VZCZCXRO6981
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHBS #1416/01 2951043
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221043Z OCT 09 ZDK
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001416 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI, and DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PGOV PHUM EUN
SUBJECT: EXAMINING INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN EU HUMAN 
RIGHTS DIALOGUES 
 
BRUSSELS 00001416  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  A delegation from the US Commission on 
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent US 
government commission established by Congress to monitor religious 
freedom worldwide and make policy recommendations to the executive 
and legislative branches, met with EU experts and NGOs on October 13 
and 14 to discuss the promotion of freedom of religion or belief 
(FORB).  Without EU guidelines on FORB, the topic receives what many 
in the NGO community perceive as less attention than they would like 
because it is folded into the EU's broader human rights dialogues. 
The European Parliament, therefore, serves as an important platform 
to pressure the European Commission and Council to include FORB in 
these consultations.  Several Members of Parliament appear open to 
broader cooperation with the USG in this regard.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Freedom of religion or belief (FORB), according to many of 
our human rights interlocutors, is less of a priority for the EU 
than other human rights issues.  In her meeting with the Commission 
group, Member of European Parliament's Sub-Committee on Human 
Rights, Ana Gomes, explained the reasoning for this.  "Culturally in 
Europe," she said, "religion is not public or a priority, which is 
reflected in how EU institutions address it with their third country 
dialogues."  EU Liaison Office Sofia Lemmetyinen from Christian 
Solidarity Worldwide echoed this sentiment.  She said that the lack 
of attention was due to "how much church and state is separated in 
the member states." 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Riina Kionka, Personal Representative of the SG/HR Solana 
for Human Rights, said that although there are no formal mechanisms 
for discussion, FORB is discussed "early and often" as part of the 
EU's wider dialogues with third countries.  She said that she is 
personally often responsible for FORB points during these meetings. 
She illustrated how this worked during the October 13 EU-Kyrgyzstan 
human rights dialogue.  Kionka said that she pushed the Kyrgyz 
delegation to explain how a recent restrictive law on religion was 
adopted and how it would be applied.  The EU's press release 
following the consultations also reflected the importance of this 
point in the discussion, stating, "As a follow-up to last year's 
Human Rights Dialogue, the Kyrgyz delegation informed about 
developments on... freedom of thought and religion." 
 
¶4.   (SBU) Kionka conceded that since the EU does not have FORB 
guidelines the subject is not automatically included in the EU's 
forty-odd human rights consultations.  Guidelines are implemented at 
the request of member states and, she said, "No member state has 
pushed for guidelines because no one sees a reason to.  Guidelines 
are a method of promoting a policy, and are maybe not necessary." 
Several NGOs working on religious freedom issues, however, disagreed 
with Kionka, and recommended that the US press the EU to include 
FORB more in their dialogues.  Willy Fautre, Director, Human Rights 
Without Frontiers, said that although NGOs are invited to brief the 
Council Secretariat prior to the human rights dialogues, FORB is 
often shunted aside for other issues.  Meanwhile, states such as 
Russia, he explained, are hiding religious oppression in strict 
anti-extremism and counter-terrorism laws.  Without an automatic 
mechanism, such as a guideline, he argued, these issues are not 
properly being discussed in the EU's human rights consultations. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Of the three EU institutions, the European Parliament 
appears particularly interested in promoting FORB issues in the EU's 
human rights policy.  According to Rolf Timans, Head of Human Rights 
and Democratization Unit at the European Commission, the European 
Parliament is "particularly keen on FORB" and his unit often answers 
inquiries from Members of Parliament (MEPs).  Sofia Lemmetyinen from 
Christian Solidarity Worldwide told us that by raising these 
questions, MEPs are able to focus the European Commission and 
Council on FORB.  For this reason, members of the European Platform 
on Religious Discrimination and Intolerance, a loose coalition of 
NGOs established to cooperate in promoting concern within European 
Union institutions for religious freedom violations, are working to 
establish a working group within the European Parliament to discuss 
FORB. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The European Parliament may become a more 
important player in the FORB sphere as the parliament gains greater 
standing under Lisbon.  Many of the EU officials we spoke with 
expressed uncertainty over if and/or how the EU's human rights 
policies will be affected when its foreign policy is restructured 
under the Lisbon Treaty's new High Representative of the EU for 
Foreign Affairs and Security, making more relevant the need for 
EU-wide guidelines.  Kionka frankly admitted that she was unsure if 
her position would still exist.  This is a bit unsettling, because 
without guidelines in place it takes an expert, such as Kionka, for 
the EU to actively engage third countries on FORB issues.  Several 
MEPs, however, have expressed their desire for greater US 
cooperation.  Following her meeting with the US Commission, MEP and 
Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, Laima Andrikiene, 
 
BRUSSELS 00001416  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
told us that she would call for a hearing on FORB and welcomed 
USCIRF's participation.  The following day she addressed questions, 
which went unanswered, about the promotion of FORB to the European 
Commission during the Subcommittee's meeting.  END COMMENT. 
 
MURRAY