US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI8682

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 06 NEW DELHI 008682 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR THE SECRETARY; U/S BURNS 
USUN FOR JOHN BOLTON 
IO FOR A/S KRISTEN SILVERBURG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KDEM, PHUM, IN, UNSC, GOI 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR TAHIR-KHELI URGES GOI LEADERSHIP ON 
AREAS OF UN REFORM CONSENSUS 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 3973 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt, for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary. In her second round of consultations with 
senior MEA officials on November 14, Special Advisor on UN 
Reform Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli discussed areas of 
common consensus on UN reform and urged the GOI to take 
leadership and build coalitions of support before the review 
of the 2005 Outcome Document in December.  The GOI found a 
"fair degree of congruence" on USG priorities, such as 
management reform, the Human Rights Council, the 
Peacebuilding Commission and the Convention on Terrorism. 
Areas of divergence included UN mandates, oversight of the 
Secretariat, as well as certain details of the Human Rights 
 
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Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, but in general the 
GOI appeared more open to collaboration than during the first 
round of consultations in May.  In response to Ambassador 
Tahir-Kheli's request for Indian leadership on reform issues, 
MEA appealed for greater public USG support for development 
reform and of course pressed India's campaign for UNSC 
membership.  The GOI continues to cooperate with the USG on 
adopting the Convention Against Terrorism, and suggested ways 
to approach Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia over 
disagreements.  Shankar did not describe any new initiatives 
to increase support for the G-4 before December.  While there 
were differences over reform proposal details, the GOI seemed 
open to our request for more public support on USG 
priorities.  End Summary. 
 
Management Reform: Agreement on Three of Five Proposals 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
2.  (C) MEA Additional Secretary (UN and International 
Security) Meera Shankar, leading an MEA delegation from the 
UN/Political, UN/Economic and Americas divisions, told 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli that on management reform, the GOI 
supports the creation of an Independent Oversight Advisory 
Committee, the establishment of an Independent Ethics Office, 
and the strengthening of the audit and investigation 
functions of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, but 
disagrees on some aspects of the review of mandates and the 
expansion of the Secretary-General's authority.  After 
thanking Shankar for the chance to consult with the GOI, 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli opened the meeting underlining the 
importance of balance progress on all aspects of UN reform by 
December, with special emphasis on management reform. 
Shankar said that the GOI is not taking "positions in stone," 
and its position will evolve through a "consultative 
process."  Given USG and GOI congruence on most areas of 
management reform, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli stressed that the 
US would benefit from India joining countries such as 
Britain, France and Japan to take the lead in making the case 
for reform in this crucial area. 
 
3.  (C) Shankar stated that the GOI agrees on the importance 
of reviewing mandates that are over five years old, but 
believes that all member states should have a chance to give 
their own perspectives on each mandate's utility.  Therefore, 
instead of giving the authority to review mandates to the 
Secretary, the GOI wants the review to fall under the General 
 
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Assembly.  Joint Secretary (United Nations/Political) Sanjiv 
Arora specified that the USG may not think that older 
mandates such as the Palestine Committee or the Resolution on 
Western Sahara are important, but the involved parties should 
"have a say" in these issues.  Shankar concluded that the GOI 
has no fundamental opposition to the USG position on 
reviewing mandates, but believes the process should be more 
"inclusive." 
 
4.  (C) Regarding the Secretary-General's (SG) authority, 
Shankar asserted that the General Assembly needs to maintain 
some oversight over the Secretary-General in order to keep 
the position accountable to the member states.  Ambassador 
Tahir-Kheli explained the importance of giving greater 
authority to the SG to redeploy staff and resources and 
revitalize the Secretariat.  She reminded the MEA delegation 
of Indian Ambassador to the UN Nirupam Sen's recent statement 
in the fifth committee that the General Assembly needs to 
have oversight over the Secretariat.  Shankar stressed that 
this was not a blanket statement and that levels of authority 
should depend on the issue in order to create a balance 
between micro-managing the SG and giving him authority to 
make day-to-day decisions. 
 
Peacebuilding Commission: Devil in the Details 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
5.  (C) Shankar expressed the GOI's overall support for the 
establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission to increase the 
effectiveness of the UN system and help countries 
successfully transition to post-conflict stability, but 
stated that New Delhi differs on a few of the details.  The 
GOI wants countries to have "national ownership" of the 
peacekeeping process in its borders, thinks the number of 
Organizing Committee (OC) members from ECOSOC to be "equal or 
greater than" those from the UNSC, and hopes the Commission 
will report to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).  She 
also explained the need for a stronger consultation process 
between troop donating countries and the UNSC.  Both Shankar 
and Ambassador Tahir-Kheli agreed on other details and felt 
the commission should take on the role of an 
inter-governmental advisory body.  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli 
stressed the importance of the Security Council for the 
Peacebuilding Commission's work given the UN Charter's 
delegation of peace and security issues to the UNSC.  Shankar 
hoped that the proposal for the Peacebuilding Commission 
would receive enough member country support to begin working 
after the December UNGA meetings.  Appreciating this support, 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli stressed the need for balance progress 
in other areas such as human rights and management reform, 
and requested the GOI speak out in support of all these 
issues. 
 
