This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

011756Z Mar 06

UNCLAS PARIS 001295 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR BISA WILLIAMS 
 
E.O. 12958:    N/A 
TAGS: SCUL AORC KISL UNESCO
SUBJECT:  UNESCO: CARTOON ISSUE THREATENS TO HIJACK UPCOMING 
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  This is a guidance request, see para 7. 
On February 15 the UNESCO Ambassadors of the Member States 
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) released 
a statement in response to the Danish cartoons.  Among other 
things, the statement calls for the creation of a normative 
instrument by UNESCO against the defamation of religious 
symbols and "Islamaphobia."  In subsequent conversations 
with members of the OIC, it has become clear that most OIC 
members, with the exception of Libya and Saudi Arabia, are 
backing away from a normative instrument and would rather 
introduce a draft resolution at the next Executive Board 
(EB) calling for discussion of this topic in order to 
achieve broad-based support. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In recent days, the OIC statement has been the 
prime topic of discussion at UNESCO.  Judging from reports 
of how often this issue has been raised in other 
multilateral fora, it may be that the OIC is looking for a 
favorable venue within the UN system to push this agenda and 
is probing UNESCO.  We are told that a senior OIC official 
from Geneva traveled to UNESCO to meet with the OIC 
ambassadors there. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Oliver was told by the Omani ambassador 
(also president of the General Conference) that he was 
trying to calm down the more radical members and prevent 
them from going too fast.  His views were echoed by the 
Qatari, Yemeni and Lebanese ambassadors who all indicated 
that the original statement went too far but felt the item 
should be on the EB agenda for discussion. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Turkish ambassador (the vice chair of the OIC 
at UNESCO) also indicated that he disagreed with the tone 
and would work to slow things down.  The Afghan ambassador 
expressed concern that the issue be dealt with before 
extremists take over the agenda.  He felt that is important 
for UNESCO to get out in front of this issue. 
 
¶5. (SBU) During the week of February 20, OIC members engaged 
in lengthy negotiations with the EU troika plus the UK to 
arrive at a title for the proposed draft resolution, 
"Respect for freedom of expression and respect for beliefs, 
sacred values and religious and cultural symbols." As of 
this point the contents of the resolution have not been 
forthcoming, despite numerous promises to share them with 
the U.S. delegation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to EU contacts, the Austrian president, 
who previously served in Riyadh, is over-enthusiastic about 
working with the OIC and is "an apologist for the Saudis." 
He has at time been ahead of the agreed EU position at 
UNESCO, to support no legal instruments in this area-whether 
hard or soft law.  The Canadians tell us they are awaiting 
instructions but are likely to shy away from any instruments 
either. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment and guidance request:  The OIC members seem 
to have realized too late that they have opened a can of 
worms that may be hard to close.  We have made it clear in 
all our conversations that the U.S. would not support any 
kind of normative instrument.  In this we are joined by the 
EU.  We are also concerned about another idea being 
floated-the organization by UNESCO of a conference on this 
topic.  We feel that a conference organized by the 
secretariat would not necessarily produce the desired 
 
SIPDIS 
results.  What we think may be the best outcome would be a 
consensus resolution along the lines of what is already done 
at each Executive Board session when discussing Middle East 
issues and Palestine.  (This possibility has come up in 
several conversations.)  That resolution is negotiated 
privately and brought to a vote without further discussion. 
Such a resolution would be most effective if it focused on 
existing UNESCO programs for tolerance education and inter- 
cultural dialogue. Please advise stance Mission should adopt 
as this discussion continues. 
Oliver