VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0801/01 3031657
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301657Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6926
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0077
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0098

UNCLAS TUNIS 000801 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM SCUL TS UN
SUBJECT: UNGA THIRD COMMITTEE: TUNISIA PRESSING HARD TO 
MAKE 2010 "THE YEAR OF YOUTH," AMBASSADOR RAISES IRAN, 
DEFAMATION OF RELIGION MOTIONS 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 788 
     ¶B. TUNIS 751 
     ¶C. STATE 109397 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request.  Please see paragraph ten. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary:  A senior Foreign Ministry official 
convoked the Ambassador on October 30 to press for U.S. 
support for a Tunisian proposal before the UNGA Third 
Committee to designate 2010 "The Year of Youth" and organize 
an international conference on youth policy.  The Ambassador 
pledged to pass the message and seek an official response. 
Noting other business before the Third Committee, the 
Ambassador urged Tunisia to support the Canadian resolution 
condemning human rights violations and repression in Iran and 
the Political-Economic Counselor urged deferral of the OIC 
states' "defamation of religion" motion until a compromise 
formula could be agreed.  End summary. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Saida Chtoui, Secretary of State for Asia and the 
Americas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, convoked the 
Ambassador on October 30 to request U.S. support for the 
Tunisian proposal, currently being considered by the UNGA 
Third Committee, to designate 2010 "the Year of Youth" and 
organize an international conference on youth policy.  (Note: 
The Spanish and Canadian ambassadors were also convoked, 
presumably on the same issue, on the same day.  The British 
Ambassador was convoked for an October 31 meeting.  End 
note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Tunisia's proposal would constitute a significant 
"affirmation of global values" on the importance of dialogue 
and mutual understanding to counter the trend of youth 
alienation and extremism, Chtoui argued, and originates from 
President Ben Ali himself.  (Note:  In fact, the proposal is 
an outgrowth of a 2008 domestic campaign (of dubious merit) 
to engage Tunisian youth by establishing a new "pact" 
stressing mutual loyalty and solidarity between the state and 
the country's youth.  End note.) 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Chtoui said Tunisia had already enlisted 
significant international support for its proposal from the 
Arab League, from the OIC, from the heads of state gathered 
at the Arab-Latin America summit in March 2009, from the 
Nonaligned Movement, and from the G-77 plus China.  Even the 
OSCE, at a recent meeting in Washington, had indicated its 
support for Tunisia's proposal, Chtoui asserted. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Some countries are not supporting Tunisia's 
proposal, Chtoui added.  She explicitly rejected a Swedish 
counterproposal that 2010 instead be commemorated as the 25th 
anniversary of the first ever UN designated youth year. 
Chtoui also rejected the arguments of some member states that 
it is by now too late to declare 2010 the "Year of Youth." 
In fact, Chtoui asserted, Tunisia's proposal has been on the 
table for some time, and member states have had ample 
opportunity to consider it.  Furthermore, most countries are 
already pursuing youth initiatives that could easily fit 
under the rubric of the "Year of Youth."   The Tunisian 
proposal would simply provide a unifying framework for 
projects already underway.  The international conference 
could be held later, perhaps in Tunis in the summer of 2011, 
she suggested, but the GOT believed it important that 2010 be 
the designated year, "otherwise we may slip to 2012 or 2013," 
she worried, "and much time would be lost." 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Ambassador responded that he was uninstructed on 
this issue, but believed that the USG's position on this 
proposal had in the past been neutral.  He pledged to seek an 
official U.S. response. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Noting other business before the UN Third Committee, 
the Ambassador urged Tunisia, as we have earlier (refs A and 
B), to keep international pressure on Iran and to support the 
Canadian sponsored motion condemning the latest round of 
repression in Iran.  With its violent response to popular 
protests of vote rigging in June, the regime in Tehran had 
shown its true face, the Ambassador underlined. 
 
¶9. (SBU) POL-ECON Counselor also noted that the U.S. was 
urging OIC states to defer debate on their "defamation of 
religion" motions before the Third Committee.  The current 
text raises freedom of expression concerns, the U.S. 
believes, but we strongly support government efforts to 
promote tolerance and combat bigotry.  Chtoui said Tunisia 
would consider U.S. positions on these questions, but had to 
 
 
balance carefully so as not to alienate countries whose 
support it needs for other issues. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Action request:  Embassy requests Department 
guidance on responding to the Tunisian demarche on the "Year 
of Youth." 
 
GRAY