EGYPT ON UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY THIRD COMMITTEE 2008

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002037 SIPDIS IO/RHS FOR JONES; DRL/MIGA FOR SICADE E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2018 TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF KISL UN OIC EG SUBJECT: EGYPT ON UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY THIRD COMMITTEE 2008 HUMAN RIGHTS PRIORITIES REF: SECSTATE 93981 Classified By: Minister Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) We met on September 14 with Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Human Rights Wael Aboulmagd to urge the Egyptians to support U.S. human rights priorities at the upcoming meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (reftel). While Aboulmagd did not address the substance of the country specific resolutions we raised, he said Egypt is generally opposed to singling out individual countries and believes that existing UN mechanisms, such as the Universal Periodic Review, are more effective methods to address human rights issues. Aboulmagd urged what he termed "a more even-handed U.S. approach" on resolutions concerning Palestinian human rights. ¶2. (C) In response to our urging Egypt to oppose the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC) resolution on defamation of religions, Aboulmagd said Egypt will support the resolution, despite opposition from the U.S. and other Western countries. Aboulmagd claimed that this year's version of the resolution will be "grounded in international human rights law" and will respect principles of freedom of expression. He asked that the U.S. reserve judgment until we have reviewed the actual text. According to Aboulmagd, Egypt is more involved with the OIC this year - it was recently selected to assume the OIC presidency in 2011 - and he claimed the text will be more "acceptable" than in prior years. He said the text of the proposed resolution will be released by the OIC "any day." SCOBEY