnocchi fully agreed
with Shin,s assessment that allegations of corruption must
be addressed and mechanisms should be put in place to
mitigate the potential for similar problems in the future.
He cited EU efforts to address concerns about corruption and
mismanagement, explaining that after initial problems
securing full access to the UNDP audit report, the Commission
sent a six-point letter to UNDP outlining its concerns.
Following from the points in the letter, the EU is
contributing to the Terms of Reference for a further review
designed to measure the implementation of the audit
recommendations. The review will be carried out by UNDP in
January 2008. Gnocchi explained that the review will be
crucial in determining whether the EU will continue its
funding of the tribunal. He added that the Commission will
also take note of member state and U.S. actions on funding as
it determines its own course of action. While the final
decision on funding rests with the Human Rights Unit of the
Commission, Gnocchi cautioned that other departments will
participate in the discussion and he could not rule out a
decision by the independent anti fraud office or European
Court of Auditors to launch further investigations in
response to the allegations against the tribunal, which could
impact additional funding. In response to Shin,s question
about timing of a decision, Gnocchi said that, under the best
case scenario, a decision would be made at the end of the
review, but the money would not actually be available until
late 2008. He promised to make details of the review terms of
reference available to the U.S.


4. (SBU) S/WCI Deputy Shin explained the need to create a UN
Special Advisor position in order to create more coherence
within the court and among the UN bodies involved in
supporting the court. The Special Advisor would further

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efforts to implement the UNDP audit report recommendations.
Gnocchi appeared to favor the idea in principle. He noted
however that there was, to his knowledge, no EU consensus on
the issue, so it would be necessary to first canvass involved
member states before an official common view could be
articulated. He agreed to further investigate member state
positions and inform U.S. officials of EU thinking.


5. (SBU) Shin also met with two officials from the EuropeAid
Cooperation Office, Erich Wilhelm Muller, Director of the
Asia Directorate, and Andre Philippe Chalmin, administrator,
who were careful to point out that their role in the KRT is
purely to administer the contractual aspects of Commission
decisions and not to delve into political and policy realms.
Muller said, however, that the Commission has been concerned
about UNDP's oversight of the KRT, noting that it has a
management obligation to ensure that corruption is addressed.
He described his role as making sure that political
sensitivities are not overriding sound financial management
decisions. In terms of future KRT funding from the
Commission, Muller said it can quickly increase its original
funding by up to 20 percent through a relatively simple
process, but anything beyond that would involve a broader
decision process and, therefore, would take a minimum of
three months. Financing decisions of more than 1 million
euros generally need to be approved by member state
committees and the European Parliament, he said.


6. (U) This report has been cleared by S/WCI Deputy Shin.
MURRAY
.