DUTCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS DETAINEES, HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 000421 SIPDIS SIPDIS JUSTICE FOR OIA (J. FREIDMAN) DEPT FOR L/LEI AND L/FO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017 TAGS: PREL CJAN KPAO PHUM NL SUBJECT: DUTCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS DETAINEES, HUMAN RIGHTS WITH BELLINGER THE HAGUE 00000421 001.4 OF 003 Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew S. Schofer; reasons 1.4 (b an d d). C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13) ¶1. (C) Summary: Legal Adviser John Bellinger met March 1 and 2 with senior MFA officials. The Dutch conveyed a laundry list of concerns, including claims of abuse by an extradited terror suspect, negative publicity related to a U.S. failure in 2005 to meet our consular notification obligations, recent press surrounding a Human Rights Watch report on "enforced disappearances" of U.S. detainees, the Dutch bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council and a plea for the U.S. to run, ICC cooperation, security costs for former Dutch parliamentarian Ayan Hirsi Ali, U.S. detainee policy, and U.S. efforts to push for early ratification of a 2006 International Tracing Service amendment. Separately, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee focused on detainee policy. He was supportive of U.S. efforts to raise European awareness of the problems we face and suggested a parliamentary visit to Guantanamo. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Legal Adviser John Bellinger met March 1 and 2 with senior MFA legal and foreign policy officials, as well as with Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee chair Hans van Baalen. Present at MFA meetings were Director General for Political Affairs Pieter de Gooijer, his deputy Wim Geerts, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights Piet de Klerk, Legal Adviser Liesbeth Lijnzaad, and Head of the North America Division Jos Schellaars. Bellinger later met separately with Lijnzaad and her deputy, Niels Blokker. Bellinger: European govts can help set the record straight -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) At the request of the Dutch, Bellinger briefly reviewed recent detainee policy developments, including the Boumediene decision. He underlined continuing inaccurate press coverage in Europe and stressed the need for at least some European government assistance in setting the record straight - a theme he repeated several times during his visit. Al-Delaema claims abuse in U.S. prison -------------- ¶4. (C) De Gooijer raised the case of Wesam al-Delaema, a Dutch national extradited in January on terrorism related charges. According to de Gooijer, al-Delaema on February 22 told a visiting Dutch consular officer that he was being abused in U.S. prison and that he did not trust his federal defender, who he said had told officers within his hearing that he was "almost broken." ¶5. (C) De Gooijer explained that Dutch Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin was likely to face critical questions from opposition MPs in the coming week and would need to be able to defend himself. Ballin was instrumental in arranging al-Delaema's extradition. De Gooijer requested therefore that the Dutch be allowed "to investigate (the) complaints together with" us. ¶6. (C) Post consulted with Washington agencies and relayed initial responses to the Dutch MFA. The MFA said it now had a "more nuanced" understanding of the complaints (septel). Consular notification case and television expose -------------- --- ¶7. (C) De Gooijer next raised a consular notification case concerning two Dutch nationals (Mr. van Heugten and Mr. de Herdt) detained in El Paso on 25 December 2005 and allegedly held in a maximum security facility, without consular access, for over a month. Post has informed CA/P. Dutch media is planning an expose about the incident. HRW report of enforced disappearances -------------- THE HAGUE 00000421 002.4 OF 003 C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13) ¶8. (C) De Gooijer next raised the recent Human Rights Watch report on allegedly "disappeared" Guantanamo detainees, saying it had received significant attention in the Netherlands. Bellinger stressed that the United States does not "disappear" people. As President Bush explained in his September 2006 speech, the U.S. has detained a limited number of individuals in secret locations, under supervised conditions and in conformity with U.S. law. This is radically different than the idea of enforced disappearances, a term born