6.  (C) After expressing GOI support for the Peacebuilding 
Commission, Shankar added that countries with large numbers 
of peacekeeping forces should have "national ownership" of 
the peacekeeping process because they are in the best 
position to know what kind of assistance is necessary. 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli responded that ideally the USG would 
like countries to keep ownership, but this concept is 
complicated by the phenomenon of failing states that are not 
in a position to exercise ownership.  In many cases the 
government has fallen apart, she commented, and therefore 
trying to keep the state in charge of the process would delay 
the response time and decrease peacekeeper's effectiveness. 
"When the national authority is demolished, this creates a 
threat to peace and security," Ambassador Tahir-Kheli stated. 
 Shankar noted that national ownership is "not an absolute 
concept, but needs to be reflected in a balanced manner." 
 
7.  (C) Shankar underlined the GOI belief that OC membership 
needs to include at least as many members from ECOSOC as from 
the UNSC and that the Peacebuilding Commission should report 
to ECOSOC.  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli commented that UNSC and 
ECOSOC membership is reflected equally in the current 
circulating draft, and also includes members from troop donor 
and financial contributor countries.  J/S Arora also asked 
that the number of members from ECOSOC to be at least as many 
as the number from troop and finance contributing countries. 
Shankar questioned whether members of the OC could also be 
elected from UNGA.  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli explained that 
this was unlikely, as it would cross the lines between UNGA 
and UNSC authority.  She also clarified that the 
Peacebuilding Commission will need to report to the Security 
Council while it is seized with the crisis. 
 
8.  (C) Asserting that current consultations between troop 
donor countries and the UNSC were inadequate, Shankar 
appealed for a better consultative process.  She recalled 
that the Eritrean ban on helicopter flights had left 1500 GOI 
peacekeepers in the area unable to carry out regular 
surveillance measures.  The UNSC statements issued after 
closed-door meetings were not effective, and one troop 
contributor was threatening to withdraw if there was not an 
improvement.  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli thanked Shankar for 
bringing this problem to her attention and responded that she 
will follow up on establishing a regular mechanism for 
peacekeeping consultations.  PolCouns also expressed US 
appreciation for India's participation in police/paramilitary 
training at COPESU, and flagged the possibility of a follow 
on training to be provided at India's Peacekeeping Institute. 
 
 
Human Rights Council: On Board, but Bigger 
------------------------------------------ 
 
9.  (C) The GOI supports USG goals to establish a Human 
Rights Council (HRC), but hopes for a council of 
approximately fifty members and is unsure about the proposal 
for the HRC to set standards through a code of conduct for 
members.  Shankar stated that the GOI views the HRC primarily 
as a coordinator for all UN human rights efforts with a 
special emphasis  on technical support.  The HRC will also be 
a forum for dialogue to encourage greater respect for human 
rights and address gross violations.  The GOI thinks it is 
more practical for the HRC to function as a subsidiary of 
UNGA as opposed to a standing body and to meet six weeks 
total in two settings.  It prefers that members are elected 
in a simple majority based on geographic distribution, but is 
open to the USG proposal for a two-thirds majority as a means 
of raising the threshold for membership.  Shankar added that 
the GOI is open to the final number, but imagines a group of 
about fifty in order to be on par with other councils such as 
ECOSOC.  Rather than creating a code of conduct for human 
rights, the GOI wants to leave development of norms to the 
Third Committee.  She called Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's 
proposal for increasing resources in order to strengthen the 
High Commission's capacity a "step in the right direction." 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli asked the GOI to take a more public 
stand on its support for the establishment of a Human Rights 
Council before the end of the year, emphasizing the success 
of the UN Democracy Initiative and the wider resonance of GOI 
support for a HRC. 
 
Development: GOI Asks for Public USG Support 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
10.  (C) Shankar observed that "mainstreaming human rights is 
a USG UN reform goal, but mainstreaming development is a top 
GOI goal" and asked the USG to likewise express their support 
for development reform on areas of consensus.  She added that 
the UN is focused on its regulatory role to the detriment of 
its developmental role.  Her suggestions included: 
mainstreaming development issues, giving the UN a political 
direction in the Hong Kong World Trade Organization 
Ministerial Meeting, recognizing the innovation in aid 
distribution by frontloading aid to meet UN Development 
Goals, and supporting efforts on irrevocable debt repayment 
where it poses threats to these goals.  Ambassador 
Tahir-Kheli responded that as the President's address to the 
UNGA indicated, the US supports development, but also 
believes in the reciprocal responsibilities of recipients. 
She stated that the USG supports development in the 2005 
Outcome Document. 
 
