Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08THEHAGUE396
2008-05-09 16:06:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP UP FOR

Tags:  PARM PREL CWC 
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STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS)
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP UP FOR
THREE WEEKS ENDING MAY 9, 2008

This is CWC-17-08.

-------
SUMMARY
-------

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000396

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS)
NSC FOR SMITH
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP UP FOR
THREE WEEKS ENDING MAY 9, 2008

This is CWC-17-08.

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) The weeks following the CWC Second Review
Conference (RevCon) have been fairly quiet, due no
doubt in part to post-RevCon exhaustion as well as a
series of official holidays. The only consultations
held were within the industry cluster, although two
WEOG meetings, an Irish-hosted lunch, and a
commemoration ceremony at the OPCW for victims of
chemical warfare have offered ample opportunity for
the delegation to begin gauging reactions to the
process and outcome of the RevCon. In WEOG in
particular, delegations now seem to be making the
psychological shift from dissecting the process to
evaluating the impact of the final document on the
future work of the Organization.


2. (U) Much of the reporting that follows is part of
the continuing process of assessing the results of
the Second Review Conference. An initial U.S.
assessment was released as THE HAGUE 349, and further
detailed analysis of both the process and substance
of the RevCon will be forthcoming.

--------------
REVCON FEEDBACK
--------------

WEOG Meeting April 22


3. (SBU) At the WEOG meeting April 22, immediately
following the Second Review Conference, it was clear
that the experience of the preceding two weeks,
particularly the last several days, had resulted in
widespread disappointment and dissatisfaction with
the process. Several delegations noted their concern
that negotiations have become much more politicized
over the past several years, and that distrust
between groups/blocs of countries (most notably the
Non Aligned Movement/NAM) has increased. A number of
delegations also noted that the exclusivity of the
negotiating group and the complete lack of
transparency of process could easily lead to a result
(report) of questionable legitimacy and long term
loss of support for the Organization.


4. (SBU) Negotiating tactics were also a subject of
lengthy discussion. Delegations admitted that, while
frustrating, the NAM tactics had been quite
effective, and that more coordinated WEOG efforts
could be useful in future sessions. Austria in

particular noted that the NAM text presented as a
counter-proposal to the Chair,s draft was an extreme
position, whereas most WEOG members came in with
fairly moderate suggestions, and that perhaps WEOG
should also consider opening negotiations with more
extreme positions. There was also widespread
agreement that the &NAM common position8 is anything
but that, and that moderate NAM members are
unfortunately reluctant to speak out against
positions established almost solely by the most
radical of the NAM membership. Several delegations
also raised the possibility of simply not having a
concluding document of the Conference, as opposed to
agreeing to something of little to no value (or, in
the worst case scenario, harm) to the Organization.


5. (SBU) When the group turned briefly to substance,
Amb. Maarten Lak of the Netherlands noted several
positive elements of the report, and suggested that
upcoming WEOG meetings focus on how to use the EC to
move the work of the Organization forward. Although
Canada noted its concern that the document is, in

some areas, weaker than the report of the First
RevCon, several other delegations acknowledged that
the final report was probably the best possible
outcome given the political dynamics.

WEOG Meeting May 6


6. (U) At the follow-up WEOG meeting on May 6, most
delegations were clearly unprepared to talk about the
implications of the RevCon report for the future work
of the Organization. The Netherlands and Italy noted
the importance of a proactive approach to shaping
upcoming EC sessions, as opposed to reacting to NAM
proposals, but did not offer specific areas of focus.
U.S. Del, drawing on informal guidance from
Washington, outlined five possible areas the U.S.
would like to pursue in the coming months: enhancing
the functioning and utility of the Scientific
Advisory Board; improving the functioning of the EC;
preparing the OPCW to address verification issues
posed by advances in science and technology;
increasing the use of the OPCW as a discussion forum
for experts; and, continuing progress on national
implementation. This was well received, and prompted
other WEOG members to respond to and expand on the
list.


