DEMARCHE: US-EU PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 11 STATE 040380

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2018
TAGS: EUN PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE: US-EU PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
DECLARATION

REF: A. 2008 STATE 38600

B. 2007 STATE 147620

Classified By: A/S David J. Kramer, Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 5.


2. SUMMARY: Department requests action addressees to demarche
respective Foreign Ministries to urge co-sponsorship of the
attached
country-neutral declaration on prisoners of conscience. END
SUMMARY

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Background
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3. (C) Since the loss of the special mandate for Cuba in the

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Human Rights
Council last June, the Department has been seeking ways to
work with
the European Union to keep the Cuban human rights situation
before the
United Nations. Advised by several EU Member States that we
should
take a thematic rather than country-specific approach, the
Department
developed several prisoner of conscience initiatives to
pursue jointly
with the EU including a General Assembly declaration to call
attention
to the plight of prisoners of conscience and a public affairs
event on
the margins of the UNGA in New York that would focus on
prisoners of
conscience throughout the world.


4. (C) EU members confirmed following their April 8-9 Human
Rights
Commission (COHOM) meeting that the EU will co-sponsor the
prisoners

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of conscience declaration, which we hope to have entered
into the record
of the UN on April 28 or 29. The EU did not reach consensus
on the venue
and date for the prisoners of conscience public affairs
event, due to continued
Spanish resistance to public events on this topic this
spring. However, they
did agree that the event should include former prisoners of
conscience and/or
family members of current prisoners from Cuba, Burma,
Eritrea, Iran and Belarus.
Additional information regarding the public affairs event,
date and timing will
follow septel. The event will take place in New York.


5. (SBU) The prisoners of conscience declaration will be
circulated to all United
Nations member states under agenda item 70, &Promotion and
protection of human
rights,8 including an annex with the list of signatory
countries. The declaration will
not be read aloud, but rather issued as a document of the

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General Assembly and
entered into the public record. The objective is to have a
minimum of 30 signatures,
and ideally 50 or more, in addition to the United States and
the 27 EU members
by the time it is entered into the record.


6. (U) Action Request: Addressee posts are requested to draw
on the following
points to urge respective Foreign Ministries to instruct
their UN permanent
representatives to co-sponsor the attached prisoner of
conscience declaration.

-- In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,
the U.S. and EU are circulating a declaration at the United
Nations to highlight
the plight of prisoners of conscience throughout the world
that commits signatories
to work for the freedom of current prisoners of conscience
and to make their
release a key priority in their relations with other states.

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--Moreover, the declaration urges member states of the United
Nations to affirm
their commitment embodied in the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights that
all citizens may freely express their opinions and assemble
peacefully without
fear of reprisal.

--We urge you to join us in supporting this declaration which
draws attention to
the continued arbitrary arrest and detention by their own
governments of thousands
of individuals around the world simply for exercising
fundamental rights (i.e. freedom
of opinion and expression, peaceful organization, freedom of
thought, conscience
and religion) embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

--The U.S. Mission to the UN and the Slovenian Mission to the
UN (which holds
the current EU presidency) both have copies of the

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declaration signature lists to
expedite gathering of signatures.

-- (If asked) Is this resolution really targeted at Cuba?
(Note: Posts should not/not)
refer to the Cuba-related aspects of the procedural history
of the declaration set
forth in background paragraph 3 of this message when
presenting the declaration.
Rather, posts should present the declaration as the
country-neutral human rights
affirmation that it is. Posts may draw on the following
point in the event host
government asks whether the resolution is Cuba-related.): The
resolution is
country-neutral. It mentions no particular country. But it
is directed at all
governments that imprison their own people for holding
opinions contrary to
those of the government. Cuba is one government that
engages in this
reprehensible practice, as do a number of other governments
around the world.

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-- (If asked) How can the United States sponsor a declaration
on prisoners of
conscience when you hold prisoners in Guantanamo?: The
prisoners held at
Guantanamo are enemy combatants, not prisoners of
conscience. The United
States is in a state of armed conflict with al Qaeda, the
Taliban, and their supporters.
As part of this conflict, the United States captures and
detains enemy combatants
and is entitled under the law of war to hold them until the
end of hostilities. Such
detention is a matter of security and military necessity and
has long been recognized
as legitimate under international law. The United States does
not imprison people for
their political or religious beliefs.


7. Following is the text of the draft Declaration on
Prisoners of Conscience, which
may be left as a non-paper.


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## Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience

Mr. President, I have the honor to deliver this declaration
on behalf of the European
Union, the United States, and (any other co-sponsors).

As set forth in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,
adopted by this body on
December 10, 1948, everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression;
everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association; and everyone
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Sixty years ago these simple truths were recognized by the
United Nations. Since then
we have many times reaffirmed these fundamental freedoms.

Regrettably, in the sixtieth anniversary year of the
Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, there are still numerous violations of these rights
) violations that are well-known
and documented by UN human rights bodies and mechanisms,

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resolutions of this body
and other international and regional organizations. We
particularly deplore the practice
of imprisoning people for trying to exercise these rights
peacefully ) to speak their views,
to gather in public, to publish opinion including opinion
that is critical of standing governments,
and to seek or disseminate information including through the
internet. Unfortunately,
there are many examples of governments employing
imprisonment as a strategy for
dealing with their political opposition or with human rights
defenders. There are
numerous cases of prisoners of conscience being confined to
jails and prisons, or
held under house arrest for long periods of time to prevent
them from speaking to
or assembling with others. Compounding the problem, many of
these prisoners are
held in abysmal conditions, where they suffer
life-threatening health crises.

This body is replete with Member States that have been or are

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being led by former
prisoners of conscience. These historic figures, once
persecuted by their own governments
and maligned as criminals for exercising rights and freedoms
that we have all agreed
are inalienable and fundamental, are today recognized for
what they have always been,
men and women of courage and of conscience who peacefully
pressed for change at
great risk to themselves and on behalf of their fellow
citizens.

The nations joining in this statement commit themselves to
work for the freedom of
prisoners of conscience and to make their release a key
priority in their relations with
other states. We further agree to encourage Member States
of the United Nations to
affirm their commitment embodied in the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights that
all citizens may freely express their opinions and assemble
peacefully without fear of reprisal.


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The nations joining in this statement call upon the General
Assembly to be seized of
this matter in the future.
End text.


REPORTING DEADLINE
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7. (U) Posts are requested to use the SIPDIS caption and
report the results of this demarche by April 23, 2008.
Please contact DRL/MLGA
Danika Walters 202-647-4659 with questions.
RICE