AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH UNIFEM EXECUTIVE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000569 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR USUN/W AND IO/UNP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL UNSC SO SU SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH UNIFEM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Ambassador Rice met with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Executive Director, Ines Alberdi, on Wednesday, June 3, 2009. Ms. Alberdi congratulated the U.S. on their new administration and the new possibilities it presents for gender issues. Alberdi and her staff raised three issues: 1) U.S. ratification of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),2) ideas for the U.S. on SCR 1820 and SCR 1325 and 3) requests for more UNIFEM funding. Ambassador Rice welcomed the opportunity to deepen the partnership between UNIFEM and the U.S., said no timeline was established yet for ratification of CEDAw, and requested UNIFEM refine concrete proposals on SCR 1820 and SCR 1325 through experts in the mission. She encouraged UNIFEM to continue their discussion on budget with the relevant Congressional contacts in Washington. END SUMMARY. -CEDAW- ¶2. (U) On the upcoming 28th anniversary of CEDAW, Alberdi said U.S. involvement would send a strong message of support for women's issues. Ambassador Rice could not give an estimate of the time frame for U.S. ratification of CEDAW, but said it is being reviewed with an aim to ratify, along with others treaties. Ambassador Rice hoped to be able to give Ms. Alberdi a better sense of the timing in the future. -SCRs 1820 and 1325- ¶3. (U) Alberdi's chief adviser on Governance, Peace and Security, Anne-Marie Goetz, spoke on the issues of SCR 1820 and SCR 1325. Goetz congratulated the U.S. as an obvious champion on the issue, especially with last year,s adoption of SCR 1820 on sexual violence. Goetz presented two new ideas for strengthening follow-up on sexual violence to the Ambassador. (1) She suggested the Security Council build upon the existing Protection of Civilians (POC) Informal Working Group, expanding its mandate to cover monitoring and follow-up of the issues included in 1820, thereby avoiding the challenges of trying to establish a totally new Working Group. She also suggested that the SC should formalize the operation of the POC Informal Working Group. (2) Goetz suggested that the Security Council act to bolster and expand the nature and composition of UN Rapid Response teams and standby capacity, which already exist in the areas of police, rule of law and peace talks, by incorporating within them individuals with expertise in addressing sexual violence. ¶4. (U) Ambassador Rice remarked the proposals seemed reasonable, and asked for concrete details to be shared with appropriate mission experts. She also asked who was, or would be, resistant to these ideas. Goetz admitted these ideas had not been not formally presented, but implied China and Russia could resist the idea of formalizing and expanding the Protection of Civilians Working Group, and that elements within DPKO had not picked up on the idea of expanding the scope of the standby teams. ¶5. (U) (NOTE: There are several ongoing discussions within the UN community on whether all thematic issues at the UN should fall under the Protection of Civilians (POC) mandate. The U.S. resisted the idea since POC focuses on humanitarian access and trends and does not monitor or report based on evidentiary information to the extent the Children and Armed Conflict Working Group does. However, the U.S. did not resist the idea of setting up an informal POC working group. The POC working group has met three times under the leadership of the UK. The UK seems open to the idea of finding ways for the POC group to tackle issues of sexual violence. They advise against formalizing the working group at this time, however. The U.S. is not in favor of setting up a separate SCR 1820 Working Group, but should review this new twist on the idea presented by UNIFEM. END NOTE). ¶6. (U) Goetz pointed out that despite the calls for women,s involvement in peace processes in SCR 1325, there were no women invited to the upcoming Darfur or Somalia peace talks. She suggested that a parallel process, involving women from all sides of the conflicts and from civil society, could be a meaningful way to redress this shortcoming. ¶7. (U) Goetz also raised the upcoming UNIFEM/DPA/DPKO Colloquium on Women's Security and Peace Processes on June 23, at which Ambassador Rice has been invited to speak. -BUDGET SUPPORT FOR UNIFEM- ¶8. (U) Finally Alberdi asked the U.S. for stronger financial support, to the tune of $15 million dollars. She advised that Norway, the UK, Sweden and Spain were UNIFEM's top contributors. Ambassador Rice did not make promises on the budget, but encouraged UNIFEM to continue their conversations in Washington. RICE