US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3704

UNCLAS VIENNA 003704 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS (VIKMANIS KELLER), PRM/MCE (SANTOS AND 
FITZGIBBONS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC, PHUM, PREF, PREL, IS, SZ, AU, ICRC 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA SUPPORTS ADOPTION OF THIRD ADDITIONAL 
PROTOCOL TO GENEVA CONVENTION 
 
REF: STATE 206954 
 
1. (U) On 14 November, EconPolOff met with Bert Theuermann, 
Director for Human Rights in the Foreign Ministry, and Eva 
Schoefer from the same department to discuss adoption of a 
Third Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Convention.  If 
a vote is necessary, Theuermann said, Austria and the EU plan 
to vote in favor of the Third Additional Protocol at the 5-6 
December diplomatic conference, hosted by the Swiss Federal 
Council. 
 
2. (SBU) The issue of admitting the Israeli National Society, 
Magen David Adom (MDA), into the International Red Cross and 
Red Crescent Movement has been ongoing for sometime and is an 
extremely important issue for the EU, Theuermann said.  "The 
conference must not be a failure," he said.  The only 
outstanding question is how to deal with opposition to the 
measure from the Arab block.  According to Theuermann, the EU 
demarched the Arab League and other Arab capitals to lessen 
their resistance to convening the conference, and he 
expressed hope that ongoing diplomacy between now and the 
start of the conference would pave the way for the adoption 
of the protocol. 
VAN VOORST