Cablegate: Demarches Delivered On Upcoming Session of Human

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM UNHRC PREL PGOV MX
SUBJECT: DEMARCHES DELIVERED ON UPCOMING SESSION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS COUNCIL

REF: A. STATE 157283 B. STATE 160278

On September 27, Polcouns delivered reftel demarches to Maria
del Refugio Gonzalez Dominguez, Assistant Secretary of Human
Rights and Multilateral Affairs, and Ulises Canchola
Gutierrez, Director General of the Office for the United
Nations, both of the Secretariat for Foreign Relations (SRE).
In a lengthy conversation, Polcouns made key points,
particularly stressing the need to keep the upcoming session
broadly focused and encouraging Mexico to parry Cuba's
attempt to have the Council eliminate the mandate of the
Special Representative and bar NGOs from participating in
discussions of country-specific resolutions. Post had passed
non-papers with key points to SRE the previous day. SRE
interlocutors agreed that no special treatment should be
accorded Cuba in the process of reviewing mandates, and
foresaw no changes in the nature of NGO participation in
country-specific discussions in the upcoming session.
However, they felt that NGO participation might be looked at
in the future in order to "channel it more constructively"
and avoid "over-burdening" sessions with lengthy
interventions. With regards to points in Ref A, SRE believes
that the most productive use of the upcoming session will be
to clarify rules and establish better norms of behavior, and
that introducing additional country-specific resolutions for
Burma and North Korea at this point would be
counter-productive.

Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity

GARZA

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