UNESCO PRIZES-SOME GOOD, SOME BAD

UNCLAS PARIS 008487

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: VE FR UNESCO
SUBJECT: UNESCO PRIZES-SOME GOOD, SOME BAD



1. This is an action request. See para. 5.


2. The UNESCO secretariat issued a press release on
December 14 announcing that President Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela will receive the 2005 International Jose Marti
Prize in a ceremony in Havana on 28 January, 2006.
According to the announcement, the Marti Prize was created
in 1994, (note: when the US was not a member of UNESCO) by
UNESCO's Executive Board at Cuba's behest "to honour an
individual or institution having contributed to the unity
and integration of the countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean and to the preservation of their identities,
cultural traditions and historical values." The $5,000
biennial prize is awarded on the recommendation of a seven-
member international jury, which includes Nadine Gordimer,
the South African Nobel Prize for Literature laureate and a
member of the Secretariat. Their recommendation is
forwarded to the Director General. In the past the Prize
has been awarded to Mexican sociologist Pablo Gonzalez
Casanova (2003),Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamn
(1999),and Dominican historian Celsa Albert Bautista
(1995).


2. Comment: This is the first time this prize has been
awarded to a political figure. We are disturbed that
following so closely on the heels of the cultural diversity
debate, that UNESCO's choice of awardee comes with such
clear anti-American overtones.


3. Fortunately, not all UNESCO prizes are created equal.
One of the more worthwhile prizes is the Guillermo Cano
press freedom prize that in recent years has been awarded to
Cuban, Chinese and Zimbabwean journalists. This year the
European Union, along with its accession states, has issued
a joint nomination for Naradonya Volya, an independent
newspaper that has been heavily persecuted by the government
of Belarus. The prize will be awarded in the spring.


4. Action request and comment: European Union member
states have invited the United States to join in the
nomination of Naradonya Volya. The nomination form has been
emailed to IO/UNESCO. After being at serious loggerheads
with European Union member states in recent months over the
cultural diversity convention, we see this as a good
opportunity to work closely with our European allies.
Please advise.
Oliver