VZCZCXYZ0018
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0569/01 1562333
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 052333Z JUN 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6686

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000569 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR USUN/W AND IO/UNP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL UNSC SO SU
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH UNIFEM EXECUTIVE 
DIRECTOR 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Ambassador Rice met with United Nations 
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Executive Director, Ines 
Alberdi, on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.  Ms. Alberdi 
congratulated the U.S. on their new administration and the 
new possibilities it presents for gender issues.  Alberdi and 
her staff raised three issues: 1) U.S. ratification of 
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women (CEDAW), 2) ideas for the U.S. on SCR 1820 and 
SCR 1325 and 3) requests for more UNIFEM funding.  Ambassador 
Rice welcomed the opportunity to deepen the partnership 
between UNIFEM and the U.S., said no timeline was established 
yet for ratification of CEDAw, and requested UNIFEM refine 
concrete proposals on SCR 1820 and SCR 1325 through experts 
in the mission.  She encouraged UNIFEM to continue their 
discussion on budget with the relevant Congressional contacts 
in Washington.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-CEDAW- 
 
¶2. (U) On the upcoming 28th anniversary of CEDAW, Alberdi 
said U.S. involvement would send a strong message of support 
for women's issues.  Ambassador Rice could not give an 
estimate of the time frame for U.S. ratification of CEDAW, 
but said it is being reviewed with an aim to ratify, along 
with others treaties.  Ambassador Rice hoped to be able to 
give Ms. Alberdi a better sense of the timing in the future. 
 
-SCRs 1820 and 1325- 
 
¶3. (U) Alberdi's chief adviser on Governance, Peace and 
Security, Anne-Marie Goetz, spoke on the issues of SCR 1820 
and SCR 1325.  Goetz congratulated the U.S. as an obvious 
champion on the issue, especially with last year,s adoption 
of SCR 1820 on sexual violence.  Goetz presented two new 
ideas for strengthening follow-up on sexual violence to the 
Ambassador.  (1) She suggested the Security Council build 
upon the existing Protection of Civilians (POC) Informal 
Working Group, expanding its mandate to cover monitoring and 
follow-up of the issues included in 1820, thereby avoiding 
the challenges of trying to establish a totally new Working 
Group.  She also suggested that the SC should formalize the 
operation of the POC Informal Working Group.  (2) Goetz 
suggested that the Security Council act to bolster and expand 
the nature and composition of UN Rapid Response teams and 
standby capacity, which already exist in the areas of police, 
rule of law and peace talks, by incorporating within them 
individuals with expertise in addressing sexual violence. 
 
¶4. (U) Ambassador Rice remarked the proposals seemed 
reasonable, and asked for concrete details to be shared with 
appropriate mission experts.  She also asked who was, or 
would be, resistant to these ideas.  Goetz admitted these 
ideas had not been not formally presented, but implied China 
and Russia could resist the idea of formalizing and expanding 
the Protection of Civilians Working Group, and that elements 
within DPKO had not picked up on the idea of expanding the 
scope of the standby teams. 
 
¶5. (U) (NOTE: There are several ongoing discussions within 
the UN community on whether all thematic issues at the UN 
should fall under the Protection of Civilians (POC) mandate. 
The U.S. resisted the idea since POC focuses on humanitarian 
access and trends and does not monitor or report based on 
evidentiary information to the extent the Children and Armed 
Conflict Working Group does.  However, the U.S. did not 
resist the idea of setting up an informal POC working group. 
The POC working group has met three times under the 
leadership of the UK.  The UK seems open to the idea of 
finding ways for the POC group to tackle issues of sexual 
violence.  They advise against formalizing the working group 
at this time, however.  The U.S. is not in favor of setting 
up a separate SCR 1820 Working Group, 
but should review this new twist on the idea presented by 
UNIFEM.  END NOTE). 
 
¶6. (U) Goetz pointed out that despite the calls for women,s 
involvement in peace processes in SCR 1325, there were no 
women invited to the upcoming Darfur or Somalia peace talks. 
She suggested that a parallel process, involving women from 
all sides of the conflicts and from civil society, could be a 
meaningful way to redress this shortcoming. 
 
¶7. (U) Goetz also raised the upcoming UNIFEM/DPA/DPKO 
Colloquium on Women's Security and Peace Processes on June 
23, at which Ambassador Rice has been invited to speak. 
 
-BUDGET SUPPORT FOR UNIFEM- 
 
¶8. (U) Finally Alberdi asked the U.S. for stronger financial 
support, to the tune of $15 million dollars. She advised that 
Norway, the UK, Sweden and Spain were UNIFEM's top 
 
 
 
contributors.  Ambassador Rice did not make promises on the 
budget, but encouraged UNIFEM to continue their conversations 
in Washington. 
RICE