Cablegate: Costa Rican Frustration with Inability to Impact Unsc

VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0015 0221636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221636Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0281
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0005
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 0001

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000015

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UN CS
SUBJECT: COSTA RICAN FRUSTRATION WITH INABILITY TO IMPACT UNSC

REF: 08 USUN NEW YORK 1197

1. (U) Costa Rica finished its two-year stint on the United Nations
Security Council on December 31 disappointed by its inability to
have a significant impact on the way the body worked. Costa Rica
began its turn on the Council with high hopes for improving the
internal operations of the body. However, the GOCR left the
Council with few tangible results to show from its labors.

2. (SBU) Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno has publicly lauded the
GOCR's time on the Council as "very active" and having "developed a
great effort to modify the work methods of the UNSC". However, he
privately complained to us that holding a rotating seat on the
Council was akin to being a "tourist", in that one could see what
was going on but do little to affect it. MFA Political Director
Alejandro Solano observed that rotating members were significantly
disadvantaged by their lesser knowledge of the way the Council
operated. For example, he noted that it took the Costa Rican
diplomats time to discover that some procedures were simply
customary rather than mandatory, as permanent members had led them
to believe. MFA Chief of Staff Elaine White commented that Costa
Rica now would have the challenge of trying to remain abreast of
what was happening in the Council from the outside.

3. (SBU) One aim of the GOCR was to improve fairness and
transparency in the UNSC, yet it had limited success even with very
modest proposals. For example , it advocated for changing
procedures to allow countries discussed at the UNSC to present
first, before the UNSC members discussed the issue. (Solano
likened the current procedure to allowing the judges to speak
before the accused.) However, this initiative (and others like it)
did not take hold-only Costa Rica made the change in practice-and
Solano said they had left it in the hands of the Government of
Austria, which is also interested in pushing similar reforms.

4. (SBU) White privately told us that the GOCR was a little
unprepared for the assumption of their seat on the council in 2008
and faced a steep learning curve, in large part due to the lack of
any meaningful records from their last turn on the council in the
1970s. To correct this for the future, she said they planned to
publish a report sometime in April summarizing their experiences
during their two years on the Council, which she promised to
forward to the Embassy.

5. (SBU) Comment: As Minister of Foreign Affairs and UN veteran
Bruno Stagno knows, reforming the UN is an uphill battle,
especially for non-permanent members. While the GOCR might not
have accomplished all it wished on this front, it did serve as a
constructive voice on the Council, working especially well with the
USG on disarmament issues (Ref A). Costa Rica will now turn its
sights to securing a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, which
will allow it to continue to punch above its weight
internationally.
BRENNAN

© Scoop Media