VZCZCXRO8905 
OO RUEHAG RUEHAP RUEHDF RUEHDT RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKN RUEHKR RUEHLA 
RUEHLZ RUEHMRE RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHROV 
DE RUEHC #3968/01 1651534 
ZNR UUUUU ZZH 
O 131525Z JUN 08 
FM SECSTATE WASHDC 
TO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE 
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA IMMEDIATE 4692 
RUEHAP/AMEMBASSY APIA IMMEDIATE 1090 
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO IMMEDIATE 9251 
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT IMMEDIATE 8639 
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN IMMEDIATE 4300 
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA IMMEDIATE 6507 
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 1522 
RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU IMMEDIATE 9180 
RUEHCO/AMEMBASSY COTONOU IMMEDIATE 2239 
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI IMMEDIATE 4882 
RUEHKN/AMEMBASSY KOLONIA IMMEDIATE 1682 
RUEHKR/AMEMBASSY KOROR IMMEDIATE 1337 
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV IMMEDIATE 6783 
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO IMMEDIATE 6148 
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 1202 
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA IMMEDIATE 1149 
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY IMMEDIATE 0958 
RUEHRK/AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK IMMEDIATE 8681 
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR IMMEDIATE 0636 
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO IMMEDIATE 8923 
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO IMMEDIATE 5234 
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO IMMEDIATE 9137 
RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE IMMEDIATE 5391 
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI IMMEDIATE 7855 
RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA IMMEDIATE 3286 
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV IMMEDIATE 4577 
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA IMMEDIATE 1580 
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE 4732 
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR IMMEDIATE 6046 
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON IMMEDIATE 5529 
RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN IMMEDIATE 5722 
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB IMMEDIATE 1031 
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA IMMEDIATE 2455 
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE IMMEDIATE 1377 
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE IMMEDIATE 1852 
INFO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE 0648 
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 2194

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 063968 
 
SIPDIS 
CONSULATE FLORENCE FOR SAN MARINO 
CONSULATE MARSEILLE FOR MONACO 
CONSULATE BARCELONA FOR ANDORRA 
CONSULATE PORT MORESBY FOR VANUATU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EUN PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: PRESS STATEMENT ON US-EU PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE 
DECLARATION 
 
REF: A. 2008 STATE 40380 B. 2008 STATE 38600 C. 2007 STATE 147620 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 2. 
 
¶2. (U) Department requests action addressees to approach 
respective Foreign Ministries to thank them for their support 
for the prisoners of conscience declaration and provide a 
courtesy copy of a draft press statement the USG plans to 
issue June 17 through the Department Spokesman and the U.S. 
Mission to the United Nations to highlight the release of 
the declaration. Additionally, Embassies Canberra, Wellington 
and Ljubljana should be thanked for the critical role they 
played lobbying countries to support the declaration. If 
appropriate, co-sponsors should be encouraged to issue 
similar press statements for domestic audiences and through 
their UN missions in New York. We have already approached the 
EU to ask that they issue a statement, but EU member states 
are urged to also issue statements on a bilateral basis. 
 
¶3. (U) Following is the text of the draft press statement 
on Prisoners of Conscience, which may be left as a non-paper. 
 
## Draft Prisoners of Conscience Press Statement 
 
The United States is pleased to join the 27 members of the 
European Union and 36 other countries from all parts of the 
world in co-sponsoring a declaration at the United Nations 
on the plight of prisoners of conscience. The Prisoners of 
Conscience Declaration, which was entered into the United 
Nations record and circulated to all Member States on June 17, 
calls on all nations to work for the freedom of prisoners of 
conscience throughout the world in accordance with the 
principles set forth sixty years ago in the Universal 
Declaration on Human Rights. The declaration commits co-sponsor 
nations to work for the freedom of all individuals who have 
been imprisoned for peacefully exercising fundamental rights 
to gather in public and to speak and publish opinions, 
including opinions that are critical of governments, and to 
make their release a key priority in their relations with other 
states. 
 
We stand in solidarity with the courageous individuals around 
the globe who are imprisoned, often times in deplorable 
conditions, for exercising these inalienable rights, and we 
urge all United Nations Member States to work for the freedom 
of these individuals. 
End text. 
 
REPORTING DEADLINE 
- - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (U) Posts are requested to use the SIPDIS caption and 
report the results of this demarche by June 17, 2008. Please 
forward individual country press statements on the prisoner 
of conscience declaration to DRL/MLGA Danika Walters and 
IO/RHS Rebecca Jovin on the unclassified system. Please 
contact Walters x74659 and Jovin x73902 if you have any 
questions. 
 
 
RICE