SWISS RESPONSE TO PERSUADING THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERN 000390 SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/INSB (A.RENZULLI) AND EUR/CE (Y.SAINT-ANDRE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF PTER MASS SOCI EAID CE SZ SUBJECT: SWISS RESPONSE TO PERSUADING THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT REF: A. A. SECSTATE 92641 ¶B. B. GOLDFADEN-RENZULLI EMAIL 09/11/2009 Classified By: POLE Counselor Richard A. Rorvig; reasons 1.4(b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Poloffs delivered reftel A talking points on September 11, 2009 to Pierre-Yves Fux, Senior Regional Coordinator for Southern Asia at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and one of his deputies, Yves Nicolet. Fux and Nicolet noted that the GOS was in agreement with the USG in supporting a safe, timely, and voluntary return process, and specifically advocated for an immediate discontinuation of the strict confinement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camps and of the restrictions of access to them. ¶2. (C) According to Fux, Switzerland planned to begin with a bilateral approach to the Sri Lankan government in Colombo, but was also very open to considering multilateral interventions as necessary. Fux also noted that the GOS was considering how the Sri Lankan IDP situation might usefully be raised in the context of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Fux passed poloffs a non-paper entitled "Swiss Views and Position on Camp Support and the Return Process for the IDP in Sri Lanka," which post subsequently passed via email to SCA/INSB on September 11 (ref B). In that non-paper, the GOS stressed the importance of allowing full access to international humanitarian actors, namely the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),and the unrestricted access of UN organizations and INGOs for both humanitarian assistance and basic protection monitoring. BEYER