UK DELEGATION SEEKS EU CONSENSUS ON UNESCO'S ROLE IN

UNCLAS PARIS 004159 SIPDIS FROM USMISSION UNESCO STATE FOR IO/UNESCO KELLY SIEKMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC EAID SOCI UK UNESCO SUBJECT: UK DELEGATION SEEKS EU CONSENSUS ON UNESCO'S ROLE IN ADVANCE OF ATHENS MEDIUM-TERM STRATEGY CONCLAVE REFS: A) Paris 5862, B) Paris 6028, C) Paris 6136 ¶1. At a June 16 informal meeting of UNESCO delegates, the UK deputy informed Mission Officer that the UK is, in advance of Group I consultations in Athens on the medium-term strategy, seeking to achieve EU consensus on a non-paper on UNESCO's role. The aim of the UK paper is to encourage UNESCO to re-define its role to better align with ongoing UN reform efforts. Achieving EU consensus on this issue may be challenging - Belgium and Finland had already taken a stab at the UK draft, but the UK has strong ideas on what UNESCO's role should be. ¶2. The UK believes that the five elements of UNESCO's role - as laboratory of ideas, as standard setter, as clearing house, as capacity builder in member states, and as catalyst for international cooperation - need to be tightened. In particular, UNESCO's role as a laboratory of ideas needs to be re-focused on policy recommendations and standard setting. The UK believes that policy committees should be set up to advise the Executive Board on areas within UNESCO's fields of competence, similar to committees existing at the OECD. Thus, UNESCO could assume a role in formulating standards for public policy. The UK deputy noted that some had raised objections to the costs entailed in setting up such policy committees, but she stressed that these would not be significant. ¶3. Mission officer said that while it might be useful for UNESCO to explore its role in giving advice on public policy to member states seeking such advice, setting standards for public policy is another matter. The UK deputy offered reassurances that such standard-setting would only constitute "soft law." This would be a means of addressing U.S. concerns about further normative instruments. She also noted that the U.S. and Israel had been isolated during the Cultural Diversity debate and that this "soft law" approach would be a means of guaranteeing future consensus. U.S. Mission Officer repeated that the U.S. does not regard UNESCO as a purveyor of either "hard" or "soft" law. ¶4. This issue seems to be on the minds of EU delegations. Last week, U.S. Mission DCM was approached by the Belgian ambassador to UNESCO, who probed him on the U.S. stance on UNESCO's role as a stand setter. This was probably triggered by the intra-EU consultations described above. End Note. Oliver