DEMARCHE DELIVERED: UNSCR 1540 PROGRAM OF WORK

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000093 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, ISN/CPI TWUCHTE, AND USUN MGORDON. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL AORC KPAO PTER UNSC CS SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: UNSCR 1540 PROGRAM OF WORK REF: STATE 10774 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In response to reftel, Costa Rica's UNSC team told us that it had not studied the 1540 Program of Work at the MFA level since recently relinquishing the chairmanship of the 1540 Committee. The MFA would review the U.S. draft edits with close attention to improving mechanisms for accurate and complete reporting. The team's initial reaction was that "monitoring and implementation" was a more important role for the Committee over coordination of international assistance. The GOCR would review the text with an eye toward ensuring that a strengthened 1540 Committee would focus on Costa Rican priorities -- such as weapons of mass destruction, applying oversight to countries in the process of developing weapons, and reporting gaps -- and would not duplicate work of other UN agencies or mechanisms. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) On February 10, we delivered reftel demarche to MFA Director of Foreign Policy Alejandro Solano, UNSC Team Leader Adriana Murillo, and Head of Disarmament, Terrorism and Organized Crime Carlos Cordero. Solano told us that the MFA had not spoken to its New York Mission regarding the 1540 Program of Work but would do so and would then respond to us. ¶3. (SBU) The MFA's initial reaction, however, centered on the fact that the monitoring and implementation role was more important to Costa Rica than coordination of international assistance. Solano noted, for example, that the British and French reports were very incomplete, not to mention problems with Pakistan's report and recent release of A.Q. Khan from house arrest. We emphasized that the U.S. proposal would provide stronger mechanisms to work to "fill in gaps" in country reports. ¶4. (SBU) The MFA officials told us that, additionally, the fight against non-proliferation must focus on countries that were in the process of developing capabilities; the Committee needed to concentrate on both "horizontal and vertical" proliferation. Therefore, monitoring was most important because the greatest risks could come from countries that already had capabilities but were not admitting it. The MFA's UNSC team also wanted to see how the Program of Work would address the ability of the Committee to monitor weapons of mass destruction, which they said was of particular concern to Costa Rica. ¶5. (SBU) Our MFA interlocutors told us they would examine the Program of Work (including U.S. edits) with an eye toward ensuring that it would not duplicate or usurp the roles of other UN agencies or mechanisms. In other words, Costa Rica would be looking at not only the background focus of the Committee, but the way in which it would complete its task in harmony with existing UN mechanisms. (COMMENT: Improving this "harmony" remains an overall GOCR objective in the UN, and especially within the Security Council. END COMMENT.) CIANCHETTE