US embassy cable - 05HELSINKI463

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000463 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NB, IO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, FI 
SUBJECT: FINLAND: CHR RESOLUTION ON GUANTANAMO 
 
REF: SECSTATE 69823 
 
 1. (SBU)  Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Johanna 
Suurpaa, Director of the MFA's Human Rights Unit and 
Finland's CHR Coordinator.  Suurpaa said that she understood 
the U.S. position and believed that under no circumstances 
would any EU country support the Cuban resolution.  She said 
that the fact that the U.S. pledge not to call for no-action 
was appreciated, since Finland would have had to oppose any 
such U.S. move on principle.  Suurpaa told Poloff that the EU 
was working toward a common position, but that none had been 
agreed as of mid-day Wednesday, April 20.  She said that for 
Finland, the most important issue was securing a common EU 
approach. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Suurpaa went on to opine that the Cubans had used 
a smart approach when drafting their resolution.  She said 
that it was written with a view toward splitting the U.S. and 
EU, and contained language about visitations, etc., that was 
lifted almost verbatim from EU sources;  this made it 
difficult for the EU to reject the Cuban gambit outright. 
Suurpaa said that she believed the EU countries might abstain 
and release a statement supporting the "positive elements" in 
the resolution (visitations, etc.), but pointing out that the 
resolution seemed politically motivated, and that the Cuban 
position was inconsistent since Cuba itself violated the very 
principles it claimed to support.  Finally, she said that the 
Cubans in Geneva had already reserved a large room for a 
press conference in anticipation of, among other things, 
"blasting" EU countries for using a double standard by 
refraining from criticizing the United States over 
Guantanamo. 
MACK