VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #2169/01 3220014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180014Z NOV 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0777
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2383

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 002169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ILC ODIP UNGA
SUBJECT: U.S. CANDIDATE NOT ELECTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL 
LAW COMMISSION (ILC) 
 
REF: A. USUN 2111 
     ¶B. STATE 187689 
 
¶1. Summary.  In a General Assembly election, November 16, the 
U.S. candidate missed being elected to the International Law 
Commission by eight votes.  Michael Matheson placed ninth 
among 11 candidates seeking to fill eight Western seats on 
the Commission.  European Union candidates took six of the 
eight seats in this group (plus three more - including one 
candidate country from the East European Group).  The 
remaining two went to a Canadian and Swiss.  Results of 
voting in all groups follows at para 9.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  In one round of voting, the General Assembly elected all 
34 members of the International Law Commission.  To be 
elected, a WEOG candidate had to receive a majority of the 
votes of those present and voting (abstentions don't count) 
in a General Assembly secret ballot and place among the top 
eight in the group.  Although the U.S. candidate, Michael 
Matheson, easily surpassed the required majority, he was not 
among the top eight. 
 
¶3.  USUN lobbied actively for Matheson, contacting all 
delegations with whom we do business in New York, most at the 
Ambassadorial level.  On November 9, Amb. Bolton held a well 
attended reception to introduce the candidate.  By the time 
voting took place USUN had received 132 commitments (enough 
for sixth place):  67 written confirmations of support and 65 
verbal promises.  Although it is impossible to be sure of 
votes in a secret ballot, indications are that African and 
smaller South and East Asian states provided the most 
support.  As predicted (Ref A, para 5), missing was a sound 
base of support from our own regional group.  Among the 28 
members of the WEOG, Belgium, Germany, and Greece told us 
that they would not be voting for Matheson.  Only ten 
(Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, 
Israel, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Turkey) committed in 
writing to support him.  Austria, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, 
New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland were 
non-committal despite several requests and the rest gave only 
verbal indications of support.  From the 23 member Eastern 
European Group, there were twelve written pledges of support 
(Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, 
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, and 
Slovenia).  Estonia and Serbia were contacted but gave 
non-committal responses and the remaining group members said 
that they would support the U.S. candidate. 
 
¶4.  Comment:  The 34 member Commission will now be very 
European Union centered with nine of its member/candidates 
elected: six EU Western Group members (France, Germany, 
Italy, Portugal, Sweden, and United Kingdom) and Eastern 
Group members (Slovenia, Poland, and Romania) including two 
EU members and Romania which is an EU candidate country.  End 
Comment. 
 
¶5.  The group dynamic was also evident in shaping the fate of 
other unsuccessful WEOG candidates.  Neither the Greek nor 
the Turkish candidate was elected and their group 
affiliations probably played a part.  It is likely that the 
Greek pulled EU votes from the Turk and that the Organization 
of the Islamic Conference members cast their votes for the 
Turk but did not support the Greek.  (Cyprus is a sensitive 
political issue in both groups.)  Other political factors may 
also have had an effect in shaping the result, as is often 
the case in UN elections.  Italian and Swiss Mission Legal 
Advisers attributed the U.S. candidate's loss to the fact 
that "some delegations wanted to make a political statement." 
 This may have been an element in the poor showing of support 
from Asian Group Arabs.  Only Lebanon, Oman, and Yemen sent 
notes pledging support for the U.S. candidate.  (In North 
Africa, Algeria and Libya did.) 
 
¶6.  The other P-5 candidates were all elected, as has 
traditionally been the case.  The last time a P-5 candidate 
for a UN legal position was not re-elected was in 1986 when 
UK candidate Sir Ian Sinclair was defeated in an ILC 
election.  During the period from 1993-2005 there were nine 
instances in contested elections for other bodies when P-5 
members from the Western Group were not elected to seats 
allocated to that group.  In 1995, the French and UK 
candidates were defeated in their bids to obtain seats on the 
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions 
(ACABQ).  In 2001, the French candidate was not elected to 
the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).  The U.S. candidates 
suffered similar losses in elections for the ACABQ (1996, 
1998), the JIU (1999), and the International Narcotics 
Control Board (2001).  The U.S. was not elected to the 
Commission on Human Rights in 2001 and the Commission on the 
Status of Women in 1994. 
 
¶7.  Many of the candidates from other regional groups for 
 
 
whom the U.S. voted (Reftel B) were elected.  Results in the 
Eastern European group were predictable with four candidates 
for four seats.  Six of the eight members elected from the 
African Group were U.S. choices as were five of the seven 
Asians elected.  In the Latin American and Caribbean Group, 
the U.S. supported five of the six successful candidates. 
 
¶8.  Comment.  Matheson lost by fewer than ten votes among the 
190 cast.  Nevertheless, the result, in particular the U.S. 
loss as a P-5 member, raises the question of whether the U.S. 
should continue to provide financial support to this UN 
activity, which is funded by the UN's regular budget.  End 
Comment. 
 
¶9.  ILC Election Results: 
 
WEOG 
*UK               156 votes 
*Germany          154 
*Canada           149 
*Sweden           146 
*Italy            144 
*Portugal         133 
*France           127 
*Switzerland      121 
U.S.              114 
Greece            107 
Turkey            96 
 
AF 
*Egypt            153 
*Kenya            153 
*Tunisia          152 
*Mozambique 148 
*South Africa     148 
*Nigeria          137 
*Mali       134 
*Cameroon         133 
Gabon       131 
Libya       129 
 
ASIA 
*Japan            144 
*India            141 
*China            140 
*Qatar            138 
*Sri Lanka  138 
*Indonesia  135 
*Jordan           122 
Iran              92 
Syria       90 
Lebanon           66 
Philippines 60 
 
GRULAC 
*Jamaica          173 
*Brazil           170 
*Argentina  164 
*Costa Rica 163 
*Ecuador          155 
*Columbia         150 
*Chile            144 
Honduras          141 
 
Eastern Europe 
*Russia           185 
*Poland           182 
*Romania          177 
*Slovenia         177 
 
 
*- denotes successful candidate 
BOLTON