US embassy cable - 05PARIS6726

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 006726 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USUNESCO 
 
STATE PLS PASS USTR-BLISS AND BALASSA 
IO/UNESCO: JCOWLEY 
EUR/ERA: PCHASE 
EB/TPP/MTA: AWHITTEN 
L/EUR: JOSBORN, DSHARPE 
 
E.O. 12958: NA 
TAGS: SCUL, CJAN, ETRD, CA, FR, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: UNESCO: PLANS TO PROMOTE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF 
CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION TAKE SHAPE 
 
1.  SUMMARY.  The UNESCO Secretariat plans vigorously 
to promote quick ratification of the Cultural Diversity 
Convention, especially in Africa, following its 
presumed adoption at the October 2005 UNESCO General 
Conference.  In apparent concert with these efforts, 
the G-77 plans additional regional cultural 
conferences, likely to focus on ratification of the 
Cultural Diversity Convention. Following entry into 
force, regulations shaping Convention's implementation 
over the long term could be quickly formed.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
UNESCO Plans to Promote the Convention 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2.  The proposed UNESCO core budget allocates over USD 
two million for promotion of the entry into force of 
the Cultural Diversity and Intangible Heritage 
Conventions. 
 
3.  A UNESCO Culture official explained to poloff 28 
September that these monies would help fund regional 
meetings to form coalitions of support for the Cultural 
Diversity Convention and draft materials in various 
languages explaining the contents of the Cultural 
Diversity Convention and urging its implementation. 
This official stressed that UNESCO's promotion of the 
Cultural Diversity Convention (see UNESCO budget 
proposal, pages 173-174) would follow the same lines as 
its advocacy of the Intangible Heritage Convention. 
 
4.  A different UNESCO culture official outlined at a 
27 September lunch additional UNESCO Secretariat travel 
plans that will include promotion of the Cultural 
Diversity Convention. 
 
--UNESCO culture sector officials will attend a 
November 2005 Dakar conference, sponsored by the 
International Network of Culture Professionals (INCP). 
The UNESCO official noted that former Canadian Culture 
Minister Sheila Copps was one of the first to advocate 
a different legal/trade regime for "cultural goods and 
services" and had founded INCP.  She said that a UNESCO 
official had attended the annual INCP conference every 
year since 1998.  Travel costs would not come from 
UNESCO core culture budget, she said, but evaded 
answering poloff's question about how the trip would be 
financed. 
 
--A December 15-17 Culture Ministers' conference in 
Nairobi, which is part of UNESCO's regular program of 
support for the New Partnership for Africa's 
Development (NEPAD). 
 
--A January 23-24 2006 summit of African heads of state 
in Khartoum, which will focus on culture.  There is 
some hope that UNESCO D-G Matsuura will attend this 
conference. 
 
G-77 Regional Conferences 
------------------------- 
 
5.   Costa Rica's UNESCO Ambassador Monteil, the head 
of the G-77, described G-77 plans to form a UNESCO 
"South-South" Culture Forum, which would include 
meetings focused on gathering support for ratification 
of the Cultural Diversity Convention.  A large meeting 
was tentatively planned for June 2006, he said.  He 
intimated that UNESCO would assist in the planning and 
funding for the meeting, but declined to provide 
specifics. 
 
Some EU countries apparently not yet focused on 
ratification 
---------------- 
 
6.  UNESCO-based reps of some EU countries report that 
strategic planning for obtaining ratification in the 
national legislatures has not proceeded past initial 
planning.  By and large, these reps report that certain 
interest groups in their countries vigorously support 
the idea of the Convention, but that there are no 
concrete steps to obtain ratification. 
 
What happens after the Convention enters into force? 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
7.  Thirty ratifications are necessary for entry into 
force, after which an 18-nation Intergovernmental 
Committee would be elected, with a term of four years. 
(Article 29) 
 
8.  This 18-nation Intergovernmental Committee will 
draw up operational guidelines and establish other 
important precedents for the implementation of the 
Convention.  (Article 23) 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
9.  The idea might be to get ratifications in one or 
two European countries, with developing countries, 
especially in Africa, making up the rest.  Under this 
scenario, one or two leading countries could easily 
exercise a disproportionate influence in drafting the 
precedent-setting operational guidelines. 
 
Oliver