UNCLASSIFIED   PARIS   00001474 
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DE RUEHFR #1474/01 3071219
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R 031219Z NOV 09
FM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS FR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUCNSCO/UNESCO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS FR 001474 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12598:  N/A 
TAGS: SCUL PREL UNESCO HO
SUBJECT: UNESCO'S 35TH GENERAL CONFERENCE: EDUCATION MINISTERIAL AND 
COMMISSION MEETING 
 
REF:  PARIS FR 1407 and previous 
 
¶1.  Summary:  At UNESCO's 35th General Conference, approximately 70 
Education Ministers and Vice-Ministers participated in the 
Ministerial Roundtable October 9-10 to discuss education policy 
issues.  The Education Commission met October 13-15 and considered 
the UNESCO education sector's budget for 2010-2011 and the 
establishment of new UNESCO education centers. A political 
discussion about Honduras, initiated by a resolution put forward by 
Brazil, ended in a compromise text with no mention of Honduras by 
name. (REF)  End Summary. 
 
Ministerial Looks at Major Education Policy Issues 
 
¶2.  The Education Ministers were welcomed by UNESCO Director General 
Koichiro Matsuura, Assistant Director General for Education Nick 
Burnett and by two youth delegates (from the Philippines and Saudi 
Arabia) representing UNESCO's Youth Forum.  Manitoba's Minister of 
Advanced Education and Literacy Diane McGifford moderated the first 
session which addressed, "Knowledge, Values, Competencies, and 
Skills for Today's and Tomorrow's Societies."  Keynote speakers 
included Russia's Minister of Education and Science, who stressed 
mathematics education, and Tunisia's Minister of Education, who 
focused on the use of information and communications technologies in 
the classroom. The important role technology can play in education 
as well as the teaching of technology skills that are needed in the 
workplace were themes of many country interventions. 
 
¶3.  U.S. Department of Education Senior Counselor Marshall Smith 
outlined U.S. efforts to better equip students at the K-12 levels by 
promoting reforms and innovation at all levels.  Mr. Smith also 
touched on efforts at the post-secondary level to provide job 
training, specifically focusing on community colleges. 
 
¶4.  The second ministerial session focused on building inclusive, 
equitable and high quality education systems.  Interventions 
included calls for free, compulsory and relevant education (Norway, 
Finland); securing the right to education (Pakistan); and 
establishing universal preschool (Sweden).  The U.S. intervention 
focused on the importance of recruiting and retaining high-quality 
teachers and principals and on the need to help states and districts 
improve schools that have continually lagged behind other schools. 
 
 
¶5. OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurria, delivered the keynote to 
start the third ministerial session.  He said we are facing the 
"greatest job crisis of our lifetime." He said students needed 
greater financial literacy and training to be collaborators and 
innovators.  Several member states spoke about the challenge to 
alter the general perception of technical and vocational education 
to promote greater awareness of the skills and economic relevance of 
this sector.  The U.S. stated strong support for UNESCO's Education 
for All goals and the United States' commitment to help countries 
improve access to and the overall quality of their education 
systems. 
 
Education Commission - Broad Consensus Except on Honduras and 
Holocaust Education 
 
¶6. On Monday, October 19, Member States convened to consider and 
adopt the agenda items discussed in the Education Commission report, 
which resulted from the Commission's deliberations October 12-15. 
The Commission was chaired by South Africa's Duncan Hindle.  The 
co-chairs were from Spain, Serbia, Grenada, and the Solomon 
Islands. 
 
¶7. The Commission's first debate considered the education portion of 
the UNESCO draft program and budget for 2010-2011.  The education 
budget of UNESCO for the coming biennium focuses on four key areas - 
literacy, teachers, technical and vocational education, and 
sector-wide planning for education - with special emphasis on the 
needs of Africa and gender equality.  Speakers generally expressed 
support for the 2010-2011 budget, especially its focus on technical 
and vocational education.  Many countries called for more attention 
on gender equality and challenged UNESCO to move towards 
outcome-based results.  There was also general support for the 
UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) and for Education 
for Sustainable Development (ESD). 
 
¶8. Member states considered 15 draft budget resolutions, some with 
budgetary implications and others with proposed changes to main 
program items and expected results.  The United States sponsored two 
budget resolutions:  one resolution focusing on promoting UNESCO's 
work in Open Education Resources (OER) to improve access at all 
education levels to quality learning and training materials; the 
other emphasizing UNESCO's coordination function for the United 
Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD).  The U.S. gained 11 co-sponsors for 
the OER resolution: Belgium, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Mali, the 
Netherlands, Oman, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and the 
United Kingdom.  The U.S. gained 3 co-sponsors for the UNLD 
resolution: India, Nigeria, and Mali. 
 
