ITALY PREOCCUPIED WITH OWN UN HRC CANDIDACY, HOPES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000987 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN FOR IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA, EUR/PGI, USUN NEW YORK, AND US MISSION GENEVA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2017 TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC BO IT SUBJECT: ITALY PREOCCUPIED WITH OWN UN HRC CANDIDACY, HOPES FOR EU POSITION REF: A. STATE 58036 ¶B. YOUNG/COHEN EMAIL MAY 9 ¶C. STATE 63345 Classified By: Political Military Counselor Jonathan R. Cohen for reaso ns 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered Ref A points to UN Office Director Leonardo Bencini May 9, urging Italy not to support Belarus' candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council, but rather to support Slovenia and a third candidate. Bencini responded May 10 that Italy was absorbed in its own candidacy for the Council, where it was in a tight contest with the Netherlands and Denmark, and had not had time to focus on the Eastern European Group race. Italy supported Germany's letter asking EU countries to only support UN HRC candidates with strong human rights records. Bencini said no EU country would support Belarus' candidacy, nor would Italy. ¶2. (C) However, Bencini noted that this was a moot point in Italy's view: Belarus would never get the required votes to be elected. Poloff pointed out that we viewed a Belarusian seat on the HRC as a very real possibility, as did many countries in the EU, and urged Italy to focus on the Eastern European race. When Poloff inquired which country other than Slovenia Italy would support, Bencini responded that the GOI had not yet thought over the matter. He promised to spend some time studying the issue in the next few days. Bencini said Italy would welcome the EU making an exception to its practice of not coordinating votes in multilateral contests to come to a common position on not supporting Belarus. ¶3. (C) Comment. If Italy is indeed contemplating a vote exchange with Belarus (Ref B),the deal is more likely being done in New York. The MFA appears to be fully preoccupied with Italy's own candidacy and has not been keeping up with the Eastern European Group vote dynamics (Bencini was not aware of Bosnia's potential candidacy). Given the GOI's lack of concern about a potential Belarus win, Post concurs with the suggestion of additional Department-based outreach. We will continue to monitor Italy's position per Ref C and have requested additional high level meetings to raise this issue. End comment. Spogli