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Lucia A Keegan  09/18/2006 10:24:51 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS    SENSITIVE     PARIS 06225

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI POL

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB: LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: POL: DROSTROFF
CLEARED: SCI: NJCOOPER; LEG:TMPEAY; DCM:AKOSS

VZCZCFRI934
RR RUEHC RUEHBR
DE RUEHFR #6225 2581532
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151532Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1396
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 1665

UNCLAS PARIS 006225 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.: 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL BR
SUBJECT:  BRAZIL FIELD OFFICE 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Efforts by Brazil's ambassador to UNESCO to 
convince the US to have the Executive Board abandon its inquiries 
into alleged irregularities at the Brasilia field office did not go 
as planned, and could give new momentum to push the investigation 
further.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Brazil's ambassador to UNESCO, Luiz Filipe de Macedo 
Soares, met with Ambassador Oliver on Wednesday, 13 September at the 
US Mission's offices.  The US Mission's legal adviser, Michael Peay 
and David Ostroff also attended the meeting. 
¶3.  (SBU) Ambassador Soares said that the purpose of his visit was 
to discuss the situation regarding UNESCO's Brasilia Field Office, 
which has been the focus of attention regarding allegations of 
mismanagement. The Brazilian ambassador said that he thought the 
problems were being addressed and appropriate measures are being 
taken to correct any problems, and that it is now time to move on to 
more important issues. 
¶4.  (SBU) The Brazilian ambassador said that with no "major" 
irregularities found, apart from not keeping to proper bureaucratic 
procedure, poor file keeping, etc., it was time to clear the issue 
from the Executive Board's agenda as, he complained, it has become 
an almost automatic point of examination every six months since 
¶2000. 
¶5.  (SBU) He also made the point that he had been contacted during 
his recent visit home by several key political figures concerning 
this matter, including the Minister for Political Coordination from 
the Office of the President, the Vice Minister of Education, as well 
as the head of TV Globo, Brazil's major television network. 
¶6.  (SBU) Specifically, the Ambassador said that someone from 
UNESCO's Inspector General's office, had been conducting an 
"inquisition" regarding the Brasilia field office, and was creating 
an atmosphere of "general anxiety"; leaving the impression that 
something bad is going on in UNESCO's Brazil office, which he said 
is clearly not the case, in his view. The Brazilian delegation has 
been putting strong pressure on UNESCO regarding the investigation 
led by John Parsons, head of UNESCO's Internal Oversight Service. 
¶7. (SBU) The Brazilian ambassador said that raising these questions 
hurts UNESCO's image in his country and spreads "little poisons" 
that damage the reputation and credibility of both public and 
private Brazilian institutions, referring to the Ministry of 
Education and the television network, TV Globo. 
¶8. (SBU) One of the key issues being investigated was the field 
office's "handling" of monies raised by TV Globo telethons for the 
NGO Crianca Esperanca, (over 40 million dollars since 1986) for 
which UNESCO received a 10 percent "service fee". It is also worth 
noting that a full one-third of UNESCO's extra budgetary funds 
(approximately US$124 million) flow through Brazil's field office. 
The other major issue under investigation concerned employment 
contracts on behalf of Brazilian government agencies that were under 
hiring freezes. 
¶9. (SBU) He finished by saying that he was not asking for our 
support, but rather came just to give us needed background.  He 
added that "most" Executive Board members, in any case, were not 
interested in this problem. 
¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Oliver said that given the fact there was a 
strongly critical report on the Brazil office just before the Spring 
2006 Executive Board meeting, it was not surprising there would be a 
follow-up. 
¶11. (SBU) She went on to say that it is because Brazil is such a 
large and important office for UNESCO that the problems there have 
attracted so much attention.  Ambassador Oliver added that the 
issues are generic and, in fact, much larger than the Brasilia 
office, and concern issues of management, oversight, accountability, 
and general relations between headquarters-field offices throughout 
the UNESCO system. 
¶12. (SBU) Ambassador Oliver also raised the question as to why the 
Secretariat would have drafted the resolution before the Executive 
 
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Board in such a way as to keep the issue alive, rather than indicate 
that the problems have been solved, if, in fact, that were the case. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Comment:  Soares' visit may have backfired. Instead of the 
sympathetic ear he had hoped for, his comments gave us further cause 
to question the status of the Director General's review of the 
situation in Brazil.  US Mission's legal adviser, Michael Peay, will 
be in touch with UNESCO's External Auditor for more information in 
the next few days. End comment. 
KOSS