GAZA RELIEF EFFORTS AT UNESCO BEGIN

UNCLAS PARIS FR 000200 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE PASS TO INTERIOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, STEVE MORRIS E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: UNESCO PREL PHUM MARR KWBG KAWC IS SUBJECT: GAZA RELIEF EFFORTS AT UNESCO BEGIN ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Promising to coordinate closely with UN system sister agencies, UNESCO held an information meeting on February 6 to lay out its plans to lend assistance in Gaza, concentrating on education but also including protection of journalists. Fundraising for Gaza relief efforts will begin in earnest next month. UNESCO's Deputy Director-General Barbosa will attend the Gaza Flash Appeal donors meeting in Cairo on March 2. At the information meeting, Iran announced that it will hold a Gaza conference on March 4-5 in Tehran, and the Director-General promised that UNESCO would be represented at the meeting. Both Director-General Matsuura and Deputy Director-General Barbosa announced that UNESCO is preparing an initiative to ensure that schools are removed from conflict in wartime. In a conversation with Acting IO Assistant Secretary James Warlick later the same day, Deputy Director-General Barbosa admitted that the details of this initiative have not been decided, but he suggested that the intent would be to plug what he believes is a gap in existing international law with regard to the protection of schools in conflict areas. He added that a March 18 General Assembly discussion led by UN envoy for children in armed conflict Coomaraswamy will mark an important milestone in the development of this initiative. Warlick and Charge warned that UNESCO should stay away from political issues, and that this sort of discussion should more appropriately take place in New York than at UNESCO. End Summary. ¶2. (U) UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura (Japan) convened a well-attended information meeting February 6 to brief members on UNESCO's action to assist Gaza in the aftermath of the recent conflict. With a few exceptions, the meeting went off without the political fireworks some had anticipated. The meeting provided delegations with the first opportunity to hear from the Secretariat on its overall plans regarding UNESCO's participation in UN efforts in Gaza, and was the first chance for delegates to speak publicly about the Gaza conflict. UNESCO's Six Project Plan ¶3. (U) Director-General Matsuura gave a brief introduction, describing the Secretariat's plans to participate in the larger UN effort through six projects: five of which are education-related, and one designed to improve the safety and protection of journalists and media professionals in the Gaza strip. The budget for the six projects is estimated to be three million US$. The Director-General said that he had already authorized $200,000 from the regular budget to be made available in advance of donations expected from Member States so that work could begin in Gaza. While assessing possible damage to cultural and natural heritage sites was also mentioned, cultural projects are not a priority at a time when the population is in need of basic relief. ¶4. (U) Louise Haxthausen, director of UNESCO's office in Ramallah, reported on her February 1-2 mission to the Gaza, where she and two other UNESCO staff members had a chance to assess the situation. Saying she had witnessed "great distress of the population". Haxthausen said that the current conflict is exacerbated by 18 months of embargo and blockade. She declared that 80 percent of the population is now dependent on international assistance to live. ¶5. (U) Haxthausen said that the United Nations plans for Gaza are divided into two timelines: one for emergency relief and early recovery assistance during the next nine months; and a second phase of long-term reconstruction, which will take place over a two-year period. Both the Director-General and Haxthausen repeated that UNESCO's approach in Gaza is to provide assistance in areas where UNESCO has unique expertise, letting other UN agencies take the lead in dealing with other problems, given their greater resources and expertise. The Director-General mentioned that he had had to fight to convince OCHA (UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) to include UNESCO in the early relief and reconstruction planning. UNESCO will offer its mandated technical expertise given its comparative advantage; fill gaps in the overall cluster response; and would bridge relief efforts where possible. ¶6. (U) The Director-General said that he will scale-up UNESCO's response capacity in Gaza, adding an education specialist in Ramallah, furnished by the Norwegians, and would create an antenna presence in Gaza City in the UNDP offices. ¶7. (U) Five education-related projects have been identified for UNESCO to take on as the lead agency in Gaza. The projects are as follows: 1) Provision of emergency secondary education in non-UNRWA SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE PASS TO INTERIOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, STEVE MORRIS E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: UNESCO PREL PHUM MARR KWBG KAWC IS SUBJECT: GAZA RELIEF EFFORTS AT UNESCO BEGIN schools. (cost $800,000); 2) Emergency rehabilitation of higher education institutions. (cost $800,000); 3) Support for crisis planning and management for affected school principals and district officers. (cost $400,000); 4) Training in INEE Minimum standards (cost $320,000); 