7. (U) The Netherlands agreed that developing a more
systematic approach to EC work was very important,
and suggested addressing this in upcoming WEOG
meetings. German Amb. Werner Burkart noted that as
incoming WEOG Vice Chair, he would be happy to assist
in this effort, but would appreciate more specific
advice from interested delegations. Spain
recommended that outreach to stakeholders be pursued
vigorously as well, and WEOG coordinator Annie Mari
suggested inviting OPCW Head of Media and Public
Affairs Michael Luhan to address the group at the end
of May. Amb. Javits also solicited feedback on the
Public Service Announcement that was shown late on
the last night of the RevCon; from the mixed reaction
and the late hour of the screening, it was clear that
another screening in WEOG might be useful.

Chinese Request for U.S. Assessment of RevCon Results


8. (U) On May 5, U.S. Del received a call from the
Chinese delegate Gao Huijun, looking for the U.S.
assessment of the Review Conference. Del replied in
general terms that the U.S. was satisfied with the
outcome, and saw good scope for future work. Gao
noted that Beijing was also quite satisfied, and
found the result balanced and perhaps even stronger
than the report of the First RevCon. He also
expressed China,s appreciation for the constructive
attitude and cooperation of the U.S. during the
RevCon. U.S. and Chinese delegations agreed that
follow up bilateral discussions on post-RevCon
analysis and priorities would be useful.

&RevCon Post-Mortem8 Lunch


9. (SBU) On May 8, Irish Ambassador Richard Ryan
hosted a lunch to discuss the outcome of the RevCon,
lessons learned, and how to proceed in the coming
months. Attendees included Director General Pfirter,
Deputy Director General Freeman, and representatives
from the U.S., UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden,
Canada, Slovakia and Slovenia. Initial discussions
covered old ground in terms of the abysmal process
and lack of leadership in the Committee of the Whole
(COW). The Director General and others spoke quite
freely about the impact of the personality of the
Chair of the COW (Algerian Amb. Dani),and the
increasingly problematic role of the Non Aligned
Movement in general, and Iran specifically.


10. (SBU) An idealistic desire to come up with
guidelines that would prevent similar problems in
future gradually turned into a realistic desire to
simply capture the lessons learned for the Chair of
the next RevCon. Amb. Javits noted the inevitable
role personalities will play, and suggested that
delegations focus on recommending improvements to the
process that might mitigate this. His suggestions
included the early establishment of facilitators for
certain groups of issues, well before the Conference
itself. A group of capable Ambassadors already
familiar with the issues and various countries,
positions would be invaluable, and could serve as a
de facto &friends of the Chair8 group, which would be
difficult to ignore in the way the General Committee
was ignored by the Chairman of the COW at this
Revcon.


11. (SBU) The group discussed the transparency of the
process, which was clearly lacking in the second
week, but also acknowledged the fact that the group
of eighteen SPs was a vast improvement over previous
CSP and RevCon negotiations, which have often come
down to a back room deal between two or three SPs.
U.K. Amb. Parker also noted that despite its
efficiency, the system of email submission of
comments to the draft text also lacked transparency.
He recommended that if this system is used again in
the future, delegations submitting comments should
also be willing to post them on the OPCW external
server.


12. (SBU) Discussions also covered the continued, and
even growing, impact of Iran and a handful of other
NAM members on the character of negotiations, and the
use of consensus-based decision making as a de facto
veto for those holding the most extreme positions.
Delegations agreed that even threatening a vote on
substance was dangerous, but several Ambassadors
noted the European Commission method of operation, in
which members understand that if an issue becomes
bogged down, a simple majority can decide to move on
(a procedural versus a substantive vote). There was
agreement that this was useful, but also a lack of
clarity in terms of how it could be applied in the
OPCW context.


13. (SBU) In looking ahead, the Director General
highlighted several aspects of the report. He
pointed to the absence of a reference to an actual
office in Africa as a positive step. He also stated
that, in his view, Article X language leaves open the
door for Iranian claims for indemnity of their
victims of chemical warfare, and that he in
particular has been assigned much of the
responsibility for this issue. He then highlighted
several upcoming efforts in the area of universality,
to include using the former Pakistani Ambassador as a
consultant to visit high level persons in Myanmar
with whom he has close relationships, and the
possibility of another Mediterranean conference. In
his view, the decision not to hold such a conference
might send the unfortunate signal that member states
are not maintaining pressure on States Not Party to
join the Convention.


