This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRASILIA 002129
SIPDIS
USUN FOR JOHN DANILOVICH
STATE FOR USUN/W - MARY SUE CONAWAY
NSC FOR DEMPSEY, CRUZ
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON PHUM KDEM AORC SOCI BR UNGA UN
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR SICHAN SIV'S BRASILIA MEETINGS
REFS: (A) Brasilia 1835
(B) USUN 1593
(C) State 152009
SUMMARY -------
1. (SBU) Brazilian Foreign Ministry officials assured Ambassador Siv that Brazil will wholeheartedly back the USG TIP
agenda item at the 59th UNGA, but sounded more ambivalent on the four other U.S. UNGA initiatives (Ref C). To Ambassador
Siv's suggestion that UNHCR has become a group mingling "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of which Sudan, Zimbabwe and
Cuba have no right to be members, Foreign Ministry Chief of Staff Patriota courteously demurred that individual nations
"including Brazil" display their own good, bad and ugly aspects, and that Libya's positive evolution shows that
engagement, not ostracism/expulsion, is the wise course. The Foreign- Ministry expert on President Lula's global anti-
hunger/poverty project stressed that the aim of Lula's September 20 UN event is not to win endorsement of any particular
text or design, but rather to raise the profile of world attention to the subject and gain a follow-up mandate to
identify mechanisms that can be pursued multilaterally, to make development flows more stable, predictable, and
sustainable. END SUMMARY.
2. (U) In Brasilia August 19, U.S. Representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council Ambassador Sichan Siv
discussed USG initiatives for the 59th UN General Assembly in an office meeting with Minister Maria Luiza Veotti, head
of the GOB's MFA Human Rights and Social Issues Department, and over lunch hosted by Ambassador Danilovich with Foreign
Minister Amorim's chief-of-staff Antonio Patriota and special advisor on President Lula's global hunger/poverty relief
initiative Maria Nazareth Farani Azevedo. In both meetings, Ambassador Siv detailed the USG's five main UNGA
initiatives: Advancing Economic Freedom; Combating Trafficking in Persons; Promoting Democracy; Banning Human Cloning;
and Reducing Middle East Resolutions (Ref C).
3. (SBU) Formerly based at the Brazilian UN Mission and less than two weeks in her new job, Minister Veotti was brief
and general in most responses, readily volunteering that she was not yet conversant with details on all five items. On
economic freedom, she said President Lula supports and has been active in implementing Monterrey Consensus principles
and international cooperation to underpin economic freedom. She noted the record of GoB support for and participation in
the Community of Democracies, but also tentative reservations about the idea of forming a democracy caucus in the UN,
wondering whether that might upset the balance with which traditional UN groups work and introduce new polarity. She
outlined GOB efforts to combat TIP and noted that the Foreign Ministry has formed a special unit to deal with the
subject. About the Middle East, she reiterated that the GOB supports a balanced approach that addresses human rights
without ignoring issues of terrorism. Finally, Minister Veotti noted that the GOB endorses human cloning for medical but
not for reproductive reasons, and that a separate office has the Foreign-Ministry lead on the issue.
4. (U) A propos the TIP issue, Ambassador Danilovich took the occasion to mention that A/S Maura Harty is shortly due to
visit Brazil. Ambassador Siv observed that in various nations there are many arrests of traffickers-in-persons but that
subsequent prosecution was ineffective. Does Brazil have a central coordinator for this sphere? Veotti confirmed that
the National Ministry of Justice was the authorized agent.
5. (SBU) Ambassador Danilovich hosted a subsequent lunch for Ambassador Siv attended by Foreign Minister Amorim's Chief
of Staff Antonio Patriota and Special Advisor on President Lula's global hunger/poverty relief initiative Maria Nazareth
Farani Azevedo. With Ambassador Siv making the same exposition of the UNGA agenda points, Ambassador Patriota gave
ready, meticulous overviews of those issues and others, as below.
-- Middle East: Ambassador Patriota registered the USG concerns about reducing the volume of motions, often repetitive
and unconstructive, on the Middle East at the UNGA. He said Brazil is interested in trying to help "put hope back into
the peace process," and noted that the MRE has just appointed, for the first time in Brazil's diplomatic history, a
special roving envoy to the Middle East. In addition, Brazil now has a seated diplomat in Ramallah, Ambassador Bernardo
Brito, a seasoned senior official known for "doing a good job in tough places," Patriota said. An MRE diplomat at the
Minister-Counselor level is also now based in Amman, covering Iraq. Patriota further noted a recent meeting in which
Norway's Foreign Minister and FM Amorim discussed working together on the Middle East, with reference to the early
promise of the Oslo agreement and the potential synergy of "a small but developed nation working closely with a large,
developing country" on some initiatives. Brazil is proceeding with its previous plans for a meeting in Brazil, probably
in April 2005, of Arab nations, with a focus on economic and commercial issues, Patriota said. He acknowledged the
potential for political polemics and anti-Israeli diatribes, but said the GOB would work hard to discourage and minimize
such rhetoric. The GOB is considering inviting Iraq, he added.
