VZCZCXRO5092
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL
DE RUEHSR #0032 3480932
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 140932Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL STRASBOURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0198
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0209

C O N F I D E N T I A L STRASBOURG 000032 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO FOR EUR/ERA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/14/2019 
TAGS: PREL PHUM COE BO
SUBJECT: BELARUS AND COE:  INCREASED ENGAGEMENT, BUT NOT MEMBERSHIP 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Vincent Carver, CG, Strasbourg, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
SUMMARY 
------ 
 
¶1.  (C)  The Council of Europe (COE) seeks increased engagement 
with Belarus; if the GOB issues a death penalty moratorium the 
GOB likely will be invited to participate in more COE activities 
and negotiate accession to the COE Convention on Human 
Trafficking.  While some COE member-states want even further 
engagement, the COE Secretary General and some other 
member-states have assured us that the COE is far from granting 
Belarus full membership given continued serious human rights 
violation there.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (U) The COE Democracy Committee reviewed December 10 COE 
relations with Belarus.  COE Secretariat Director for Democracy 
and Political Affairs Laurens briefed on his talks the week of 
November 30 in Minsk.  Laurens noted that there appears to be no 
systematic control by the GON regarding access to the COE's 
"Information Point" office in Minsk.  During a lengthy meeting 
with the Head of the Presidential Administration, Laurens raised 
"some spots" in the relationship, including Belarus' denial of 
visas to individuals traveling on COE business and "some 
measures" against Belarusian citizens involved in COE-related 
activities.  According to Laurens, discussion of a possible 
moratorium on the use of the death penalty was raised in all of 
his meetings, with Laurens observing that amending the 
Belarusian Criminal Code would obviate the need for a referendum 
on the issue.  Laurens added that the COE and Belarusian 
authorities had held positive consultations November 18 
regarding the possible accession of Belarus to the COE 
Convention on Trafficking in Human Beings. 
 
¶3.  (U) Belarusian Representative to the COE Andrey Bushilo 
addressed the Committee.  Bushilo expressed disappointment with 
the COE's Parliamentary Assembly's (PACE) "excessive demands" on 
Belarus that "put up roadblocks to further cooperation."  That 
said, he stressed that the COE's Information Point has been free 
to hold information campaigns in Minsk.  He underscored that the 
GOB would not register the COE-sponsored School of Political 
Studies (currently operating largely out of Kiev).  The GOB, he 
added, wants to make further progress with the COE on technical 
issues so as to be able to consider joining several COE 
conventions. 
 
¶4.  (U) Several member states supported further engagement with 
Belarus, while stressing that the GOB must issue a death penalty 
moratorium for progress to be possible.  Austria, Finland, 
Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovakia called for Belarus to 
make further political and human rights reforms.  Sweden and the 
UK made the strongest statements in this regard, stressing that 
the COE, while wanting further engagement with Belarus, cannot 
compromise its basic values in this regard.  We intervened to 
welcome increased engagement and progress on technical issues, 
called for an elaboration from Laurens on his discussions with 
the GOB on basic human rights and democracy, and, emphasizing 
that actions speak louder than words, noted that the School of 
Political Studies registration appeared to serve as a test case 
of Belarus' willingness to reform.  Russia, Serbia, and Armenia 
praised further engagement with Belarus, with the Russian DCM 
noting that the imposition of "prior conditions" could 
"jeopardize the entire process" and end in a stalemate. 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - - - 
 
¶5. (C) As usual, some in the COE Secretariat and various 
member-state delegations want to give too much of the benefit of 
the doubt to Belarus in order to promote closer cooperation with 
Minsk.  One Secretariat official told us December 13 that some 
of his colleagues want to move forward quickly on Belarusian 
accession to a number of COE conventions once Minsk issues a 
moratorium on the use of the death penalty.  Cooler heads in 
various member states, such as Sweden and the UK,  will help 
prevent, however, the COE from moving toward consideration of 
actual membership for Belarus absent meaningful and sustained 
reforms in human rights and democracy.  In fact, we directly 
asked Secretary General Jagland, during our November 9 courtesy 
call on him, about this issue.  Jagland assured us that the COE 
is far from encouraging full membership for Belarus given the 
political situation there. 
 
CARVER