GOI APPROACHED ON SUPPORTING UNGA PLENARY VOTES ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 005234 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNGA IN IR KN SUBJECT: GOI APPROACHED ON SUPPORTING UNGA PLENARY VOTES ON COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RESOLUTIONS REF: A. STATE 163935 ¶B. STATE 161770 ¶C. STATE 145641 ¶D. NEW DELHI 05002 Classified By: A/POLCOUNS Atul Keshap for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered ref A talking points to MEA Director (United Nations Political) Aveg Agarwal on December 6, seeking GOI support to ratify these resolutions in the upcoming UNGA Plenary vote. Agarwal confirmed that he had passed the request onto the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, which will take the lead on deciding the final GOI position. The GOI's stated policy is not to support country-specific human rights resolutions in the UN (although it somehow manages to slam Israel with regularity),and Post expects that India will not vote in favor of these resolutions. One notable exception is the resolution on the DPRK; as Post reported in ref D, the GOI had previously confirmed its intention to abstain on the DPRK vote in the third committee, because of its objections to the abductions of Japanese citizens committed by that country. MULFORD