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Lucia A Keegan  11/28/2006 10:08:44 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS    SENSITIVE     PARIS 07517

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

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: LEG:TMPEAY
CLEARED: DCM:KOSS

VZCZCFRI005
RR RUEHC RUCNSCO
DE RUEHFR #7517/01 3280618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240618Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3320
INFO RUCNSCO/UNESCO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007517 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNESCO 
FOR L/OES - BINIAZ 
FOR ECA - KOROUPAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SCUL KPAO UNESCO
SUBJECT:  UNESCO'S D-G URGES MEMBER STATES TO RATIFY THE 2001 
CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF THE UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE 
 
 
¶1. (U) Action requested: see paragraph 10 below. 
 
¶2. (U) Summary.  At a well-attended information meeting hosted at 
UNESCO's Headquarters on November 21, 2006, and personally chaired 
by Director-General Matsuura, the D-G issued an appeal to UNESCO 
Member States to move with greater speed to increase the number of 
ratifications from the current level of ten ratifications to the 
twenty needed to bring the Convention on the Protection of the 
Underwater Cultural Heritage (CUCH) into force.  He said it would be 
"harmful" and "paradoxical" if the CUCH were to become the sole 
UNESCO convention aimed at protecting cultural heritage that fails 
to enter into force - citing by contrast the recent entry into force 
of the 2003 intangible cultural heritage convention and the likely 
spring 2007 entry into force of the diversity of cultural 
expressions convention of 2005.  He defended the CUCH as consistent 
with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and voiced his 
personal view that any amendments to the CUCH that States deem 
necessary should be done after its entry into force, not before. 
Department's response to UNESCO questionnaire on Convention 
requested at earliest opportunity.  End Summary. 
 
¶3. (U) On November 21, D-G Matsuura presided over a well-attended 
information meeting at which he urged UNESCO Member States to move 
quickly to scale up the number of the instruments of ratification of 
the CUCH to enable it to enter into force.  In the D-G's formal 
statement (being provided separately to the Department by e-mail), 
he lamented that only 10 ratifications instruments have been 
received thus far.  He contrasted that with the high number of 
ratifications instruments received for two other culture-related 
UNESCO conventions that were concluded after the CUCH (e.g., the 
2003 intangible cultural heritage and the 2005 diversity of cultural 
expressions conventions).   He characterized those three instruments 
as inter-related and mutually supportive.  The D-G explained that 
States should endeavor to promote greater awareness of this 
convention.  He claimed that cultural objects submerged in a State's 
Exclusive Economic Zone, its continental shelf, or on the high seas 
are currently not protected by any international legal instrument, 
whence the need for CUCH.  He lamented the scope of looting that 
continues to take place through the use of increasing sophistication 
in diving and underwater extraction techniques, and with it the lost 
history and displacement of cultural heritage. 
 
¶4. (U) The D-G recalled his close personal involvement in support of 
the negotiations shortly after he had begun his first term.  He 
offered UNESCO's assistance to countries who wished to heighten 
awareness about the CUCH.  He noted the role that existing Category 
II centers could play in this regard and said that new such centers 
should be established for training in the field of underwater 
cultural heritage.   The D-G appealed to States parties to the CUCH 
to urge their neighboring States to join the convention. 
 
¶5. (U) During the Q & A session that immediately followed the D-G's 
prepared remarks, the Nigerian Ambassador said that a study should 
be conducted to learn "why the Convention is so unpopular."  He 
urged the Secretariat to prepare a report addressing perceptions 
("real or imagined") regarding the Convention that are held by all 
UNESCO Member States.  The D-G offered three personal reasons why he 
thinks the ratification rate is low: the Convention's complexity; 
legal problems that some States have with it; and lack of interest 
in the Convention at the political level.  (Comment: An additional 
reason offered to Missionoff after the meeting by a senior 
secretariat officer (Carducci) is that treasure-hunting entrepreneur 
 
SIPDIS 
organizations are engaging in powerful lobbying against the 
Convention). End Comment.  The Dominican Republic expressed its 
surprise that no Caribbean States are parties to CUCH, despite its 
importance for that region. 
 
¶6. (U) Mission Legal Adviser (Peay) thanked the D-G for his clear 
explanation of why he had called the information meeting, endorsed 
the Nigerian proposal for a study of low ratification rates, and 
noted that such a study could shed even greater light on the 
underlying reasons.  Missionoff then noted for the record the USG's 
position on the Convention.  Drawing from two U.S. Delegation EOP 
statements made at the 2001 UNESCO meeting just prior to the 
Convention's adoption, Missionoff recalled USG's active 
participation in those negotiations; our favorable view of important 
aspects of the Convention text; our concerns regarding certain 
articles, including, inter alia, Article 9(1)(b)(i); our continuing 
desire to attain a broadly ratifiable agreement arrived at by 
consensus; and our hope that there will be a future opportunity to 
"revisit" the provisions that impeded the U.S. from becoming party 
to the Convention. 
 
¶7. (U) In response, the D-G agreed that a more comprehensive 
assessment of Member States' views of the Convention is needed, 
recalled in that regard the January 2006 questionnaire he sent to 
all UNESCO Member States asking for their views on the CUCH, and 
noted that only 30 responses have been received to date.  He 
therefore urged Member States to respond in greater number to the 
questionnaire.  The D-G then offered his personal view that it would 
be difficult to re-open negotiations on elements of the CUCH before 
its entry into force, but he noted that the Convention would permit 
such review after entry into force.   A senior secretariat member 
observed that the CUCH (Art. 30) does not permit reservations, which 
Missionoff used as an opportunity to intervene once again to note 
that conventions that prohibit reservations require an even greater 
effort by negotiating States Parties to reach consensus on the final 
negotiated text.  Missionoff then read an excerpt from the USG EOP 
of October 29, 2001 in which the U.S. delegation had observed that a 
large group of States had "refused to participate in informal 
consultations convened at the suggestion of the Director General . . 
. that could have resulted in acceptable compromises on the 
remaining outstanding issues." 
 
¶8. (SBU) In a subsequent private discussion, Indian Mission rep 
informed Missionoff that he had intended to make several points, 
including with regard to the incompatibility of the CUCH with 
UNCLOS, and thanked the U.S. for having done so.  The Indian rep and 
the Canadian rep separately expressed interest in the modalities of 
possibly re-opening the CUCH text before its entry into force. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: Mission's suspicions going into the meeting (that 
the D-G is in his last term and is trying to leave as his legacy the 
entry into force of all culture-related conventions concluded during 
his watch) proved to be prescient as the likely motive for the D-G 
sudden call for an information meeting about this dormant 
convention.  Whether his gambit will succeed is difficult to 
predict, but cannot be dismissed.  Since only 10 additional 
ratification instruments need to be deposited with UNESCO in order 
to reach the low threshold of only 20 ratifications for entry into 
force, there is a distinct possibility we could observe the 
Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention become a legally operative 
instrument within the next year. 
 
¶10. (U) Action Request:  Mission previously provided text of 
UNESCO's Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention questionnaire to 
Department for its consideration.  In light of the above report, 
Department is requested to consider submitting written responses to 
the questionnaire, as a means of: (a) ensuring that U.S. 
Government's views are considered in the secretariat assessment of 
the reasons why States are/are not likely to ratify the Convention, 
the obstacles and difficulties to ratification they perceive, and 
other issues raised in the questionnaire; and (b) reminding other 
possibly like-minded States that the USG has continuing substantive 
concerns with the Convention. 
Oliver