Cablegate: Unesco's 35th General Conference: Culture Commission

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R 291456Z OCT 09
FM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS FR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
RUCNSCO/UNESCO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS FR 001454

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO UNESCO

E.O. 12598: N/A
TAGS: SCUL PREL UNESCO AJ AM IS JO KWBG
SUBJECT: UNESCO'S 35TH GENERAL CONFERENCE: CULTURE COMMISSION

1. The 35th session of UNESCO's General Conference was held in
Paris October 5-23. This is the first in a series of messages which
will report on the deliberations of the seven General Conference
Commissions.

2. Summary. The Culture Commission of UNESCO's 35th General
Conference met October 15-19 and considered 15 proposed draft
amendments to the 2010-2011 Budget as well as a number of more
substantive items. Key resolutions included one on "safeguarding
and preserving cultural heritage in countries in conflict,
particularly in occupied territories," a second dealing with
attempts to negotiate a Declaration of Principles on WWII Cultural
articles, and a third on the Protection of Indigenous languages.
The Jerusalem and the Occupied territories resolution was settled
with minimal debate as the result of off-line Israeli-Jordanian
discussions. End Summary.

BUDGET RESOLUTIONS MIRROR US POSITIONS EXCEPT ON AZERBAIJAN

3. The Culture Commission supported U.S. positions on the proposed
amendments to the 2010-11 strategic program and budget in all but
one instance. The sole exception came when Azerbaijan was
successful in including wording calling for the "implementation of
necessary measures to safeguard and preserve cultural heritage in
countries in conflict, particularly in occupied territories." The
Azeri delegation had originally proposed to insert this language
into Main Line of Action 1 of the draft program, which concerns the
1972 World Heritage Convention. Enough delegations, including the
United States, objected to the placement of the language there that
it was deflected into Main Line of Action 3, which relates to the
protection of cultural objects in time of conflict and the fight
against their illicit traffic. The US acquiesced to the Main Line
of Action 3 alternative, because it narrows the scope of the
original proposal and because there was insufficient support to
block the proposal entirely. Comment: Adoption of the Azeri
resolution not only opens the door for Azerbaijan to raise
complaints about the treatment of cultural property in
Nagorno-Karabakh , but also may give an opening to other countries
to ask UNESCO to weigh in on their disputes. End Comment.

WWII CULTURAL OBJECTS

4. The U.S. delegation was actively involved in informal
negotiations on the margins of the Culture Commission's meetings
with a view to developing a consensus resolution concerning the
"Draft Declaration of Principles Relating to Cultural Objects
Displaced in Connection with the Second World War." The U.S. sought
a formulation that would definitively end UNESCO's consideration of
this matter, since three intergovernmental meetings had failed to
find a formulation for the Declaration acceptable to all Member
States.

5. During Culture Commission sessions, Russia took the lead and
penned a draft resolution on the topic that, with modifications,
allowed China, Greece, Japan, India and other key players to join
consensus. The final wording takes note of the draft declaration
produced during the intergovernmental process, refers to "all
possible paths to find consensus" being exhausted, and invites
Member States to "pursue opportunities to utilize the work completed
thus far, as appropriate." While this language is less final that
the United States would have liked, USDEL was gratified that the
subject has not been placed on the agenda of any future Executive
Board or General Conference sessions.

JERUSALEM AND THE OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES

6. The Jerusalem and the Occupied Arab Territories resolutions
caused much less difficulty than in recent sessions of the General
Conference, Executive Board and the World Heritage Committee.
Israel and Jordan worked behind the scenes with the Secretariat of
the Culture Sector to produce a draft resolution on Jerusalem and
the Implementation of the Action Plan for the safeguarding of the
cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem. The United States
was not involved in the negotiations. As a result of the off-line
negotiations, debate on this matter took a mere fifteen minutes.
Both resolutions were adopted by consensus, with neither Israel nor
Jordan making interventions. The items also were referred to the
Executive Board meeting in spring 2010 and the General Conference's
next session in 2011.

PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS AND ENDANGERED LANGUAGES

7. The U.S. delegation sought to end permanently UNESCO's drawn-out
consideration of a "preliminary study on the technical and legal
aspects of a possible international standard-setting instrument for
the protection of indigenous and endangered languages." The study
had been considered at several Executive Board meetings and had been
recommended by the 34th General Conference, but had never been
completed because its sponsors, notably Venezuela, had not provided
the promised extra-budgetary funding for an experts meeting to
evaluate the proposal. The United States had hoped that in light of

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the apparent lack of interest in funding the study, it would be
possible to end discussion of the topic. Despite U.S. interventions
on this point and support from like-minded delegations, Venezuela,
joined by Cuba, Guatemala and Bolivia, convinced the Commission that
the necessary funds would be forthcoming. These delegations thus
succeeded in having the item put on the agenda of the 36th General
Conference.

ELEVEN CATEGORY II CENTERS CREATED

8. The Commission also approved the creation of 11 new Category II
centers, with particular attention being paid to the establishment
in South Africa of a new African World Heritage Fund and in
Zacatecas, Mexico of a regional World Heritage institute.
KILLION

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