SPAIN NOT ACTIVE ON IRAN CIVIL SOCIETY AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000121 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KPAO IR SP SUBJECT: SPAIN NOT ACTIVE ON IRAN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY PROMOTION REF: STATE 2659 Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) POLOFF delivered reftel demarche and discussed Spain's human rights and democracy promotion programs with Spanish MFA Subdirector General for Human Rights Fernando Fernandez-Arias on January 22. Fernandez-Arias thanked Poloff for the information on USG programs in Iran and promised to share it with the Iran desk and others inside the ministry, but he admitted that Spain does not currently have any similar programs geared toward Iran. Fernandez-Arias said that any such initiative would likely be undertaken at an EU level with Spain's support. He made reference to the recently approved European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights as a possible avenue but could not specify whether it would include Iran in its scope. Spain's assistance to Iran has been almost exclusively in the form of disaster relief, according to Fernandez-Arias. ¶2. (C) Fernandez-Arias complimented U.S. efforts, but he noted that it would be difficult for Spain to undertake such an aggressive approach due to its existing diplomatic relationship with Iran. He noted that Spain does not undertake programs of that nature without the consent and cooperation of the host government, which makes working in Iran impossible. He said that Spain and the EU's main avenue to press Iran in the past had been a human rights dialogue which was not held in 2006 because the Iranians had tried to manipulate it. Fernandez-Arias underlined that while Spain does not have any active programs in Iran, that does not mean it does not have serious concerns, citing the death penalty and in particular the execution of persons based on their homosexuality. He also noted that Spain has been reliable in its voting to condemn human rights abuses in Iran. -------------- Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ -------------- Aguirre