BAHAMAS WILL SUPPORT U.S-BACKED COUNTRY-SPECIFIC

UNCLAS NASSAU 001386 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR IO/RHS AMY OSTERMEIER AND DRL/MLGA LYNN SICADE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KTIA UN BF SUBJECT: BAHAMAS WILL SUPPORT U.S-BACKED COUNTRY-SPECIFIC THIRD COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS REF: STATE 145641 ¶1. (SBU) On October 19, then Charge delivered reftel demarche points urging a principled stand against all no-action motions in the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee and seeking Bahamian support for U.S. priority, country-specific resolutions to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette. The Charge was informed that the Canadian government had also contacted the Bahamian government regarding the annual resolution on Iran, which the Canadians introduced, and that the Bahamian side was likely to stand against no-action motions as they did last year. ¶2. (SBU) Post reiterated the reftel points in several conversations with Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials between October 24 and November 8, and were informed that the issue was under review. On November 14, Minister of Foreign Affairs Symonette conveyed to the Ambassador in his initial courtesy call that The Bahamas will support all U.S. priority, country specific resolutions in the UNGA Third Committee. The Ambassador thanked the Minister for the Bahamas principled stand in defense of the values both our countries share. ¶3. (SBU) On behalf of his ministry, the Foreign Minister registered the Bahamas' concern about the selectivity of some of these resolutions, which address some challenges while ignoring others. Ambassador and DCM noted and these resolutions addressed the most egregious cases of human rights violations. They also noted that CARICOM countries were also able to introduce resolutions if they believed human rights violations in some countries were being overlooked. SIEGEL