US embassy cable - 05THEHAGUE2758

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2015 
TAGS: PREL, OPDC, SCUL, ETRD, NL, UNESCO, BHUM 
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS: URGENT DEMARCHE ON UNESCO CULTURAL 
DIVERSITY CONVENTION 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 184292 
 
     B. SECSTATE 170909 
     C. THE HAGUE 02584 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS Andrew J. Schofer for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
1. (U) On October 7, Post delivered ref A letter on USG 
concerns regarding the draft UNESCO Convention on the 
Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural 
Expressions to Dutch FM Bot.  On the same day, Charge and 
POLCOUNS delivered ref a demarche points, along with a copy 
of the letter, to Hugo Siblesz (Director General for 
Political Affairs, MFA). 
 
2. (C) On October 11, POLOFF followed up with Hein van der 
Hoeven in the MFA's International Cultural Policy Division. 
Van der Hoeven's response echoed Monique Korzelius' (Deputy 
Head, International Cultural Policy Division, MFA) earlier 
reaction to ref B demarche on the same subject, reported ref 
C.  Unlike Korzelius, however, van der Hoeven acknowledged 
that the Convention ran the risk of impinging, rather than 
enhancing, cultural expression. He added that, while the 
Dutch think the present text of the draft Convention is 
"acceptable," they could have "lived without" the Convention 
altogether. 
BLAKEMAN