BELGIUM'S PERSPECTIVE ON UNHRC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001314 SIPDIS STATE PASS EUR/WE, IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA, USUN-W FOR JENNIFER SIMON, MISSION GENEVA FOR MARK CASSAYRE, ANNA CHAMBERS, MELANIE KHANNA AND ANNA MANSFIELD, USUN/NEW YORK FOR CRAIG KUEHL, JOHN SAMMIS AND LAURIE PHIPPS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2019 TAGS: PREL PHUM UN PINR BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM'S PERSPECTIVE ON UNHRC REF: A. BRUSSELS 292 ¶B. BRUSSELS 491 Classified By: Robert Kiene for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph six. ¶2. (U) Poloffs met July 13 with MFA Director for Human Rights France Chainaye. Chainaye discussed Belgium's role as President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the GOB's perspective on its work. ¶3. (U) Chainaye said Belgium had no choice but to run for the Council once it became clear that there was no other viable candidate from the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), as the Netherlands and Italy were not eligible due to their rejection of the Durban text. Belgium also stepped up to ensure that a WEOG country would be elected President. Belgium was not seeking this role when it ran for the UNHRC because it felt it would be handicapped in pursuing its own agenda by the neutral role required of the Council President. Chainaye noted that the president of the council cannot introduce measures or take an activist role. The GOB sees its role as President as building alliances with moderates, staying abreast of the positions of various countries and factions, and trying to make council processes work. Chainaye described this as "damage control," trying to keep certain countries from undermining the UNHRC. She lamented that Belgium must wait until its Presidency ends in 2010 to use its final two years as a member of the Council to play the activist role it had wanted. Chainaye said that despite the recent change of Foreign Minister in Brussels, from Karel De Gucht to Yves Leterme, there will be no change in Belgium's strong support for human rights in international fora. Chainaye is leaving the Human Rights Directorate to be Belgium's Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris. Her replacement is expected to be Marc Pecsteen, the current CG in Shanghai. ¶4. (C) When queried on Belgium's view of the UNHRC, Chainaye said Belgium sees the UNHRC and the Third Committe as a important vehicles for human rights. She commented on the challenge that the three sessions of the UNHRC and the Third Commiton with like-minded partneernational human rights .p@ `eh``hthe proce ss is open Qs, specifically Cuba, lobby friendly, non-cfill the docket during th singled out Cuba's use Qant" strategy, whereby several small Carribean nations filled most of the reviewing slots right after the Cuban reception when the docket opened. Thus, only a few challenging questions were asked by WEOG and other like-minded countries that managed to get on the tail-end of the docket. ¶5. (C) Chainaye reaffirmed Minister De Gucht's statement to Secretary Clinton at their March meeting that Belgium is pleased that the United States is on the UNHRC for the next three years. She predicted the U.S., Belgium, and the E.U. would be partners on most issues, but warned there might be some disagreements on certain Middle East questions. ¶6. (C) ACTION REQUEST: The MFA asked for a list of U.S. priorities and the U.S. evaluation of the UNHRC so far. Post requests talking points and background we can provide to the GOB by August 17. We should provide this information prior to September for it to be useful in Belgian planning for the fall human rights meetings. Post views this as an excellent opportunity to share with the GOB U.S. UNHRC priorities and the U.S. vision on human rights. The GOB is open to working closely with us, and Post belives we should actively engage them. BUSH