-- Africa: In response to an appeal by Ambassador Siv for Brazilian support in helping ameliorate instability and
poverty in Bissau, Minister Maria Nazareth Farani outlined a new Brazil-India-South Africa joint initiative there, aimed
at technical and financial assistance to build productivity especially in agriculture. The initiative is the first of a
series for Africa that Brazil is discussing with South Africa and India. While relatively modest in scope, the project
signals Brazil's concern about the extreme misery and restive military in the Portuguese- speaking country, Patriota
added.
-- Haiti: Patriota had just returned from accompanying FM Amorim and President Lula to Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
and he expressed glowing satisfaction with the success and symbolism of the previous day's famous soccer match between
Brazil and Haiti, attended by Lula and his retinue. The game was symbolic of the "genuine affinity and dialogue" between
Haitians and Brazilians that is helping facilitate MINUSTAH's work, he said. He further noted that feelings within
Brazil had been mixed with regard to Brazil's leadership of MINUSTAH, with criticisms of the mission having come from
the far-left of Lula's ruling PT party. The success thus far of Brazil's PKO effort has "vindicated" the position
adopted by Lula and Amorim that Brazil had a responsibility to help if it could.
-- UNHRC and democracy initiatives: Patriota respectfully demurred at Ambassador Siv's characterization of UNHRC having
deteriorated into a collection of "the good, the bad and the ugly," with some infamous rights violators now using member
status in the forum to torpedo resolutions and actions against them. Patriota said the GOB took the view that there is
good, bad and ugly in each nation, "including Brazil," and that efforts should be made to rehabilitate, not just
confront. He noted Libya as an example of a nation that had transformed from pariah status to collaborator with the
world community. Brazil would continue to oppose single-country resolutions and wants to explore mechanisms for broad
"objective" reporting on problem areas by the UN.
-- Human cloning: Patriota noted that Brazil currently has "some differences" with the U.S. and said the issue is still
not ripe for comprehensive discussion. (Note: Brazil officially opposes reproductive cloning but would consider leaving
an avenue for therapeutic cloning. However, domestic legislation currently in Brazil's Congress could change GOB policy
to that of blanket prohibition. End Note.)
6. (SBU) Regarding Brazil's global hunger/poverty initiative, Farani stressed that President Lula's September 20 New
York event aims not for any final endorsement either of the text that Lula will present or of any specific financing or
other mechanism. Rather, the GoB aspiration is to raise the profile of world attention to this sphere and establish a
follow-up mandate to identify mechanisms that can be followed multilaterally. "There are enough resources (for aid), but
(they are) not being devoted to development... Getting this on the agenda could mean a healthy increase in attention. we
are trying to discuss mechanisms that exist already and are doable... We're aware of the positions you have on certain
issues," Farani said, without explicitly citing international taxation. The ultimate need is for resources to be stable,
predictable and in greater volumes so as to allow for a solid development strategy - rather than the present "ad hoc and
at times arbitrary funding" that impedes development from being predictable or sustainable, in Farani's words.
7. (U) By the GoB's latest count, fifty-one countries, forty-eight to be represented by heads of state, and twelve
international agencies will attend Lula's September 20 announcement, Farani said. Confirmed interest is so great, she
went on, that the GoB organizers are having to think of a new format, since there will be, e.g., no possibility for
every head of state to make an individual presentation, as originally projected.
8. (U) Aside from these meetings, Ambassador Siv during his Brasilia sojourn gave an interview to national daily 'Estado
de Sao Paulo' which printed an article the next day, and attended with Ambassador Danilovich a GoB memorial service for
Brazilian-born UN diplomat Sergio De Mello on the anniversary of the Baghdad bombing that took the lives of de Mello and
21 other UN workers. Rio daily 'O Globo' printed Ambassador Siv's personal tribute to de Mello, his former colleague in
Cambodian refugee resettlement in the early 1990s, in the form of an August 20 OpEd.
DANILOVICH