VZCZCXYZ0013
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHHE #0786 2211257
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 091257Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2278
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0369

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000786 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2016 
TAGS: MOPS PHUM PREL PTER IS LE FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND: VIEWS ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SPECIAL 
SESSION ON LEBANON 
 
REF: SECSTATE 130145 
 
Classified By: POLOFF DAVID ALLEN SCHLAEFER FOR REASON 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Poloff spoke with Johanna Suurpaa, Director of the 
MFA's Human Rights Unit, about the proposed Special Session 
of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Lebanon.  Poloff 
emphasized that at this critical point in the Lebanon crisis 
(reftel), any HRC Special Session would be an unhelpful 
distraction that could threaten to undermine the Security 
Council's efforts.  Suurpaa replied that the GoF agreed that 
the timing was poor, but that the HRC had no choice given the 
strong pressure exerted by the Islamic Conference countries, 
by Russia, and by China.  She said that the meeting has 
already been scheduled for Friday, August 11.  Finnish and 
other EU legal experts in New York and Geneva had determined 
that there was no Article 12 conflict since the HRC and 
Security Council were debating simultaneously. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Suurpaa said that Finland would work with other HRC 
members toward securing a balanced statement that did not 
solely address Israeli actions; that took into account 
attacks by Hizballah on Israeli civilians;  and that called 
for an end to all deliberate attacks on civilians in the 
region.  Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja was 
enroute to Egypt to meet his counterpart and discuss, 
interalia, the HRC situation.  Suurpaa said that Tuomioja 
will warn the Egyptians about any push for an unbalanced HRC 
that might complicate the UNSCR process and the international 
community's efforts to broker a cessation of hostilities. 
Suurpaa opined that she herself was "not optimistic" that 
such a session could be avoided; and that she thought it 
unlikely any compromise language could be agreed to, despite 
the efforts that Finland and other like-minded HRC countries 
intended to make . 
WARE