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
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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
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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