Terrorism: Working Together for the Convention 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
11.  (C) Ambassador Tahir-Kheli thanked the GOI for its 
continued cooperation on the convention against terrorism and 
discussed USG efforts to persuade unhelpful countries not to 
block the convention.  She asked the GOI to use its influence 
with Egypt's representatives in New York on this goal. 
Shankar observed that Saudi Arabia was in the best position 
to speak with Egypt and Pakistan, and suggested that the USG 
use the SAG's interest in a regional Counter-Terrorism Center 
to leverage support for the Convention.  Ambassador 
Tahir-Kheli welcomed this suggestion and agreed to take this 
idea back to the Department for follow-up.  The GOI still 
hopes to adopt the convention without any amendments by the 
end of the year. 
 
UNSC Reform: GOI Still Pushing, but No New Plans 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
12.  (C) Shankar reiterated the case for Indian membership on 
the UNSC and suggested US support could be a great 
"deliverable" for President Bush's trip to India in early 
2006.  She explained that India could "contribute 
substantially to the UN and be helpful to the US," and that 
US support would be "appropriate with the warming of the 
relationship."  The GOI maintains solidarity with the G-4 and 
continues to consult with the African Union for support. 
Shankar did not lay out any new initiatives, but wistfully 
hoped to have enough support by December.  J/S Arora added 
that India realizes its individual support has been growing 
(adding that another co-sponser had signed off on the G-4 
proposal), and keeping this in mind, "the GOI will have to 
take stock of the debate."  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli raised the 
issue of Indian leadership across the board given the current 
unique opportunity. 
 
General Assembly Revitalization 
-------------------------------- 
 
13.  (C) Highlighting another GOI priority, Shankar requested 
support for "revitalization of the UN General Assembly 
through a greater role in policy formulation and UN 
decisions."  Ambassador Tahir-Kheli responded that the USG 
could not support UNGA mandate review because requiring 191 
countries to sign off on every review would not be fast or 
meaningful.  She suggested that every member state will have 
to make certain compromises, but the USG is looking for 
countries like India to lead and build coalitions of support. 
 Shankar commented that New Delhi agrees with "the US 
interest in creating a representative and effective 
institution to meet modern challenges."  She stressed the 
multiple areas of consensus, and concluded that India and the 
US have "different perspectives but shared objectives." 
 
New Delhi, New York and New Audiences 
------------------------------------- 
 
14.  In a follow-up meeting later that day, J/S (Americas) S. 
Jaishankar underlined that the GOI has to appeal to several 
different audiences at the UN (in order to win support for 
UNSC membership) and consider the political cost of its stand 
on UN reform.  He commented that in order to garner 
widespread support for its UNSC candidacy, the GOI has to 
maintain its historical constituency among the Non-Aligned 
Movement even while moving towards a much more pragmatic 
foreign policy aligned with the US.  He used this predicament 
to explain why the Indian Permanent Representative's 
statement may seem at odds with the changing foreign policy 
outlook in New Delhi.  He flagged India's vote on Iran at the 
IAEA, its backing for the Democracy Fund, and its vote in 
support of the US on Cuba's Guantanamo resolution as three 
recent steps that had attracted criticism from India's NAM 
constituency.  Jaishankar agreed that India should be a 
leader in pushing for USG proposals in human rights and 
management reform, but stressed that there "are no no-cost 
decisions." 
 
Comment:  What Holds Back Indian Support 
---------------------------------------- 
15.  (C) At a November 14 roundtable dinner in Ambassador 
Tahir-Kheli's honor, foreign policy analysts speculated that 
Indian support for USG UN reforms should be politically 
feasible, but asked what benefits the GOI derived from taking 
a more public stance.  As the Congress leadership continues 
to face domestic political flak for its vote against Iran at 
the IAEA, they questioned whether risks from further 
association with the US would be worth the uncertain chance 
that support would help India's candidacy for the UNSC. 
Ambassador Tahir-Kheli explained that UN reform benefits all 
member states.  She went on to describe different reform 
issues at some length, as it was apparent that even this 
otherwise informed group lacked knowledge on USG priorities. 
Further, the negative mood in Congress means that timelines 
for reform are tight.  Countries in leadership positions, 
such as India, would benefit from support of meaningful 
reform at the UN. 
 
Participants 
------------ 
 
16.  (C) Participants in the MEA meetings were as follows: 
 
US: 
 
Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Senior Advisor to the 
Secretary for UN Reform 
 
SIPDIS 
Geoff Pyatt, PolCouns 
Courtney Kramer, Poloff (notetaker) 
 
Indian: 
 
Meera Shankar, Additional Secretary, UN and Interntional 
Security 
S. Jaishankar, Joint Secretary, Americas 
Sanjiv Arora, Joint Secretary, UN Political 
Sangeeta Mann, Director, UN Political 
 
17.  (U) Ambassador Tahir-Kheli has cleared this message. 
November 15 meetings with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will 
be reported septel. 
 
18.  (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: 
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) 
MULFORD