BELARUS AND COE: INCREASED ENGAGEMENT, BUT NOT MEMBERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L STRASBOURG 000032 SIPDIS STATE ALSO FOR EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2019 TAGS: PREL PHUM COE BO SUBJECT: BELARUS AND COE: INCREASED ENGAGEMENT, BUT NOT MEMBERSHIP CLASSIFIED BY: Vincent Carver, CG, Strasbourg, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The Council of Europe (COE) seeks increased engagement with Belarus; if the GOB issues a death penalty moratorium the GOB likely will be invited to participate in more COE activities and negotiate accession to the COE Convention on Human Trafficking. While some COE member-states want even further engagement, the COE Secretary General and some other member-states have assured us that the COE is far from granting Belarus full membership given continued serious human rights violation there. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) The COE Democracy Committee reviewed December 10 COE relations with Belarus. COE Secretariat Director for Democracy and Political Affairs Laurens briefed on his talks the week of November 30 in Minsk. Laurens noted that there appears to be no systematic control by the GON regarding access to the COE's "Information Point" office in Minsk. During a lengthy meeting with the Head of the Presidential Administration, Laurens raised "some spots" in the relationship, including Belarus' denial of visas to individuals traveling on COE business and "some measures" against Belarusian citizens involved in COE-related activities. According to Laurens, discussion of a possible moratorium on the use of the death penalty was raised in all of his meetings, with Laurens observing that amending the Belarusian Criminal Code would obviate the need for a referendum on the issue. Laurens added that the COE and Belarusian authorities had held positive consultations November 18 regarding the possible accession of Belarus to the COE Convention on Trafficking in Human Beings. ¶3. (U) Belarusian Representative to the COE Andrey Bushilo addressed the Committee. Bushilo expressed disappointment with the COE's Parliamentary Assembly's (PACE) "excessive demands" on Belarus that "put up roadblocks to further cooperation." That said, he stressed that the COE's Information Point has been free to hold information campaigns in Minsk. He underscored that the GOB would not register the COE-sponsored School of Political Studies (currently operating largely out of Kiev). The GOB, he added, wants to make further progress with the COE on technical issues so as to be able to consider joining several COE conventions. ¶4. (U) Several member states supported further engagement with Belarus, while stressing that the GOB must issue a death penalty moratorium for progress to be possible. Austria, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovakia called for Belarus to make further political and human rights reforms. Sweden and the UK made the strongest statements in this regard, stressing that the COE, while wanting further engagement with Belarus, cannot compromise its basic values in this regard. We intervened to welcome increased engagement and progress on technical issues, called for an elaboration from Laurens on his discussions with the GOB on basic human rights and democracy, and, emphasizing that actions speak louder than words, noted that the School of Political Studies registration appeared to serve as a test case of Belarus' willingness to reform. Russia, Serbia, and Armenia praised further engagement with Belarus, with the Russian DCM noting that the imposition of "prior conditions" could "jeopardize the entire process" and end in a stalemate. COMMENT - - - - - - ¶5. (C) As usual, some in the COE Secretariat and various member-state delegations want to give too much of the benefit of the doubt to Belarus in order to promote closer cooperation with Minsk. One Secretariat official told us December 13 that some of his colleagues want to move forward quickly on Belarusian accession to a number of COE conventions once Minsk issues a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Cooler heads in various member states, such as Sweden and the UK, will help prevent, however, the COE from moving toward consideration of actual membership for Belarus absent meaningful and sustained reforms in human rights and democracy. In fact, we directly asked Secretary General Jagland, during our November 9 courtesy call on him, about this issue. Jagland assured us that the COE is far from encouraging full membership for Belarus given the political situation there. CARVER