14. (SBU) Pfirter also outlined some of the more
immediate issues coming up for the June session of
the Executive Council. He first mentioned the OPCW
budget (both its introduction and the choosing
facilitators),and the fact that the 2009 budget
would again be zero nominal growth and contain a
modest increase in OCPF inspections, while holding
the number of inspections of other Schedules
constant. Other issues included choosing new
facilitators for a number of consultations, the
pending Russian facility agreements and verification

plans for Maradykovsky and Leonidovka, and the
upcoming EC visit to Shchuch,ye, apparently now
scheduled to begin September 8.


15. (U) U.S. Delegation distributed copies of
Washington,s spreadsheet breakdown of tasks assigned
by the Revcon, suggesting that perhaps it could be a
useful tool in analyzing the results of the
Conference and planning future work. Amb. Javits was
also asked to draft a short memo covering some of the
lessons learned, and circulate it to the group for
discussion.


--------------
INDUSTRY CLUSTER
--------------


16. (U) On May 6, Delreps attended the regularly
scheduled meetings of the Executive Council's
Industry Cluster. The two sessions were: (1) the
Verification Information System (VIS),and (2)
import/export transfer discrepancies.


17. (U) The demonstration of the VIS was similar to
what was presented on the margins of the Review
Conference and in earlier settings. What was new was
a related presentation on the National Authority e-
Declaration Software. This Technical Secretariat-
developed tool will allow States Parties (SP) to
submit their periodic Article VI declarations in an
electronic format, much as is being done currently by
the U.S. and a few other SPs using their internally-
developed software. The first phase of this
software, supporting OCPF and aggregate national data
(AND) declarations, will be released during the last
quarter of 2008. Training for this tool will be held
for delegations on December 1 in The Hague, between
the Annual Meeting of National Authorities and the
Conference of States Parties. The second phase of
this software, supporting Schedule 1, 2, and 3
declarations, will be released during the first half
of 2009. The TS will be looking for SPs who are
willing to test the new software and provide feedback
for continual improvement of the tool.


18. (U) The discussion of transfer discrepancies was
rather disappointing. India, which had expressed
multiple concerns in the past, came to the meeting
with instructions from capital to join consensus on
the draft decision; this seemed to give a hope of
success for this consultation. However, South Africa
then launched into a long series of fairly small
changes, which led to (at times incoherent) Iranian
suggestions that further muddied the waters. In the
end, the consultation came close to a stalemate, with
delegations like Germany prepared to end further
consultations. The co-facilitators (Japan and
Switzerland) adeptly kept the consultation alive by
suggesting that they would do their best to
accommodate all of the suggestions made in a new
draft decision within two weeks. The goal, at that
point, will be to meet again to see if a consensus
can be reached and a decision forwarded to the
Executive Council for its meeting in late-June.


--------------
SCHEDULE 1 FACILITY AGREEMENT
--------------


19. (U) On April 24, Delrep presented to a
representative of Policy and Review Branch (PRB, TS)
a draft facility agreement for an industry Schedule 1
facility in the U.S. This draft, based on an earlier
draft by the TS and formatted after last year's
successfully finalized Schedule 2 facility agreement,


contains relevant input from the facility. PRB plans
to lead the TS review of this draft over the next two
weeks or so, with the goal of placing it on the
agenda for the upcoming Executive Council (EC)
meeting for consideration. If this can be finalized
and distributed well in advance of the EC meeting,
the hope is that it will increase the chances of its
being approved at the late-June meeting.

-------------- -
DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF CHEMICAL
WARFARE
-------------- -


20. (U) On April 29, the OPCW hosted a commemoration
ceremony for the victims of chemical warfare. The
program included the laying of a wreath at the
memorial site behind the OPCW, and speeches by
Director General Pfirter, Amb. Idris (Sudanese Chair
of the Conference of States Parties),Secretary
General of the Dutch MFA Kronenburg, and Vice Mayor
of The Hague Huffnagel. Of note, the Director
General,s speech made reference to the Article X
section of the RevCon report that highlighted the
RevCon,s mandate on assistance to the victims of
chemical warfare.


21. (U) Javits sends.
Gallagher