(C) UK DISLIKES UN HRC LEBANON COMMISSION RESOLUTION; NOTES EU DIVIDED ON AMENDMENTS

CONFIDENTIAL C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 008254 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2016 TAGS: PHUM, EUN, LE, UK SUBJECT: (C) UK DISLIKES UN HRC LEBANON COMMISSION RESOLUTION; NOTES EU DIVIDED ON AMENDMENTS REF: STATE 196226 Classified By: PolCouns Richard Mills, reasons 1.4 (b & d). (C) The UK shares our concerns related to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution to implement the Lebanon Commission of Inquiry's (COI) recommendations and will follow the EU in voting against the resolution in its proposed form. However, the UK will vote for the resolution if EU members can agree on what language in the text to change and is successful in making those changes to the resolution. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Head for UN Human Rights Institutions Alexandra Davison told us December 7 that the EU members oppose the language of the resolution as tabled by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and that the EU would vote against it in its current form. Davison said that while the EU was opposed to the current text, some EU members, like the Netherlands, believe that the resolution could be worked on to make it acceptable to an EU concensus. She said that this has dragged all EU members into negotiations on language and revealed vastly different views among EU members on what language should be altered. In fact, EU opinions are so divided, she opined, that it would be difficult to improve the resolution to the point that the EU would vote for it. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle