US embassy cable - 05MADRID2452

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KUNR, AORC, SP, UNSC 
SUBJECT: SPAIN'S VIEWS OF USG PRIORITIES FOR UN REFORM 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 111657 
 
     B. SECSTATE 111637 
     C. MADRID 2365 
 
Classified By: Charge Bob Manzanares for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Charge and Polcouns discussed USG 
priorities for UN reform with Rafael Dezcallar, MFA Director 
General of Foreign Policy, on June 22.  Dezcallar said he was 
responding on behalf of Foreign Minister Moratinos who had 
received our initial demarche (Refs A and C) on the issue. 
Polcouns also discussed our priorities in greater detail with 
Arturo Laclaustra, MFA Director General for International 
Organizations, and Juan Manuel Gonzales de Linares, MFA 
Deputy Director for UN Affairs, on June 23. Dezcallar and 
Laclaustra both stressed that the GOS strongly agrees with 
the need for UN reform.  The GOS strongly supports the 
creation of a Human Rights Council, the creation of a 
Peacebuilding Commission, and the adoption of a Comprehensive 
Convention on Terrorism (CCIT).  The GOS favors increased 
development assistance and debt relief for the poorest 
countries and shares USG goals, although their approach 
towards foreign aid may differ slightly, supporting the 0.7 
percent target. The GOS does not favor additional permanent 
members on the UNSC and welcomes the approach laid out by 
Undersecretary Burns on the need to move forward on UN reform 
before tackling the issue of UNSC expansion.  The GOS and 
other EU member states favor more discussion on the 
Responsibility to Protect issue.  The GOS believes that the 
discussion should not go beyond the Ping report and that the 
issue should not be opened to the UNGA, but rather remain in 
the UNSC for discussion.  END SUMMARY 
 
//DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE// 
 
2.  (C)  The GOS is a strong proponent of increased 
development assistance and believes that debt relief for the 
poorest countries is essential.  Laclaustra said that he was 
glad to see that development assistance ranked high on the 
U.S. reform agenda for the UN and he looked forward to 
discussing development assistance proposals.  The GOS and its 
EU allies may have some different approaches to foreign aid, 
but they share overall U.S. goals.  Spain is increasing its 
commitments of official development assistance (ODA) and has 
announced a goal to achieve 0.33 percent of ODA/GNI (gross 
national income) by 2006 and 0.5 percent in 2008.  According 
to Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain 
plans to cancel an increasing amount of debt owed to 
developing nations and is working toward the 0.7 percent 
target of ODA/GNI. 
 
//COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS// 
 
3.  (C)  The GOS favors the creation of a Human Rights 
Council and agrees that the Commission of Human Rights is in 
need of reform.  The GOS prefers more members on the council 
than the 20 proposed by the USG and will likely differ with 
USG views on membership eligibility.  Laclaustra noted that 
in a council with fifty odd members, which GOS supports, it 
would be difficult to find "fifty holy countries" to judge 
human rights cases. 
 
//PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION/COMPREHENSIVE CONVENTION ON 
TERRORISM// 
 
4.  (C)  The GOS strongly supports the creation of a 
Peacebuilding Commission and a Comprehensive Convention on 
Terrorism (CCIT) and believes these should be one of the 
highest priorities of UN reform.  Laclaustra and Gonzales de 
Linares agreed with USG views that efforts to find acceptable 
"definition" language on terrorism should not distract from 
the work of the convention to combat terrorism.  The GOS 
strongly supports a global strategy to combat terrorism, and 
would like to see stronger efforts to protect the victims of 
terrorism, including greater emphasis on the issue in the 
CCIT.  Dezcallar said this would be one of Spain's top 
priorities.  The GOS strongly agrees with SYG Annan's 
"principled, comprehensive strategy" to fight terrorism that 
he proposed in Madrid on the first anniversary of the March 
11 terrorist train bombings.  Laclaustra stated that the UN 
should focus on Annan's five D's: dissuading disaffected 
groups from terrorism, denying terrorists the means to carry 
out their attacks, deterring states from supporting 
terrorists, developing states' capacity to prevent terrorism, 
and defending human rights. 
 
//SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM// 
 
5.  (C)  The GOS favors obtaining consensus through a "sober 
and reflective" discussion of UNSC reform, but does not 
support new permanent members on the UNSC (Ref C).  The GOS 
also agrees with the U.S. approach on reserving the veto for 
P5 members only.  The EU does not have an official position 
on UNSC reform, and Gonzales de Linares noted that other EU 
members had thwarted Germany's desire to create a common 
position advocating UNSC reform at meetings in Brussels on 
June 20 and 21.  Laclaustra said he hoped that G-4 (Japan, 
Germany, Brazil, and India) efforts to expand the UNSC would 
not distract from other important UN reforms and hoped they 
would not put forward their draft resolution in September. 
He questioned whether Annan had tried to accomplish too much 
reform at once with his UNSC suggestions and noted that 
Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, had been more 
reserved in proposing incremental reforms. 
 
6.  (C)  The GOS also agrees with the U.S. that pursuing UNSC 
changes before addressing the broader issue of UN reform 
could derail the prospects for meaningful UN reform.  The GOS 
welcomed the USG priorities, as elaborated by Undersecretary 
Burns, but was concerned that the proposal for "two or so" 
new permanent UNSC members, one to be taken by Japan, could 
cause difficulties with the Africa Group which might then be 
precluded from a permanent seat. 
 
//RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT// 
 
6.  (C)  Spain and other EU member states feel strongly about 
the Responsibility to Protect and the need to endorse a 
collective international responsibility to protect people 
from mass atrocities.  The GOS believes that debate of when 
and how force can be used for protection should not go beyond 
what is contained in the UN reform document of UNGA President 
Jean Ping.  Laclaustra said that discussions of the use of 
force for protection should not be opened to the UNGA, but 
should remain in the UNSC for discussion.  Laclaustra favored 
more discussion of USG and EU priorities, but he added that 
more elaborate details of the criteria for intervention could 
hurt the overall debate.  Laclaustra stated that any 
discussion of UNSC reform would have to carefully consider 
under what situations the UNSC could impose the use of force 
and what would happen in a crisis of the UNSC could not reach 
consensus on whether it should intervene. 
 
//OTHER ISSUES// 
 
7.  (C)  The GOS would like the USG to take careful 
consideration of the Spanish candidate for the International 
Court of Justice, Julio Gonzalez Campos. 
 
MANZANARES