RE: DEMARCHE REQUEST - HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000282 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL UN SY SUBJECT: RE: DEMARCHE REQUEST - HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL REF: STATE 36629 ¶1. (SBU) Charge d'Affaires delivered the diplomatic note contained in reftel to Vice Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad on April 15. Miqdad harkened back to his tenure at the Syrian Mission to the UN in New York and recalled that Syria had vowed its support for the U.S. candidacy to the now-defunct UN Commission on Human Rights. After the vote, Miqdad, said, he had been asked if Syria had indeed supported the ultimately unsuccessful U.S. candidacy; he recalled his reply: "When Syria gives its word it keeps it." Obviously intrigued by the news the U.S. was seeking a seat on the Human Rights Council, Miqdad told the Charge that the Syrian government would "seriously look into the issue with great interest." CONNELLY