Cablegate: Unesco: Meetings On Migration, "Right to the City," and The

null
Lucia A Keegan 08/10/2006 09:29:59 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

Cable
Text:

UNCLAS PARIS 05383

SIPDIS
cxparis:
ACTION: UNESCO
INFO: POL ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB: LOLIVER
DRAFTED: INT: NSHETH
CLEARED: DCM: AKOSS; SHS: JHOFF

VZCZCFRI829
RR RUEHGV RUCNDT RUEHNR
DE RUEHFR #5383/01 2201628
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081628Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2469
RUCNDT/USUN NEW YORK
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1134

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005383

SIPDIS

NAIROBI FOR KAREN LEVINE

FROM USMISSION TO UNESCO PARIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNESCO SMIG UN IOM
SUBJECT: UNESCO: MEETINGS ON MIGRATION, "RIGHT TO THE CITY," AND THE
HUMAN SECURITY PROGRAM

1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. On June 14 DCM and Health Attache met
with members of the UNESCO secretariat to discuss UNESCO's Migration
without Borders and the Right to the City programs. Paul de
Guchteneire, Chief of the International Migration Section, and
Wataru Iwamoto, Director of Social Sciences Research and Policy,
discussed UN SG Kofi Annan's proposal for a forum on International
Migration and Development, as well as UNESCO's possible role in the
forum. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and
UNESCO will hold a conference of experts on migration museums; U.S.
delegates discussed Ellis Island as a model. The conversation then
turned to the "Right to the City." A UNESCO program specialist
explained the meaning of the expression and revealed that the staff
has been trained to take a rights-based approach in all their work.
In a separate meeting, Mr. Hoff met with Rene Zapata, of UNESCO's
Bureau of Strategic Planning, to discuss the Human Security Program.
END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: A UN FORUM, A UNESCO CONFERENCE

2. According to de Guchteneire, the Secretary General is organizing
a High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in
New York on September 14-15, 2006 and is recommending the creation
of a UN Forum on the subject. De Guchteneire also said UNESCO is
working on a document that will set out the role UNESCO seeks to
play in the forum, and noted that it will involve the relationship
between cultural diversity and integration of immigrant populations
(social cohesion). He felt this was key issue that the cultural
diversity convention had failed to address. The UNESCO Secretariat
will consult with Member States on UNESCO's role.

3. De Guchteneire added that UNESCO and the IOM will work together
to promote development of a new type of museum on migration that
does not just take an historical approach. U.S. delegates spoke of
the Ellis Island Immigration Museum; Mr. de Guchteneire was aware of
the site but not of the interactive project that has been created
there. IOM and UNESCO will hold a conference of experts about
migration museums in Rome, most likely October 23-25. As a
follow-up to the meeting, Mr. de Guchteneire sent the U.S.
delegation a draft of the organizational document for the meeting,
which cites the Ellis Island Immigration Museum as the example for
migration museums worldwide. (Comment: The High Level Dialogue on
September 14-15 in New York may be an opportunity to showcase the
Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Mission will also monitor whether
U.S. experts are invited to the Rome meeting.)

"RIGHT TO THE CITY" AND A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO EVERYTHING

4. The meeting turned to the subject of the "Right to the City."
U.S. delegates expressed their continuing concern with the phrase,
which, they noted, is being used in connection with the World Urban
Forum 3 (which is taking place June 19-23, 2006 in Vancouver). Mr.
Iwamoto introduced Brigitte Colin, a UNESCO program specialist on
the issue. She explained the ideas behind the wording, saying that
it had to do with the rights and obligations of the citizens of a
city. Ms. Colin also mentioned that the UN had provided training
for members of the section by the United Nations System Staff
College in Geneva that emphasized that UN staff should use the
concept of a "rights based approach" rather than a "needs based
approach" (the language that accompanies the problematic
questionnaire sent out on the Right to the City). When questioned
on what basis they were claiming the need to use a rights based
approach, she said she was told the language was included in last
fall's World Summit outcome document. (Comment: We have looked at
the document and do not find where it says this.) U.S. delegates
also expressed concern about the phrase Inclusive City (which
UN-Habitat uses), stating that it could be interpreted to imply a
socialist agenda.

THE HUMAN SECURITY PROGRAM: AN UNCLEAR APPROACH

5. Health Attache later met with Rene Zapata, of the UNESCO Bureau
of Strategic Planning, to discuss the Human Security Program.
Zapata emphasized the inter-sectoral nature of human security. He
said the USG intervention at the December meeting was extremely
helpful, and changed the approach UNESCO was taking. However, the
way in which the approach had changed was unclear to Mr. Hoff. Mr.
Hoff expressed concern about the possibility of UNESCO's having
consultants write the upcoming report without Member States' review,
and stressed the U.S.' concern over the inappropriate political
statements in the book on Arab security. The next concrete steps
for the Human Security Program are regional meetings: ASEAN, Arab
league (preceded by experts meetings), and then, but somewhat
delayed, Africa. Mr. Zapata also touched on the effect of UN reform
on human security.

6. Comment. The Social and Human Sciences Sector is appearing to
be responsive to U.S. concerns-it recognizes the validity of U.S.
concerns asbout "Migration withut Borders" and has dleted that
phrase; and it has downplayed use of "Right to the City," although
the phrase is still being used, particularly in connection with the
World Urban Forum. However, the mind set behind these terms is
still of course rampant, and each discussion reveals new expressions
of it (such as the information about training to use "the rights
based approach." We will continue to oppose particular initiatives
that are based on this rights based approach (but given resource
limitations it is impossible to keep up with all of them). But this
has to be addressed systemically, in particular by opposing efforts
of Secretariat to promote or create these rights by new normative
instruments or by expanding existing ones. We can only hope that the
present review of natural and social science programs at UNESCO will
redirect these programs in a more positive direction. Since we
cannot find a mention of the need to take a rights-based approach in
the summit outcome document, we are curious on what basis the United
Nations System Staff College in Geneva is conducting this training
and if they are doing the same thing in other UN organizations. One
bright note, UNESCO's appraisal of the cultural diversity
convention's failure to address social cohesion may also provide a
good opportunity to ???????
OLIVER

© Scoop Media