VZCZCXRO8316
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #1984 3031817
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291817Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4678
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS PARIS 001984 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV OSCE FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE AND THE OSCE: HDIM DISCUSSIONS IN PARIS 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  U.S. delegation head at the recent OSCE Human 
Development Implementation Meeting in Warsaw Ambassador 
Robert Pearson, in his October 13 meeting with French MFA 
Director for Human Rights and International Relations Sylvie 
Bermann, focused on the U.S. desire to work with Europe to 
delineate a clear role for the OSCE in the world community. 
Pearson emphasized that the U.S. sees the OSCE largely as a 
regional security organization but that human rights, free 
and fair elections, rule of law, and basic liberties are 
issues that the OSCE should continue to embrace and promote. 
Bermann agreed that monitoring human rights issues is crucial 
to the OSCE but observed that this can be made difficult when 
the OSCE accepts human rights violations from some members 
and not from others.  Kazakhstan,s upcoming OSCE presidency 
will make human rights an even more difficult issue for the 
organization. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Pearson then said that from his perspective, 
Europe sees the OSCE as a human rights organization.  Bermann 
countered that the OSCE,s mission cannot be so easily 
categorized as either an organization dealing with human 
rights or one dealing with regional security.  Its purpose is 
much more complicated and should include disarmament, the 
balance of military forces, human rights issues, and freedom 
of expression, on which the OSCE recently focused with 
respect to people of various sexual orientations.  Bermann 
hoped that the new U.S. administration would engage on human 
rights issues and encourage everyone to accept the Universal 
Declaration on Human Rights because more countries need to do 
so.  She noted that the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba, needs to be closed because it sends the wrong 
message when the U.S. government is speaking so ardently on 
so many other fronts about human rights. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Pearson and Bermann discussed how difficult the 
Russians had been at the recent OSCE meeting in Warsaw, where 
the Russian representatives denounced the situation in 
Georgia as &irrelevant, irretrievable, and irrevocable,8 
and where they attempted to insert a discussion on alleged 
Georgian human rights violations into the middle of a 
discussion of other issues.  Pearson maintained that Georgia 
is an important question that should continue to be discussed 
in OSCE fora, but the OSCE is not the only place OSCE member 
countries should deal with this important issue. 
 
(U)  Ambassador Pearson has reviewed and cleared this cable. 
 
 
 
STAPLETON