COLOMBIA: CULTURAL CONVENTION NOT ON CONGRESSIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 001582 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO/UNESCO - M. CHRISTINA NOVO IO/PPC - RICHARD WILBUR EB/TPP/MTA - LINDSAY CHASON E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2016 TAGS: ETRD SCUL PREL CO SUBJECT: COLOMBIA: CULTURAL CONVENTION NOT ON CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA REF: STATE 19851 Classified By: Political Counselor Jeffrey DeLaurentis; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) The GOC voted to adopt the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in October, but has since made no effort to secure the required Congressional approval. The Convention is not currently on the legislative agenda; Congress is out of session until after the March 12 congressional elections. The next session runs from March 15 through June 20 and presidential elections will take place on May 28. Given that the Convention must be approved by the relevant Committees in both the House and Senate, as well as both the full House and Senate, it is unlikely that ratification will take place before the end of June. Moreover, MFA has not yet received the official request from the Ministry of Culture to introduce the Convention to Congress. MFA's UNESCO office expects ratification to take more than a year (not including 3-4 months for review by the Constitutional Court). There has been little Colombian press coverage of the Convention; articles have been factual and did not advocate for or against the Convention. ¶2. (C) A public campaign seeking to persuade Congress not to ratify the Convention, such as offered reftel, would be unproductive, in our view, during the campaign season. It is unlikely Congress will address this issue before the new President's inauguration on August 7. DRUCKER