VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #0148 0391456
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081456Z FEB 10
FM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS FR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0000
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA

UNCLAS UNESCO PARIS FR 000148 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
State pass to Interior Department National Park Service - Steve 
Morris 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNESCO YI
SUBJECT: SERBIAN AMBASSADOR COURTESY CALL 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Serbia's new ambassador to UNESCO, Dr. Zorica 
TOMIC, paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Killion today, 8 February, 
at the US Mission offices.  Tomic wasted no time in hitting her 
number one issue, World Heritage sites in Kosovo, and asked that the 
United States support Serbian efforts to keep UNESCO "politically 
neutral."  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Tomic demanded that the brackets added at the 2008 Quebec 
World Heritage Committee meeting around the word Serbia on the title 
of the Kosovo World Heritage sites be erased, calling it a "symbolic 
castration".  She said that Serbia has the need to "preserve our 
roots, our heritage", and added that "for us (Serbia), Kosovo is 
what Jerusalem is to the Jewish people," noting that she cannot 
imagine it not being connected to our country. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Tomic said that President Tadic is working to 
find a "common and civilized approach" to the Kosovo problem.  She 
added that the Serbian government is doing everything to find 
opportunities for dialogue, but the "so-called entity - not even a 
country", is making it clear that they do not want any dialogue. 
Tomic said that this is not good for the region.  Again, she said 
that being a small country, the idea of "cutting out a section of 
Serbia is not a possibility". 
 
¶4. (SBU) Tomic said that she will be going to Brasilia this summer 
for the next World Heritage meeting, and indicated that she hopes to 
convince the United States that it should take a "neutral position" 
at UNESCO regarding Kosovo. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Killion noted that given our bilateral 
relations, we can find ways to work together on other issues at 
UNESCO.  In response, Tomic said that Serbia has proposed an 
education tool based on Facebook that has gotten the interest of 
Executive Board Chairman Mitrofanova.  Mission will follow-up to 
learn more about this project. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Tomic also expressed interest in improving UNESCO's efforts 
in girls education.  She mentioned that Serbia has been working on a 
similar project targeting girls and women in rural areas in Serbia. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  Tomic made it clear that she will be primarily 
focused on one issue at UNESCO.  Her priority is convincing Member 
States that UNESCO should do nothing to cast doubt on Serbia's claim 
to Kosovo.   It is likely that the Serbian ambassador will have some 
success.  We have found that Serbia enjoys some support at UNESCO. 
Although UNESCO's new director-general comes from Bulgaria, a 
country that has recognized Kosovo, we find many members of the 
Secretariat at lower levels remain sympathetic to Belgrade.  With 
regard to the labeling of World Heritage sites in Kosovo, it does 
not help that Brazil, a state that does not recognize Kosovo, is 
this year's chair of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) and will 
preside at the WHC's annual meeting which will be held in July in 
Brasilia.  For a more favorable attitude, we will have to wait until 
2011 when Bahrain, a recognizer of Kosovo, takes the World Heritage 
chair. End comment.  KILLION