Cablegate: Usunesco: Executive Board Action: Urgent

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS PARIS 006481

SIPDIS

FROM USMISSION UNESCO
IO/UNESCO (COWLEY), L/UNA (OSBORN)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SCUL ETRD EU CJAN UNESCO
SUBJECT: USUNESCO: EXECUTIVE BOARD ACTION: URGENT
REQUEST FOR INSTRUCTIONS

REF: DRAFT CANADIAN DECISION FAXED TO L/UNA,
9/19/05

1. This is an action request, see para 4.

2. On Friday morning, September 23, UNESCO
Executive Board (EB) will act upon a draft decision
(ref) that has important bearing for U.S. efforts to
prevent adoption of the "preliminary" draft Cultural
Diversity (CD) Convention, as currently drafted. If
adopted, the draft decision would effectively ensure
the Convention will be considered as a "final" draft
and facilitate fast track adoption at the UNESCO
General Conference in October. We disapprove of
the draft EB decision, which currently has 51 co-
signatures of the 58 EB members.

3. Adoption of such a decision would effectively
modify retroactively the decision of the 32nd
General Conference, which provided only for
consideration of a preliminary report concerning a
draft convention and a "preliminary" draft of such a
convention for review at the October 2005 General
Conference.

4. ACTION REQUESTED: Please provide guidance and
talking points to respond to this draft decision
when it comes up Friday morning.

5. Substantive text of the draft decision is as
follows:

Begin text.
The Executive Board,

1) Bearing in mind 32 C/Resolution 34,

2) Recalling 169 EX/Decision, 3.7.2 and 171
EX/Decision 19,

3) Having examined document 172EX/20,

4) Stressing that the governmental experts have
fulfilled their mandate, namely "taking forward the
preparation of the preliminary draft convention in
order to report to the General Conference at its
33rd session", in accordance with 169 EX/Decision
3.7.2

5) Takes note of the text of the preliminary draft
adopted by the third session of the
intergovernmental meeting of experts, held at
headquarters from 25 May to 3 June, 2005, which will
be examined by the General Conference at its 33rd
session, in compliance with 32 C/Resolution 34,

6) Recommends that the General Conference at its
33rd session consider the said preliminary draft as
a draft convention and adopt it as a UNESCO
convention.
End Text.

OLIVER

© Scoop Media