5) Promotion of schools as safe zones. (cost $420,000). A sixth project, concerns strengthening the safety and protection of journalists and the press freedom in the Gaza strip. (cost $200,000). ¶8. (U) Describing the situation of Gaza's education system, Haxthausen said that seven schools were completely destroyed; 157 primary schools were partially damaged, and noted that 56 percent of the population is made up of school-age children. These figures do not take into account the UNRWA schools. She also noted that two main buildings (containing engineering and science faculties) at the Islamic University were totally destroyed. UNESCO's work in Gaza will be coordinated with UNICEF and the Save the Children organization. Fund Raising - Flash Appeal - Looking for $532 million ¶9. (U) The UN formally launched a flash appeal for donations on February 2 in Geneva. A special donors meeting will be held in Cairo on March 2. Director-General Matsuura announced February 6 that UNESCO's Deputy Director-General Barbosa will attend. The total funding goal is for $613 million, covering a dozen different types of aid from agriculture to cash-for work assistance. Following an initial appeal for aid, over $80 million was raised. An additional $532.7 million is still needed. Some $40 million is earmarked for education. UNESCO's six projects make up $3 million of that amount. For UNESCO-specific projects, the Director-General asked that Member States contact the Secretariat for detailed information about extra-budgetary donations to underwrite the UNESCO-led projects. Protection of Journalists and Freedom of Expression ¶10. (U) Haxthausen said that one journalist had been killed in the conflict, and that several had been seriously injured. She mentioned that the ban on the international media in Gaza had only been lifted on January 26, and that both sides are censoring news reports and that several arrests of media professionals had taken place. ¶11. (U) UNESCO has already begun providing safety equipment (bullet-proof vests, helmets, "PRESS" signs, etc.) to media professionals, and has started training to increase their protection given the possibility of more violence in Gaza. UNESCO will also be providing first aid training and psycho-social support, and will encourage the creation of professional networks. Cultural Sites - Peripheral Damage, Lesser Priority ¶12. (U) The UNESCO mission to Gaza also assessed the damage to seven cultural and natural heritage sites, including three that are listed on the Inventory of Sites considered having outstanding universal value (possible candidates for the World Heritage List, Athinon Harbor, Wadi Gaza Coastal Wetlands, and the Saint Hilarion Monastery). They found that there was some partial damage due to bombing and shelling in the vicinity of the sites, but no direct damage. The concerns about protecting them should hostilities resume are linked to the fact that the sites are used for public functions, which put them at risk, that some are in proximity to military installations, and that they lack basic protection measures, including needed legal frameworks, and enforcement capacity. ¶13. (U) The Director-General indicated that ADG Culture, Francoise Riviere was considering the possibility of sending a technical mission to examine the sites in greater detail, and had been in touch with ICCROM (The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) Director Mounir Bouchenaki, who had led the team sent to Lebanon several years ago following the conflict there. Questions, Answers and Speeches - Highlights ¶14. (U) The "question and answer" segment of the information meeting, which normally gives delegates the chance to ask questions was, as expected, more geared to speechifying than questions. (Note: the U.S. delegation did not take the floor). Some highlights: SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE PASS TO INTERIOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, STEVE MORRIS E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: UNESCO PREL PHUM MARR KWBG KAWC IS SUBJECT: GAZA RELIEF EFFORTS AT UNESCO BEGIN - The opening volley, from Mauritania, was among the most intemperate, with the delegate asking "if this had been another country (responsible for the conflict),it would be shunned by all nations." He continued saying that he was "amazed at the international community's silence and lack of condemnation of Israel." - Palestine's representative, Mr. Elias Sanbar, took the floor next, thanking the DG for his efforts, and mourning the loss of 440 children, saying that the population of Palestine remains in a "state of shock." - Iran's comments were surprisingly moderate, using the opportunity to announce a conference on Gaza March 4-5 in Tehran, and invited the Director-General to attend. - Cuba expressed its solidarity with the "heroic Palestinian people," calling them "victims of Israel's blockade and cruel military oppression." - India used the opportunity to announce that it had given a total of $11 million to relief efforts, then asked how it would be possible to protect schools from aerial bombardment. The Indian ambassador also called comments regarding cultural sites "curious", as it is not the time to be discussing damage of cultural sites. She also asked whether there might be some need to have a donor's conference here at UNESCO for the UNESCO-led projects. - Libya asked that everyone use their best efforts to help the Palestinians adding, especially "from those who caused the damage." - Israeli ambassador, David Kornbluth, took the floor to