COSTA RICA: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SEAT

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000202 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN JASON MACK AND IO/RHS AND DRL/MLGA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC CS SUBJECT: COSTA RICA: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SEAT REF: STATE 10652 ¶1. (U) Per reftel, on January 30, Poloff discussed the May UN Human Rights Council (HRC) election with Tatiana Vargas, head of the international candidacies division within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Poloff noted the USG's concerns about the performance of the HRC to date and encouraged Costa Rica, with its strong democratic tradition and respect for human rights, to run for the seat. Vargas indicated that she has not received instruction from superiors to present a candidacy for this seat and that the MFA's 2007 priority is the UN Security Council seat election in October. ¶2. (SBU) On February 1, PolCouns followed up with Antonio Alarcon, CoS to FM Bruno Stagno. Alarcon understood immediately the importance of having strong democracies as members of the UNHRC, but he confirmed that the MFA,s (and GOCR,s) prime UN objective was the October UNSC elections. He expressed the personal opinion, in fact, that the UNSC seat would be the only position Costa Rica seeks in 2007. However, Alarcon undertook to consult with Stagno (currently in New York) before responding to us definitively on February ¶2. LANGDALE