US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1371

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001371 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE, IO/UNESCO JANE COWLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EZ, PREL, SCUL, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC SUPPORTS ADOPTING UNESCO CONVENTION 
AS IS 
 
REF: STATE 170909 
 
1.  (U)  SUMMARY.  The GOCR plans to fall in line with the EU 
in support of adopting the UNESCO Convention on Cultural 
Expressions in October 2005 without further negotiation.  The 
Czechs candidly advised Emboffs that a high level call from 
the State Department will not change the Czech position. 
They urged the USG to focus its efforts instead on the 
implementation of the Convention.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U)  Econoff and Poloff met on September 21 with Mr. 
Karel Komarek and Ms. Ivana Grollova of the MFA,s UNESCO 
Commission and UN Department respectively, and provided 
reftel non-paper and talking points.  Komarek said that the 
GOCR understood the US position well, and noted that the GOCR 
has not been active on this issue.  The GOCR will not stand 
in the way of the draft Convention because it has been 
negotiated extensively, and the majority of member countries 
support this draft.  Indeed, the Czechs, along with the rest 
of the EU member states, are sponsors of the Canadian 
Resolution, which states that the draft Convention should be 
adopted in October. 
 
3.  (U)  Komarek agreed that the language in the Convention 
could be improved, but further changes to the text would be 
pointless because countries so inclined will violate human 
rights or existing treaties regardless of the Convention.  A 
high level call from the State Department, while not harmful, 
would not influence the Czech,s position.  Instead, he urged 
the US to focus its efforts on the terms of the 
implementation of the Convention. 
 
4.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Post believes Komarek's comments are 
valid; the Czechs are not going to engage on this issue. 
They are taking a pragmatic approach because they believe 
this Convention will be adopted.  Komarek informally 
commented that he knows the language is not ideal, but given 
the complexities and the amount of time already devoted to 
negotiating this text, the member countries are highly 
unlikely to re-work the text. 
DODMAN