JAMAICA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON 64TH UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000904 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR (JMACK-WILSON) (BALVARADO) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH) L/LEI (CHOLLAND) (AKLUESNER) INR/IAA (GBOHIGAN) JUSTICE FOR OIA (PPETTY) TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW INR/RES (RWARNER) CENTRAL AMERICAN CARIBBEAN BASIN COLLECTIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM HURI PREL KOCI KWMN KISL ISCON UN UNGA UNGA JM, XL, BM, IR, KN SUBJECT: JAMAICA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON 64TH UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THIRD COMMITTEE, 2009 - PRIORITIES REF: STATE 108921 ¶1. (U) Per reftel, EmbOff delivered demarche to solicit cooperation and support for USG priorities at the 64th UN General Assembly (UNGA),Third Committee, and to seek the Government of Jamaica (GOJ)'s insights on other resolutions. Demarche was delivered to Ms. Norma Taylor Roberts, Director of the International Organizations Department of the GOJ's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade on the afternoon of October 26. ¶2. (U) Ms. Roberts stated that GOJ's priorities for this year's Third Committee would include resolutions on the Rights of the Child, HIV/AIDS, crime, and the drug trade. Emboff presented USG positions on no-action motions, Iran, Burma, and North Korea; Ms. Roberts was noncommittal, suggesting that the GOJ's new Permanent Secretary to the UNGA, Evadne Coye, would have to consider those issues. Ms. Roberts intimated that the GOJ would be supportive of the USG resolution on free elections and welcomed the news that the USG was interested in negotiating language so as to be able to finally ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. ¶3. (U) Regarding the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)'s Defamation of Religion resolution, Ms. Roberts confided that, while the GOJ shares many of the USG's concerns, the GOJ has abstained on the motion in the past in the interest of maintaining relations with the Islamic world. Ms. Roberts suggested that it was unlikely that the GOJ would vote against the resolution in the current session, but left open the possibility that it might abstain once again. Emboff and Ms. Roberts agreed that the resolution on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity might be a more appropriate mechanism for addressing the concerns of the Muslim world regarding such issues. Parnell