UN EXPLAINS STAFFING DECISIONS AT INTERNATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001104 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM KUNR GT SUBJECT: UN EXPLAINS STAFFING DECISIONS AT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION AGAINST IMPUNITY IN GUATEMALA REF: A. STATE 158829 ¶B. DERHAM-KUMAR TELCON Classified By: Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff, per 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Per ref A, Poloff spoke with UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) Deputy Division Director for Europe and Latin America Martha Doggett on November 29 about staffing at the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Poloff emphasized U.S. interest in ensuring the effectiveness of CICIG and asked about the staffing structure of the organization, including the proposed designation of Carlos Castresana as an A/SYG. Doggett acknowledged that Castrasana had expressed unhappiness to her -- but not to DPA A/SYG Angela Kane or DPA U/SYG Lynn Pascoe -- about his proposed designation as an A/SYG instead of a U/SYG. Doggett (please protect) said Kane decided the A/SYG designation, based on an assessment of the job responsibilities, and U/SYG Pascoe sent a memo on November 29 asking SYG Ban to sign off on this designation. Doggett added that Spanish officials had raised Castresana's designation with SYG Ban during his visit to Madrid as well as with U/SYG Pascoe in New York, but the decision remained unchanged. ¶2. (C) As for other employees of CICIG, Doggett confirmed that they would not/not enjoy UN employment benefits or privileges and immunities because the organization is not a UN entity -- the same way that employees of other treaty-based organizations set up by the UN, such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone or the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, are treated. However, she said that DPA is trying to convince UNDP to hire CICIG employees as contractors, so that they will not have to resign from UN service to accept employment with the Commission. Doggett noted that Guatemala's decision not to seek an UNGA resolution to create the Commission had made it harder to afford CICIG employees UN employment protections, but she said DPA understood the need to get the Commission up and running quickly, and had therefore decided to re-engage UNDP to find a way to satisfy CICIG's concerns. ¶3. (C) Comment: Per guidance from the Department, USUN has pressed the UN Secretariat to rationalize the number of high-ranking positions in the organization, and reverse the proliferation of U/SYG positions that has occurred over the past several years with the reuslting financial implications for major donors. In this case, Castresana let the SYG announce his appointment to CICIG effective immediately in September 2007, and has not raised the issue with DPA senior leadership. This may indicate that he is unwilling to resign should the A/SYG designation go through. We also note that an A/SYG appointment represents a promotion from his current job with the Latin America branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Khalilzad