 
PARIS 00001474  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶9. France proposed a budget resolution (co-sponsored by Belgium, the 
Netherlands, and Poland) to include a mention of UNESCO's continuing 
work on Holocaust education and combating anti-Semitism, pursuant to 
a General Conference resolution adopted two years ago that requested 
the Director-General to consult with the United Nations 
Secretary-General to explore the role UNESCO could play in promoting 
awareness of Holocaust remembrance through education and combating 
all forms of Holocaust denial.  Member states spoke in favor of the 
French resolution (the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Poland, and the 
United States), but others sought to reopen the debate as to whether 
UNESCO should be involved in Holocaust remembrance including Iran, 
Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and the UAE.  The Chair of the Education 
Commission suggested a working group be formed to seek consensus 
language on the resolution.  The French Ambassador chaired the 
working group which included Libya, Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Belgium, 
Syria, the Netherlands, India, Germany, and the United States.  The 
French Ambassador and the DCM at the U.S. Mission to UNESCO helped 
focus the working group's attention on the actual language contained 
in the French budget amendment, which addressed a required technical 
issue, and the working group agreed on a consensus text that would 
reference UNESCO's specific work on Holocaust remembrance in the 
more detailed Volume II of the budget.  When the consensus text was 
presented to the whole Education Commission, Iran spoke against 
consensus but the India Ambassador to UNESCO helped gain consensus 
on the final decision. 
 
¶10.  During Commission's second debate, member states joined 
consensus on four draft decisions:  1) approving amendments to the 
statutes of the Intergovernmental Regional Committee for the 
Regional Education Project in Latin America; 2) requesting the 
Director-General to convene two international conferences to examine 
amendments to existing higher education recognition conventions for 
the African States and Asia and the Pacific; 3)requesting the 
Director-General to gather expertise to consider approaches for debt 
swaps for education and other approaches to education financing; and 
4) inviting the Director-General to continue implementing a 
resolution concerning educational and cultural institutions in the 
Arab territories. 
 
¶11.  In the third debate, member states expressed support for the 
Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), joining 
consensus on a resolution submitted by Finland, Germany, Indonesia, 
Japan, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea supporting 
UNESCO's efforts to draft a strategy for the second half of the 
decade, endorsing the Bonn Declaration (adopted at the World 
Conference on Education for Sustainable Development), and welcoming 
Japan's offer to host the end-of-decade conference.  The commission 
also adopted a resolution submitted by Russia to request the 
Director-General to convene the World Conference on Early Childhood 
Education in Moscow from September 22 - 24, 2010. 
 
¶12.  In the fourth debate, member states approved the establishment 
of a new Category I education institute in India: the Mahatma Gandhi 
Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development.  All 
of the costs, will be funded by India with the exception of a D-1 
post (approximately $500K over the biennium) that will be funded 
through existing resources. 
 
¶13.  In the final debate, member states adopted a general resolution 
requesting the Director-General to follow developments within 
UNESCO's competence in the interest of the right to education and 
freedom of expression. 
 
Honduras 
 
¶14.  As noted above and in reftel, the Education Commission became 
the battleground for a proposed resolution on Honduras.  Brazil with 
the support of many Latin American states submitted a draft 
resolution condemning disruptions of the educational system in 
Honduras and the suspension of civil liberties which was referred by 
the President of the General Conference (a Bahamian national) to the 
Education Commission.  The U.S., Canada, Colombia and several others 
states strongly objected to a country-specific resolution of 
condemnation, arguing that such resolutions are normal practice in 
New York and Geneva but not at UNESCO.  The U.S. and its friends 
also argued that the Organization of American States (OAS) was 
actively involved in trying to broker a peaceful settlement of the 
crisis, and that UNESCO intervention could potentially disrupt 
delicate talks in Tegucigalpa.  In the end a working group was 
convened and agreement reached on a resolution text without a title 
and that did not mention Honduras by name (see Para 16 below for the 
text of this resolution). 
 
¶15.  The Education Commission's Report was approved by the General 
Conference Plenary with no changes, but, after its adoption Brazil, 
Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic quickly lined 
up to express their thanks to the working group, which they 
described as recognizing the urgency of the situation in Honduras, 
especially in regard to education and freedom of expression.  The 
U.S. and Canada also spoke, appreciating the working group's efforts 
but firmly asserting that consensus was reached only because the 
text was not country specific and because there are other countries 
 
PARIS 00001474  003 OF 003 
 
 
to which it could apply. 
 
¶16.  Following is the text of the Resolution: 
 
Begin Text. 
 
The General Conference, 
 
¶1.  Taking into account the Constitution of UNESCO and in particular 
its Article 1, 
 
¶2.  Reiterating the democracy and civil liberties remain the best 
guarantee for the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms 
in the context of UNESCO's core mandate, 
 
¶3.  Underlining the possible negative impacts on the functions of an 
education system resulting from a breakdown of a democratic system. 
 
¶4.  Stressing its desire for UNESCO to continue to provide its 
support to Member States whose education systems may have been 
disrupted, 
 
¶5.  Requests the Director-General to follow developments within the 
fields of competence of UNESCO in the interests of the right to 
education and freedom of expression. 
 
End Text. 
 
KILLION