US embassy cable - 05PARIS4528

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004528 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
STATE PLS PASS TO USTR BALASSA 
GENEVA PLS PASS TO USTR GREENIDGE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OTRA, AORC, SCUL, CA, FR, UNESCO, USTR 
SUBJECT: UNESCO: CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION UPDATE 
 
REF:  PARIS 04145 
 
1. (U) This is an action request.  See para. 13 
 
2. (U) This will be the first of periodic updates on the 
current state of play at UNESCO of the draft cultural 
diversity convention. 
 
3. (U) The secretariat is preparing its final report that 
will accompany the draft convention.  We have seen a draft 
of the report, and it accurately reflects US formal 
objections raised during negotiations. It also reflects the 
objections of other countries and notes that Argentina has 
withdrawn its objections. 
 
4. (SBU) We have been told that the French, Swiss and 
Luxembourg ambassadors separately met with the Director 
General to discuss the DG's comments that an attempt must be 
made to reach consensus.  We are told the Swiss ambassador 
informed the DG that Switzerland fully supports the draft 
convention, contrary to reports we heard from Geneva that 
the Swiss cultural expert went beyond his instructions. 
 
5. (SBU) We also received a report that the French 
ambassador told the DG that France was strongly opposed to 
reopening the convention as only one country had not joined 
the consensus. (Note:  Obviously there can be no "consensus" 
if one country disagrees).  The French ambassador also told 
the DG that the US would always have formal objections. 
(Note:  Our contact in the secretariat indicated that France 
is anxious to avoid reopening the convention because it 
feels that it had already given too much during the 
negotiations.) 
 
6. (U) Embassy Madrid passed on an informal read-out of a 
culture ministers' meeting there the weekend of June 11-12. 
They report it was celebratory and that 70 participants, 
including 45 culture ministers signed a petition urging that 
the current text be passed by the General Conference. 
 
7. (U) We heard subsequently that Jaime Nualart Sanchez_ the 
Mexican vice minister of culture also attended the meeting. 
Sanchez_ is the chair of the UNESCO General Conference fourth 
commission which deals with cultural matters and will take 
the draft convention under consideration this fall.  We are 
told Sanchez_ said that he agreed with Canada that formal 
debate on the convention should not be reopened but that 
there should be intensive informal discussions and 
consultations in the corridors. 
 
8. (U) There is a lot of boosterism for the draft convention 
at UNESCO.  In remarks to a forum on the future of UNESCO, 
former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali spoke 
enthusiastically about the draft convention and the 
reception it had received in Madrid.  When asked by a member 
of the US Mission what role governments and international 
law actually have in promoting cultural diversity, whether 
governments should pick the cultural products their citizens 
consume and whether this convention contravened UNESCO's 
constitutional mandate to promote the free flow of 
information, Boutros-Ghali was unable to answer.  We have 
had positive feedback about the content of  the question 
from the Lebanese, Japanese and Iranian ambassadors. 
(Comment:  This may be a fruitful line of discussion as we 
reach out to other states.) 
 
9. (SBU) Delegates from friendly EU countries shared a draft 
letter with us that was to be sent to Ambassador Oliver by 
the Luxembourg ambassador and head of the EU observer 
delegation taking issue with a sentence in our final 
intervention that stated, "In fact, the trade agenda was so 
compelling that we even had to bend UNESCO's long- 
established rules to accommodate the participation of the 
European Commission, which has competency for trade, not 
culture."  While cooler heads prevailed and the letter was 
not sent, it did not prevent Hans-Heinrich Wrede the German 
ambassador and president of the Executive Board from sending 
a letter on June 23 that he also copied to the DG and all 
national delegations taking us to task for using the word 
"bend" to describe the decide to grant the EC "enhanced" 
observer status. 
 
10. (SBU) During a visit to Portugal June 16-19 with other 
UNESCO ambassadors, Ambassador Oliver was asked numerous 
times what the US plans to do next. (Comment:  We interpret 
this to reflect anxiety among certain delegations that the 
US was pushed too far during the negotiations.)  Most who 
spoke with the Ambassador asked to be briefed as soon as the 
US settles on what steps to take next. 
 
11. (SBU) The Senegalese deputy told the DCM that Dakar 
would be open to our entreaties about fixing the convention 
but warned that just asking for the convention to be killed 
would not work.  We had to have solid suggestions.  He also 
mentioned that the Francophonie gives a lot of money to 
Senegal for film production but there is no distribution 
mechanism so the films seldom come to market.  When asked 
what Senegal had gained from the convention, he answered, 
"nothing." 
 
12. (SBU) In a separate conversation, the Beninese deputy 
told the DCM that the hostility to the US during the 
negotiations was a way to punish the US for its 19-year 
absence from UNESCO. (Note:  This is the first time we have 
heard this.) He also emphasized that support for changing 
the convention has to come from capitals and that the USG 
has to make strong demarches.  He also expressed disgust 
that the Francophonie and France had taken Francophone 
Africa's support for granted, implying that the US should 
not write off Francophone countries. 
 
13. (U) Action requested:  Please provide instructions and 
talking points for engagement with other delegations and 
UNESCO's secretariat. 
 
OLIVER