VZCZCXRO6058
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPG #1165 2951500
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221500Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9737
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DRL/MLGA FOR LYNN SICADE AND SYLVIA HAMMOND, IO/RHS FOR AMY 
OSTERMEIER AND DEEPA GHOSH, EUR/NCE FOR ALEX TRATENSEK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EZ KTIA PHUM PREL UN UNHCR
SUBJECT: CZECHS SUPPORTIVE OF US AND EU PRIORITIES FOR UNGA 
THIRD COMMITTEE 
 
REF: A. STATE 145641 
 
     ¶B. PRAGUE 1158 
     ¶C. PRAGUE 1116 
     ¶D. STATE 135255 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Czech Director of Human Rights and 
Transition Policy, Gabriela Dlouha, who will travel to New 
York November 12 to assume the lead of the Czech delegation 
negotiations on UNGA Third Committee issues, welcomed the US 
perspective on these resolutions and indicated that the GOCR 
will support the U.S. position on a range of topics.  In some 
areas, such as the thematic resolutions on religious 
intolerance and the death penalty, however, they will follow 
the EU position.  End Summary. 
 
---------- 
Supportive on Country Specific Resolutions 
---------- 
¶2. (SBU) Dlouha noted our points on Belarus, Iran, Burma and 
North Korea.  Since the resolutions on Burma and North Korea 
will be introduced by the EU, the GOCR, as an EU member 
state, particularly welcomed our support on these 
resolutions.  The Czechs took note of the Iran resolution to 
be introduced by Canada.  On Belarus, Dlouha indicated that 
the EU is interested in co-authorship of this resolution and 
has (or soon will) propose a few amendments.  According to 
Dlouha, none of these amendments on Belarus are controversial. 
 
---------- 
Thematic Resolutions - Will Follow EU Lead 
---------- 
¶3. (SBU) The Czech Republic acknowledged that the EU 
generally takes the lead on building an EU consensus position 
on thematic resolutions and that once formed, the Czechs 
generally abide by this.  Dlouha cited Religious Intolerance 
and the Death Penalty resolutions as two areas where they 
plan to stick with the EU consensus.  On Religious 
Intolerance, the GOCR is aware of the debate between running 
this resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council 
(UNHRC) alone versus at both the Third Committee and the 
UNHRC.  She stated that within the EU there is a growing 
inclination to run the resolution at the Third Committee and 
the UNHRC.  The Czechs were unfamiliar with our resolution to 
support the UN elections program, and thus simply took note 
of our comments in this area. 
 
¶4. (SBU) With respect to a resolution Condemning Rape as an 
Instrument of State Policy, as noted in Reftel C, the Czech 
Republic is positively disposed to this resolution, 
particularly since it highlights the seriousness of the 
situation in Burma.  The Czechs flagged for our attention, 
however, that some EU member states are likely to propose 
problematic amendments to the resolution.  They indicated 
that both the Netherlands and Sweden are looking to include 
references to the International Criminal Court and the 
Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women (Note: as outlined in Reftel D, this is a 
convention that the U.S. has not ratified and will cause 
problems for us as sponsors of this proposed resolution on 
rape.  End Note.). 
 
Graber