HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING, JUNE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 001656 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA, L/HRR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM UNHRC SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING, JUNE 19-22 REF: GENEVA 1609 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Human Rights Council (HRC) held the first organizational meeting of its second year June 19-22 to follow up on institution-building in preparation for the next Council session (Sept. 10-28). In a worrisome indication that negotiations in Geneva are unlikely to be more transparent than under former Council president de Alba, newly-elected HRC President Doru Costea (Romania) said he would not hold open meetings on the development of a program of work for the Council, but would be available to meet with delegates individually or as groups during the next month. His target date to have an agreed program of work and a calendar of meetings for the HRC's second year is an organizational meeting planned for August 28. For now, the only other meeting scheduled before the September session will be a brief informal meeting on July 25 to select facilitators for the elaboration of various institution-building modalities. On June 20, delegates adopted three resolutions -- including two related to Israel -- which were tabled during the June 11-18 session. Costea warned that the Council's second year would be just as demanding as the first and include at least 10 weeks of regular Council sessions, six weeks of universal periodic review (UPR) working group sessions, and weeks of other meetings, including organizational meetings, Durban-related business, and special sessions. END SUMMARY. HRC CALENDAR AND PROGRAM OF WORK -------------- ¶2. (U) Despite a new mandate calling on the Council to adopt a program of work and an annual calendar of regular sessions at its first organizational meeting, HRC President Costea said the task was too difficult to carry out in one or two days. (Note: the program of work is intended to operationalize the agenda, which was included in the institutional-building package. End Note.) Costea plans to develop a proposal in consultation with regional groups, delegations, and others, but does not plan to hold open negotiations. Costea proposed presenting the program of work and meeting calendar for adoption at an August 28 organizational meeting. A number of delegations across regional groups called on Costea to prepare a proposal well in advance of the September session in order to allow 
delegations and NGO's time to prepare for that session as well as subsequent meetings. There was no decision regarding a possible Council meeting in November-December. UPR CONFUSION -------------- ¶3. (U) Costea laid to rest confusion over whether the six weeks of UPR were included in the Council's 10 weeks of regular sessions or were meant to be in addition to them. He said that UPR would be a separate process as far as timing and that it was not a matter for further discussion. Pakistan, China, Algeria, South Africa, and Nigeria originally insisted that the six weeks of UPR were meant to be part of the regular sessions, while Brazil, Portugal, Germany, the UK, Australia, Italy, and the Netherlands maintained that the resolution clearly called for inter-sessional UPR meetings. INSTITUTION-BUILDING CONTINUED -------------- ¶4. (U) For institution-building follow-up, President Costea said he would designate four separate facilitators to head working groups on: 1) UPR modalities; 2) the establishment of an expert advisory committee and mechanisms to continue the working groups of the former Sub-Commission; 3) setting of selection criteria for mandate holders; and 4) issues relating to the complaints procedure. He hoped to have facilitators selected by the July 25 informal meeting. A number of Asian and African delegations asked Costea to appoint Bureau members (i.e. the vice-presidents) as facilitators. Others noted that Bureau members already carried a heavy load, suggesting that the facilitators be selected from other members. COUNCIL ADOPTS HRC5 RESOLUTIONS GENEVA 00001656 002 OF 002 -------------- ¶5. (U) Earlier in the week (June 20),the Council adopted without vote three resolutions following up on previous Council resolutions -- Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT),and Darfur. Canada disassociated from consensus on the OPT resolution. The resolutions were tabled during the HRC's fifth session, but, due to time constraints, were adopted on an exceptional basis during the organizational meeting. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) While the Mission does not doubt Costea's sincerity in trying to put the Council on the right path during its second year, we have concerns about his continuing some of his predecessor's poor practices. The fact that there will be no open consultations to discuss such important issues as the program of work harkens back to the Council's first year of opaque negotiations and backroom deals. Separately, Mission notes for Department and USUN concerns regarding resource requirements, following Costea's warning that he expects the second year to include 30 weeks of meetings. In its first year, the Council held the equivalent of 32 weeks of meetings -- plenary sessions, special sessions, organizational meetings, open informals, and working group meetings. END COMMENT. TICHENOR