1. (SBU) EconPolOff conveyed reftel points to Christoph
Mueller and Margarethe Koegeler from the Federal
Chancellery's Office of Political Coordination (OPC) on June


13. Koegeler is also Deputy Head of the GoA's Bioethics
Commission. The OPC has worked closely with the MFA to
establish the GoA's position on the Declaration.



2. (SBU) The GOA agrees with the USG position that the
Declaration's purview should be narrow, should focus
primarily on human beings, and be of a non-binding character.
Mueller and Koegler explained that Austria has historically
acted cautiously on bioethics issues. For example, Austria
is not a signatory to the Council of Europe's binding
Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. The GOA believes
that the Declaration should serve primarily as a guide for
governments to draw up national legislation.



3. (SBU) Koegeler said he was somewhat surprised that UNESCO
was going forward with the Declaration given the wide
divergence of views that emerged at the first negotiating
session. According to Koegler, the GoA believes that UNESCO
should not forward the Declaration to the October General
Conference unless participating countries can achieve wide
consensus.
Brown