Cablegate: Demarche Request On Un Trust Fund Supporting The

VZCZCXYZ0026
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #5431 0201516
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201510Z JAN 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 9504

UNCLAS STATE 005431

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: NSC PREL PHUM PHSA EWWT KCRM KPIR SO XA XW
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUEST ON UN TRUST FUND SUPPORTING THE
INITIATIVES OF THE CONTACT GROUP ON PIRACY

(SBU) 1. This is an action request. USUN is instructed to
demarche UN officials as appropriate on the proposed changes
to the terms of reference for the International Trust Fund
Supporting the Initiatives of the Contact Group on Piracy off
the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). At its discretion, USUN may
wish to make this demarche jointly with Germany, which has
done much of the heavy work on this issue; in any case,
please consult/inform the German Mission. Post may draw from
the points in paragraph three.

(SBU) 2. Background: In order to develop a funding
mechanism for the initiatives of the Contact Group on Piracy
off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), the participants of the
CGPCS, led by Germany and with active involvement by the
United States, negotiated Terms of Reference (TOR) for a UN
Trust Fund in 2009. The Trust Fund TOR was designed to
provide industry groups a means of contributing to
counter-piracy efforts, and emphasized the importance of
funding prosecution-related efforts. Throughout the
negotiations, the UN and the CGPCS participants agreed that
the Trust Fund,s Board, on which several UN agencies would
serve as non-voting members, would make the decisions about
which proposals would be funded and which would be given
priority. When the CGPCS plenary adopted the TOR at its
plenary in September 2009, the CGPCS Chair authorized the UN
to establish the Fund according to those Terms. The UN was
not authorized to make substantive changes to the ToR,s as
negotiated and agreed upon by the UN and the CGPCS. The U.S.
subsequently pursued and was granted a seat on the Trust Fund
Board by decision of the CGPCS participants. After being
approved by the Department of Political Affairs and the
Office of Drugs and Crime, however, it appears the Terms of
Reference have been changed by the UN Controller,s office.
The U.S. strongly objects to the changes, which on their
face, appear to alter the nature of the Trust Fund and its
operation in substantive and significant ways.

(SBU) 3. Begin Points:

-- We are very concerned that, less than two weeks before
the Board was scheduled to convene for the first time and
consider its first proposals, the UN Controller has proposed
what appear to be substantive changes to the Terms of
Reference, as agreed to by the CGPCS participants and the UN
following many months of negotiations.

-- The UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) has
represented from the beginning of this process that the Board
would make the final decisions about how the Fund will be
spent, including which projects should be given priority. In
addition, at no point did the participants contemplate the UN
Secretary General having any sort of approval authority over
the selection of Board members as now called for in the
revised TORs.

-- It is simply unacceptable to renegotiate these
fundamentals, especially at this late stage. We urge you to
speak with the UN Controller and explain that the UN has
agreed to the substance of these terms and the manner in
which the Fund will operate and any changes to the text at
this stage must be limited to purely technical points.

-- The Board cannot begin considering proposal until the
Terms of Reference are finalized. We hope the UN is as
interested as we are in ensuring this Fund is operational in
time for the upcoming, January 28 CGPCS plenary so that the
work of supporting important counter-piracy initiatives of
the CGPCS may begin without further delay.

If raised:
-- The proposed text is unacceptable to us, but we are open
to compromise language that does not change the way the Fund
operates, but may serve some internal UN requirements,
assuming that is what is driving these last minute changes by
the UN Controller. U.S. Government lawyers can work with the
UN on any such language, and can be contacted through USUN.

-- If the Terms of Reference as edited by the UN Controller's
office are not able to be modified, the U.S. will be unable
to accept the new Terms of Reference, and would urge other
members of the CGPCS to do the same.
CLINTON

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