say that reconstruction needs to be both balanced and forward-looking. He said that the same process is going on in Southern Israel, where buildings were damaged and people were killed. He then asked, "how do we keep schools out of military conflicts?" Kornbluth went on to say that "you don't manufacture bombs and rockets in engineering buildings", (referring to the engineering and science buildings destroyed at the Islamic University),and that "you don't allow rockets to be fired from schools", (shielding). - Palestine's delegate then called a point of order, saying that "if we are to shift to a political debate, we will do so immediately," adding that he found Kornbluth's words "indecent" to which Kornbluth called out "what are you talkiing about-?" - Syria's delegate called Gaza a "tragedy unprecedented in world history", asking "what is the point of rebuilding when the Israelis will only destroy it during their next electoral campaign?" He then added," have the Israelis every made any serious proposals for peace?" - Egypt's ambassador said that Egypt welcomed the UN's collective response, and spoke of the "horrible damage caused by this military invasion." - Kuwait's ambassador thanked the DG for his efforts and said that Kuwait had already given $34 million. - Italy's ambassador Moscato offered condolences to all civilian victims in this war, particularly the children. He said that with the destruction on such a vast scale, it was clear that a very strong commitment from donor countries would be needed. He then asked if, under these exceptional circumstances, if activities could be funded from the regular budget, to be covered by donations later on. - The European Commission's representative noted that the EU had given over $68 million, with some $32 million earmarked for Gaza. DDG Barbosa on Security for Schools ¶15. (SBU) The Director-General emotionally repeated his recent comments on the need to make sure that schools are kept out of conflict in war zones. What he has in mind is not at all clear. Haxthausen described a project in which UNESCO would map schools, document the damage the suffered, and provide school staffs with training on how to keep their children safe. The Director-General, however, seems to be thinking of more than this. SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE PASS TO INTERIOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, STEVE MORRIS E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: UNESCO PREL PHUM MARR KWBG KAWC IS SUBJECT: GAZA RELIEF EFFORTS AT UNESCO BEGIN ¶16. (SBU) Deputy Director-General Marcio Barbosa (Brazil) admitted in a meeting with visiting IO Acting A/S Warlick later on February 6 that UNESCO has yet to develop a proposal. Barbosa hoped to have a discussion on February 9 with emissaries of Qatar's First Lady, Shaykha Moza, who wrote the Director-General a passionate letter on this subject during the Gaza conflict last month. He acknowledged that it is hard to define what should be done. ¶17. (SBU) According to Barbosa, Shaykha Moza, appears to envision schools as a refuge where people can take shelter in times of danger. Barbosa acknowledged that establishing a right to shelter in schools is not as simple as it sounds. He asserted that no existing international instrument deals with this issue. He thought the 1954 Hague Convention gave some basis for action in that it talks about what should be protected in wartime, but there are many problems. The first is one of definition: What is a school? In the most recent Gaza conflict, a shell killed more than 40 people who were in a compound that contained a school, but the school building itself was not struck. Then, Barbosa said, there is the problem of who controls these school building safe havens to ensure that they are not used for military purposes. Should "blue helmets" be in charge? Barbosa recognized the likelihood that combatants will store weapons and war materiel in schools, if schools are simply declared safe zones without any measures to ensure that they are kept genuinely civilian. ¶18. (SBU) Asked whether UNESCO is aiming for some sort of normative instrument on school safe zones, Barbosa denied it, saying that this is a choice for the member states. He did allow, however, that the General Assembly might adopt a resolution or declaration on the subject when it receives the report of Coomaraswamy, the UN's special envoy for children in conflict. He flagged a March 18 General Assembly discussion of education in conflict zones as an important milestone in this effort. ¶19. (SBU) Acting A/S Warlick urged Barbosa to keep UNESCO out of politics. The school safety issue more properly belongs in another forum, perhaps New York. Charge also warned that the U.S. might not be able to support this initiative depending upon how it is phrased. Barbosa concluded this portion of the discussion by undertaking to brief Charge on the outcome of his talks with the Qataris. ¶20. (SBU) Comment: UNESCO's senior leadership has been put on notice that a school safety initiative could be problematic for us, depending on its content. We will need, however, to keep a close eye on what UNESCO proposes to do in this area. The Director-General seemed quite emotional when talking about the need to keep schools out of conflict. He will be strongly tempted to promote a normative instrument on the subject. Barbosa's remark about the member states not the Secretariat proposing normative instruments was quite disingenuous, as the Secretariat can predispose the outcome by how it writes the documents. ENGELKEN