GUIDANCE FOR USUN FOR 30 NOVEMBER ARRIA-STYLE

UNCLAS STATE 122227

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL PTER UNSC
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR USUN FOR 30 NOVEMBER ARRIA-STYLE
MEETING ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND COUNTERTERRORISM

REF: USUN 000480


1. This is an action request. Please see paragraph 3.


2. On November 30, the Mexican Permanent Representative to
the United Nations will host an Arria-style meeting (in which
members of the Security Council gather informally to be
briefed by independent experts about matters of international
peace and security),during which Mary Robinson -- a member
of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ),President
of Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative,
former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and former
President of Ireland -- will present an overview of a report
that the ICJ completed last spring that deals with human
rights and counterterrorism. The report is critical of U.S.
action with respect to safeguarding human rights in pursuit
of counterterrorism goals.


3. USUN may wish to draw from the following points in
response to the November 30 Arria-style meeting on human
rights and counterterrorism:

BEGIN POINTS:

-- The United States thanks Mexico for its leadership in
organizing this important meeting. The United States looks
forward to working with partners both in and outside the
United Nations Security Council to ensure that United Nations
is playing its part in ensuring that national
counterterrorism measures are grounded in respect for human
rights and the promotion of rule of law.

-- We must continue to ensure UN provisions embody the
fundamental principle of protecting human rights while
countering terrorism and reaffirm our commitment to implement
efforts in this regard as one of the four pillars of the UN
Global Counterterrorism Strategy.

-- We would also like to thank Mary Robinson and the
International Commission of Jurists for their contributions
to this important dialogue. The United States thanks Mary
Robinson for her extraordinary service to the cause of human
rights, which President Obama recognized by awarding her the
Medal of Freedom at the White House in July of this year.

-- The relationship between human rights and counterterrorism
is a critical one in the security environment we face today.

-- We know that radicalism often appears and flourishes where
fundamental human rights are denied.

-- We know that robust counterterrorism efforts can only
succeed when they make central respect for humans and rule of
law. Only then do these efforts enjoy legitimacy in the
affected countries and in the global community.

-- And, importantly as well, we know that without adequate
counterterrorism policies, elements within many societies
will clamor for the abrogation of basic human rights and rule
of law. Such developments often herald the initiation of
vicious circles in which repression and radicalism feed on
one another.

-- Let me state categorically that respect for human rights
is essential for our success against contemporary terrorism.

-- As President Obama said in his inaugural address, there
must be no tradeoff between our security and our ideals. The
Obama administration has taken action to ensure that U.S.
counterterrorism practices reflect this fundamental
principle, for example, by banning the use of so-called
enhanced interrogation techniques. The United States also
remains committed to closing the detention facility at
Guantanamo Bay as promptly as possible. In candor, this task
has proven difficult, though the administration is committed
to the closure and has made significant progress in
resettling detainees -- whom we have approved for transfer
but whom we cannot return to their countries of origin due to
post-transfer treatment concerns -- and recently, in
designating five detainees for prosecution in a U.S. federal
court. We appreciate the help of those governments which
have supported the closure by receiving detainees for
resettlement, but we will need the continued assistance of
our friends and partners in the international community to
meet President Obama,s objective.

-- The Obama administration is committed to strengthening the
role of the United Nations and the many other relevant
international organizations in the legitimate fight against
terror. In order to make best use of this forum, we hope
that attention can focus on practical steps that could be
taken by the Council and its relevant committees and expert
groups to enhance integration of human rights into their
respective counterterrorism activities.

-- Cooperation between the Security Council's subsidiary
bodies, the Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force
(CTITF),and the UN human rights mechanisms, is essential.

-- The main question for discussion at this meeting is how
the Security Council and its subsidiary bodies can consider
human rights and the rule of law in monitoring and advising
on the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1267,
1373, and 1540.

-- With respect to Resolution 1267, the international
community's full implementation of 1267 measures remains a
critical tool in countering the threat posed by al-Qaeda and
the Taleban. The United States believes that the Council
should continue its efforts to ensure that the sanctions
imposed are applied in a fair and transparent manner.
Resolution 1822 and its predecessors introduced significant
enhancements to ensure fairness. The Council will negotiate,
in the coming weeks, a new resolution to renew the mandate of
the 1267 Monitoring Team and has the opportunity to enhance
the regime and improve our ability to counter the al-Qaeda
and Taleban threat. The United States believes that this
resolution should take additional steps to ensure that the
process for listing and delisting individuals and entities is
as fair and transparent as possible. We believe that there
is room to improve the way in which the 1267 Committee
decides to list individuals and entities and how it considers
requests for those seeking to be removed from the list.

-- Before addressing ways in which to sharpen the human
rights focus of the Counterterrorism Committee (CTC) and its
Counterterrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) established
under Resolution 1373, it is important to first recognize the
progress that has been made in recent years. As the UN Human
Rights Commissioner herself said in her address to the CTC
last month, "the CTED, prompted by the CTC, has made a
vigorous commitment to take relevant human rights
considerations into account when assessing States' compliance
with Security Council counterterrorism resolution 1373.
Moreover, CTED has increasingly shown a willingness to
address specific human rights issues in its dialogue with
States.

-- It is now widely recognized that some human rights issues,
including procedural ones highlighted by CTED in its 13
November presentation to the CTC on the human rights aspects
of judicial cooperation, are directly relevant to bringing
terrorists to justice -- and an important requirement of
UNSCR 1373.

-- These practical human rights issues, which concern, inter
alia, the principle of legality, the treatment of terrorist
suspects and the gathering of evidence, were highlighted
during a workshop CTED organized for police and prosecutors
in South Asia earlier this month.

-- CTED also is an active contributor to the CTITF working
group on human rights and counterterrorism, and we
enthusiastically support CTED's continued involvement in this
work.

-- We believe there are additional practical steps that could
be taken, such as: 1) More regularly involving the senior
human rights adviser or another appropriate human rights
expert, either from the Office of the High Commissioner on
Human Rights (OHCHR),or a regional human rights
organization, on CTED country visits; and 2) Ensuring that
human rights elements are fully integrated into all future
training workshops organized by CTED, following the
successful model of the recent one in Dhaka.

-- Finally, with respect to Resolution 1540, the focus of the
1540 Committee is and should remain the prevention of
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. That being
said, we welcome suggestions as to how the human rights
considerations can practically and usefully be integrated
into the work of the 1540 Committee.

END POINTS
CLINTON