of extrajudicial killings in Latin America in the 70s and 80s. Human Rights Council: Dutch urge U.S. to run -------------- ¶9. (C) De Gooijer next turned to the Human Rights Council, calling it "not yet an equivocal success." He urged the U.S. to run for a seat, saying that populating the Council with the "right" countries was the only way to make it work. De Gooijer also announced the Netherlands' candidacy for re-election and sought U.S. support. Responding to reports that attitudes in Washington are increasingly skeptical, de Gooijer urged that the U.S. consult with the Netherlands prior to making a final decision. ¶10. (C) Bellinger underscored one U.S. concern - that we would find ourselves alone on the HRC, fending off OIC initiatives, while other democracies took a free ride. De Gooijer acknowledged that the U.S. itself would be "an object of discussion," should it occupy a seat on the HRC. He expressed confidence, though, that the U.S. could "handle this" and urged us to focus on the influence we would bring to the Council - including with GRULAC delegations. ICC: Is there room to cooperate? -------------- ¶11. (C) De Gooijer turned next to the International Criminal Court, underlining Japan's decision to join and urging the U.S. to do the same. Wim Geerts raised this year's UNGA 6th Commission reolution, and possible U.S. assistance to ICC efforts on Sudan, and asked whether the U.S. and the Netherlands might somehow help one another. Bellinger replied that the U.S. had already made two helpful UNGA statements (acknowledging the right of other countries to become parties to the ICC) and that we would appreciate any statement others might make in return. We would be willing to explore ways to assist the ICC's efforts on Sudan, consistent with U.S. legislation, but this could not be viewed by ICC members as a backdoor to U.S. accession. U.S. detainee policy and Dutch politics -------------- ¶12. (C) On U.S. detainee policy, de Gooijer candidly admitted that much of what has been said by the Dutch government is related to domestic political pressures. He opined optimistically that the new left-of-center government would be in "slightly better shape" fielding domestic criticism of its relationship with the U.S. The main right-of-center party, now in opposition, is supportive of relations with the U.S. On the left, Labor has joined government, muting its criticism. This left only the Socialists and the small Green Left Party on the outside and highly critical, he said. Ayan Hirsi Ali security costs -------------- ¶13. (C) Finally, Bellinger raised the case of former Dutch Parlamentarian Ayan Hirsi Ali, whose security detail the Dutch continues to fund. De Gooijer made clear that the Netherlands does not consider itself responsible for defraying the security expenses. "Experts meeting" on intn'l law and terrorism -------------- ¶14. (SBU) MFA Legal Advisor Liesbeth Lijnzaad told Bellinger THE HAGUE 00000421 003.6 OF 003 C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13) the MFA had contracted Professor Nico Schrijver to arrange a three day seminar on international law and the challenge of terrorism, for mid-April. Schrijver is the Chair of Leiden University Law School's Public International Law department and the author of a recent MFA advisory report on U.S. detainee policy. The Dutch have had difficulty attracting qualified U.S. academics to the conference, and Bellinger offered several names. International Tracing Service: U.S. is pushing too hard -------------- -------------- ¶15. (C) Linzaad complained about U.S. pressure to quickly ratify last year's ITS amendment on provision of digitalized copies. The Netherlands and others, she said, are acting in good faith, but procedures in some countries may take up to three years. Comment: The Dutch deposited their ratification instrument in Berlin on March 5. End comment. Parliamentary Foreign Policy Chairman supportive -------------- --- ¶16. (C) In a cordial meeting, Bellinger welcomed the proposal of MP Hans van Baalen, chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, to visit Guantanamo. Van Baalen, whose conservative Liberal Party is in opposition, thought this possible sometime after the summer. ¶17. (C) Van Baalen argued that an ad hoc approach to international law is hindering legitimate anti-terror efforts. He agreed that IHL is inadequate to the range of issues raised in the war on terror and thought European politicians needed to do more to educate their publics. He hoped to use his new position to do this. ¶18. (U) Legal Advisor John Bellinger has cleared on this cable. BLAKEMAN