US embassy cable - 05PARIS7915

UNCLAS PARIS 007915 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, SCUL, ETRD, UP, FR, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: USUNESCO:   UKRANIAN PRESIDENT AND FRENCH FM 
PRAISE CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION AT UNESCO 60TH 
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 
 
 
1.  Summary.  In a ceremony at Unesco headquarters on 
November 16, Unesco marked its 60th anniversary. 
Featured speakers included Ukranian president 
Yushchenko, French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy and 
former directors general Amdaou-Mahtar M'Bow and 
Federico Mayor.  A recurring theme in all the addresses 
was the importance of the recently passed cultural 
diversity convention.  The French Foreign Minister also 
hinted about future normative instruments on the ethics 
of science.  End summary. 
 
2.  On November 16, Unesco repeated the 60th 
anniversary commemoration held a month earlier during 
the General Conference.  The speech by the keynote 
speaker, Ukranian president Viktor Yuschchenko, called 
for Unesco to have greater influence on decisions about 
the future of humanity in order to promote more 
effective social and economic justice.  Yuschchenko 
also praised the passage of the cultural diversity 
convention at the General Conference.  (comment:  his 
praise of the convention stands in contrast to the 
diplomatic note received by Embassy Kiev that had 
promised to support the US position.) 
 
3.  French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy's speech was 
also full of praise for the cultural diversity 
convention.  Besides the expected platitudes about 
action to protect culture in the face of 
standardization (note:  code language for 
Americanization), Douste-Blazy also promised that 
France will ratify the convention soon and would be 
working "to promote viable cultural policies throughout 
the world."  (note and comment:  Since the passage of 
the convention in late October, Unesco, the EU and the 
Francophonie have already held a conference in Viet Nam 
on developing cultural policy.  We can only assume that 
the cultural policies being discussed relate to more 
state control of culture.) 
 
4. Douste-Blazy's comments about the ethics of science 
were also noteworthy.  In noting France's role in the 
elaboration of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics 
and Human Rights passed at the last General Conference, 
he said, "France, which actively supported the 
development of this normative instrument, will continue 
to push for the progressive establishment of a true 
universal code of ethics." 
 
5.  (SBU) According to sources in the Unesco 
secretariat, Douste-Blazy was a last-minute replacement 
 
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for President Chirac who was not feeling well enough to 
attend.  Chirac in the past has made frequent use of 
speeches at Unesco to push French foreign policy 
initiatives. 
 
6.  (SBU) Unesco tradition is to include all living 
former Director's General at decennial commemorations. 
Sources in the secretariat indicated that the 
reappearance of M'Bow and Mayor, neither of whom are 
seen as having covered themselves in glory, was a 
source of discontent among many staff members. 
 
7.  Comment:  The supporters of the cultural diversity 
convention are clearly in a self-congratulatory mode. 
Unesco's push to implement the convention and get more 
involved in helping countries develop ill-defined 
cultural policies will need to be monitored.  While 
France agreed during the General Conference to a halt 
in normative instruments in this biennium, the Foreign 
Minister seemed to be indicating a desire for further 
normative instruments on the ethics of science in the 
future. 
 
KOSS