IOM PROTOCOL BREACH

C O N F I D E N T I A L GENEVA 000768 SIPDIS AMMAN FOR REFUGEE COORDINATOR BAGHDAD FOR REFUGEE AND IDP AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT PASS TO PRM/ANE AND PRM/MCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2018 TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL SY IZ SUBJECT: IOM PROTOCOL BREACH REF: A. STATE 96044 ¶B. DAMASCUS 630 ¶C. DAMASCUS 496 Classified By: RMA COUNSELOR FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D. ¶1. (C) Summary: Officials at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed their assurances that IOM staff will not travel to Syria again without prior authorization of the Syrian authorities and were quite surprised at the tough line taken by the Syrian Ambassador in Geneva over this incident. RMA officers expressed USG dismay that the unauthorized visit occurred in the first place and stressed that any future incidents could have a tremendously negative impact on resettlement processing in Syria. Regarding the appointment of a new Special Envoy of the Director General to Iraq, the selection is in the works, but IOM will wait the arrival of the new Director General before being finalized. End Summary. Bureaucracy Not an Excuse -------------- ¶2. (C) Peter Mulrean, Counselor for Refugee and Migration Affairs (RMA),and Nick Hilgert, RMA, met with Robert Paiva, Director for External Relations, International Organization for Migration (IOM),and Redhouane Saadi, Regional Advisor for the Middle East, to deliver the talking points outlined in Ref. A. Mulrean stressed to Paiva and Saadi that we are very disappointed with IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Rafiq Tschannen's decision to travel to Syria without proper authorization from the Syrian authorities and explained that the U.S. government and IOM could not afford to take any actions that would allow the Syrians to call into question our resettlement operations in Syria. ¶3. (C) Paiva agreed that IOM shares a common interest with the U.S. government to build on the access obtained already in Syria. Paiva said that IOM too had been surprised at the incident and mentioned that the Syrian Ambassador in Geneva had expressed in clear and strong terms his government's disappointment with IOM to the Director General, Brunson McKinley. Saadi told us separately that the Syrian Ambassador told McKinley that "this incident was viewed in Damascus as a provocation." ¶4. (C) Paiva recognized that the visit should not have taken place. He said that Tschannen had explained that he traveled to Syria under pressure of the Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration (MODM) and that he traveled to Syria as many other international organization employees do on a regular basis from Jordan. Mulrean stressed that IOM officials are well aware of the restrictions placed on IOM personnel and that burdensome Syrian bureaucracy should not be an excuse for IOM personnel to violate the existing protocol agreement for travel to Syria. Paiva assured us that a similar incident will not occur. The "good news," Paiva said was that he believes IOM and the Syrian Ambassador reached an understanding to put the incident behind them and that the Ambassador concluded the meeting by expressing his government's desire to "continue the dialogue" with IOM (Note: Syria is not an IOM Member State. End Note.) New Special Envoy -------------- ¶5. (C) Mulrean also mentioned that we expect IOM to separate its resettlement responsibilities from its interest in planning for Iraqi refugee returns with the Government of Iraq. We stated that we understand this can be a difficult balancing act, and in that regard we hope that IOM will identify a highly qualified candidate for the position of Special Envoy of the Director General to Iraq. Paiva said that IOM sees the Special Envoy position as one of the organization's key priorities. He reported that the selection process is underway and promised that incoming Director General Bill Swing will make the decision on this position soon after he comes on board on October 1. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) We find Tschannen's explanation of the incident weak and this situation was certainly avoidable. We also believe that IOM agrees a change is needed in the Special Envoy position and that DG Bill Swing will have an early opportunity to address this as soon as he takes over the DG position on October 1. TICHENOR