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Lucia A Keegan  12/18/2006 03:03:14 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS        PARIS 07805

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

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB: LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: POL: MAPOINTER
CLEARED: HHS: JSHOFF, DCM: ACKOSS

VZCZCFRI394
RR RUEHC RUEHNR
DE RUEHFR #7805/01 3490959
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150959Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3804
INFO RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1195

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007805 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
FOR IO/UNESCO 
NAIROBI FOR OBSERVER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL KPAO
SUBJECT: USUNESCO: THIRD WORKING GROUP SESSION ON THE RIGHT TO THE 
CITY OUTLINES ACTION PLAN FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS 
 
REF: PARIS 7462 
 
¶1.  Summary: Participants in the Third Working Group Session on the 
"Right to the City," a joint project between UNESCO and UN Habitat, 
developed a project plan for the next two years leading up to the 
Nanjing, China World Urban Forum in 2008. Participants agreed to 
undertake regional inventories of existing legal and normative 
frameworks, to develop a tool kit to present to cities, and to 
develop criteria and guidelines for an award to be presented at the 
World Urban Forum to a city accomplishing the key goals of the 
"Right to the City" (inclusiveness and good governance). 
Participants debated the continued usage of the title "Right to the 
City," as it may be contentious for some states. End Summary. 
 
¶2. The Third Working Group Session for the UNESCO-UN Habitat "Right 
to the City" project took place at UNESCO Paris on November 
11th-12th, 2006. Organized by both UNESCO's Social and Human Science 
sector and Culture sector, NGOs and city representatives sought to 
develop ideas for action to be undertaken over the next two years. 
Although the "Right to the City" is a joint project between UNESCO 
and UN Habitat, no representative from UN Habitat was present. 
 
¶3. Participants debated performing regional inventories of existing 
normative and legal instruments as well as regional best practices 
to provide cities with better guidelines of what can be done and 
what cities are already doing to achieve the goals linked to the 
"Right to the City" project. Annali Kristiansen, project manager 
with the Danish Institute of Human Rights, offered to produce a 
paper outlining relevant international instruments. Participants 
recognized the ambitious character of this next step of action, 
agreeing on a tentative deadline of September 2007 to have the 
preliminary inventories completed. 
 
¶4. The working group plans to have a first draft tool kit ready for 
the Nanjing conference. The tool kit will serve as a pedagogical 
tool for interested cities seeking to establish inclusiveness and 
good governance. Brigitte Colin, program specialist in the Social 
and Human Sciences sector, explained that the goal is to present a 
first draft tool kit that includes information on best practices and 
comparative studies of tools for achieving the objectives related to 
the "Right to the City" project. The regional inventories project 
will assist in successfully completing this tool kit. (Comment: It 
continues to remain entirely unclear what the goals of the "Right to 
the City" are.) 
 
¶5. Participants discussed the creation of an award to be presented 
to a city boasting inclusiveness and good governance. Melody Hook, 
an NGO representative, said that with little time and resources, it 
could be difficult to properly develop criteria for the award in 
time for the Nanjing conference. Brigitte Colin reminded the working 
group that the Creative Cities program in the Culture sector was not 
completely developed when it was launched; however, the program 
achieved great visibility and was well received. She argued that 
similar outcomes are possible for this award. She also advised that 
this award should be created through UN Habitat under the auspices 
of UNESCO to avoid the bureaucratic steps that must be undertaken 
within UNESCO to obtain approval for the creation of a new award. 
Participants discussed the duties that cities should be entrusted 
with if they win, i.e. sharing their best practices with other 
cities. Participants addressed the difficulty of determining which 
actors would receive the award, the ensemble of actors within the 
city, or the municipal government alone. Most agreed that the former 
would better serve the objectives of the award. 
 
¶6. Participants questioned the continued usage of the name "Right to 
the City" for this project. Sri Husnaini Sofjan, of the Hairou 
Commission located in Southeast Asia, and Annali Kristiansen 
mentioned that from their experiences working with China, this title 
may not be acceptable. Brigitte Colin and Annali Kristiansen agreed 
that if the current title is too thought-provoking and contentious 
to be accepted worldwide, perhaps a new title should be created. 
Brigitte Colin underscored the political aspect of this title, 
saying that member states with both UN agencies need to be 
supportive of the title for the project to be successful. Other 
participants (mainly NGOs) were not in accordance, arguing that 
adjustments to the title would decrease its "binding" effect. 
(Comment: This is coming after U.S. efforts to stop the use of the 
expression "Right to the City," see reftel. In discussions with the 
Secretariat, the U.S. has strongly objected to the use of the 
 
SIPDIS 
term.) 
 
¶7. Charles Goldblum, a professor from the French Institute of 
Urbanism, suggested constructing an observatory for the "Right to 
the City." Participants debated the purpose of the observatory, 
funding, the center's scope within the world, and a timeframe for 
its creation. Jules Patenaude, public consultant working with the 
city of Montreal, countered that a virtual center would be more 
affordable, easier to maintain, and would reach out to a larger 
portion of the world. In addition, he and other participants said 
that many universities, agencies, and cities already have centers 
doing research on urban issues. They advised that partnerships and 
networking with these existing entities would perhaps be more 
useful. 
 
¶8. Jun Morohashi, assistant program specialist in the Social and 
Human Science sector, proposed creating a concept paper that would 
define the work of the "Right to the City" project and outline a 
methodology for achieving goals. Brigitte Colin suggested continuing 
building partnerships and networking with other stakeholders. Melody 
Hook insisted on the need for a draft action plan and a position 
paper to define objectives, goals, resources, future action, etc. 
Brigitte Colin responded saying that these items must be shared with 
UN Habitat. 
 
¶9. Cezar Busatto, Secretary of the Municipal Government of Porto 
Alegre, Brazil; Olivier Chambar, General Secretary of the 
International Association of Francophone Mayors; and Jean Jacques 
Joucla, mayor of the Paris suburb Montreuil, shared their 
experiences on how local governments can engage in building cities 
which are more inclusive for all residents and seek to build greater 
levels of cohesion. Cezar Busatto argued that cities are unique 
throughout the world and that as this project seeks to promote best 
practice sharing and capacity building, it is important to recognize 
that one model cannot be adopted and forced upon all cities. He 
insisted that cities must be allowed to use these tools in a way 
that best serves their own system. Representatives from NGOs gave 
interventions on ways in which their organizations contribute to 
achieving the goals in line with the objectives of the "Right to the 
City." Rosa Maria Guerreiro, of the UNESCO Culture sector, discussed 
the social problems affecting cities, a phenomenon now negatively 
impacting the utopian ideal of an "interculturality hub" that cities 
are supposed to represent. She offered examples of Brazilian cities 
like Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, where social cohesion does not 
exist. 
 
¶10. Cezar Busatto offered to host a conference in Porto Alegre, to 
be held in September 2007, on good governance and inclusive 
practices at the municipal level. He recognized that the conference 
would need funding from UN Habitat, UNESCO, and other interested 
agencies. 
 
OLIVER