FREETOWN DEMARCHE DELIVERED UN HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L FREETOWN 000289 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/RHS (DOUG ROGN AND DEEPA GHOSH), DRL/MLGA, EUR/PGI E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2017 TAGS: PHUM PREL SUBJECT: FREETOWN DEMARCHE DELIVERED UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CANDIDACY OF BELARUS REF: SECSTATE 58056 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Hull, reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) On May 8, DCM met with Sierra Leone MFA Director General Ambassador Umaru Wurie to convey points reftel concerning U.S. concern over the Human Rights Council candidacy of Belarus. She emphasized the U.S. desire to support candidates who show a genuined committment to human rights. Ambassador Wurie stated that he would order the Sierra Leone mission in New York not to support the candidacy of Belarus. During the meeting he ordered a subordinate to call New York with this instruction immediately. Wurie agreed that it was not helpful for the HRC to have members who had a poor record of human rights. HULL