VZCZCXYZ0018
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSA #0636 0451417
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141417Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1561
INFO RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 0181
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHFR/USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 0003
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1137

UNCLAS PRETORIA 000636 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR IO/UNESCO/CNOVO, IO/PPC/RWILBUR, EB/TPP/MTA/LCHASON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD SCUL UNESCO SF
SUBJECT: UNESCO CONVENTION ON CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS UPDATE 
AND INFORMATION REQUEST 
 
REF: STATE 19851 
 
¶1. (SBU) We understand from Director Rufus Mathebe of the 
Department of Arts and Culture and State Law Advisor Joann 
Schneeberger of the Department of Foreign Affiars that the 
Convention on Cultural Diversity must be approved by Cabinet 
before taken up by Parliament for ratification.  Mathabe 
expects that Cabinet will approve the Convention within the 
next two to three months.  Schneeberger told us that it 
normally takes six to twelve months for Parliament to ratify. 
 
¶2. (SBU) To date, there has been little or no media coverage 
of the Convention, and no discernible public debate. 
However, over the course of the last two years, at least four 
governmental departments (Foreign Affairs, Environment and 
Tourism, Justice, and Arts and Culture) have issued press 
releases expounding the importance of South Africa's 
leadership in drafting the Convention.  If push came to 
shove, we believe that there are any number of local NGO's 
that would strongly support ratification, as would political 
parties.  We have little doubt that South Africa will ratify 
the Convention. 
 
¶3. (SBU) We note that former Minister of Education and 
current Member of Parliament Kader Asmal chaired the 
Convention's negotiating sessions of intergovernmental 
experts.  Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan attended the 
33rd UNESCO General Conference in Paris on October 17-20, 
2005 to read the declaration on behalf of African member 
states.  The Department of Arts and Culture plans to hold a 
Regional and Diaspora Conference on Cultural Diversity in 
March or April of 2006, where it will press other African 
countires to ratify the Convention.  On February 9, French 
Ambassador to South Africa Jean Felix-Paganon presented the 
Insignia of Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor, one 
of France's highest awards, to Asmal in recognition of 1) his 
struggle against apartheid, 2) his pursuit of human rights, 
and 3) his work with the United Nations on protecting 
cultural expression. 
TEITELBAUM