Ambassade d'Australie
France
Coordonnées de l'Ambassade: 4, rue Jean Rey 75724 Paris Cedex 15 - Téléphone : 01 40 59 33 00 - Fax : 01 40 59 33 10

PACIFIC LINK
Australian Permanent Delegation Newsletter to the Pacific Community of UNESCO
Issue 19 - 2/2005


Editorial
The second issue for 2005 of the Pacific Link, written as many countries are attending the World Heritage Committee meeting in Durban (report to follow), focuses on the forthcoming 33rd session of the UNESCO General Conference (3 to 21 October 2005). We look forward to meeting and working with all of you during this hectic but enriching time.

In this issue of PLINK we have tried to provide you with a practical guide to assist in preparations for the General Conference as well as the participation. As well as the practical considerations of flights and hotel bookings, key points to keep in mind as we prepare are the composition of the Delegation, the Credentials, voting rights (including the need to be up to date with financial contributions), speaking slots and candidacies. We touch on all these briefly below. An office for the Pacific Island Member States has been arranged for the duration of the Conference in the Miollis building (the office number will be communicated upon arrival). We have also sought an appointment with the Director-General for Pacific Delegates and will advise of details once the appointment has been confirmed.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like further information.

The Director-General’s letter of invitation (CL/3759) to the 33rd session of the General Conference together with the provisional agenda for the session (33 C/1 Prov), the organization of the work of the session (33 C/2), and the recommendations by the Executive Board on the Draft programme and Budget for 2006-2007 (33 C/6) were sent to Member States on 4 July 2005. The General Conference website is:
<http://www.unesco.org/confgen>

Composition of General Conference Delegations

"Each Member State and Associate Member shall appoint no more than five delegates, who will be selected after consultation with the National Commission, if established, or with educational, scientific and cultural bodies.

Each delegation may also include not more than five alternate delegates and as many advisers and experts as each Member State and Associate Member deems necessary."
(Rule 21 of the rules of Procedure of the General Conference.)

General Conference Credentials

"The credentials of delegates and alternate delegates shall be issued by the head of state, the head of government or the Minister for Foreign Affairs. However, the Organization shall accept as valid credentials which have been signed by some other appropriate Minister when the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Member State concerned has filed with the Director-General a statement that such Minister is authorized to issue credentials.
The credentials of delegates and alternate delegates of Associate Members shall be issued by the competent authorities.

These credentials shall be communicated to the Director-General. The names of the head of the delegation, delegates and alternate delegates shall be communicated to the Director-General one week before the date of opening of the session i.e. 26 September 2005.

The names of experts and advisers attached to delegations shall also be communicated to the Director-General."
(Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Conference.)
Voting Rights

Rule 83 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Conference explains in detail the voting rights.

Member States need to have paid all their contributions up to 31 December 2003 and kept up to date with any payment plan in order to maintain their voting rights at the forthcoming General Conference. The deadline for payment of outstanding contributions is 5 October 2005.

There are six Member States from the Pacific that risk losing their voting rights as they are in arrears with their contributions. The Director-General has written to these Member States in order for them to remedy the situation.

Accommodation during the General Conference

The following is a list of some of the hotels within the proximity of UNESCO:

Hotel Segur
34, Bld Garibaldi, 75015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 43 06 01 85
fax: (33 1) 47 34 30 82

Hotel Baldi Eiffel
42, Bld Garibaldi, 75015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 47 83 20 10
fax: (33 1) 44 49 08 72

Hotel de la Bourdonnais
111, avenue de la Bourdonnais,
75007 Paris
tel: (33 1) 47 05 45 42
fax: (33 1) 45 55 75 54

Hotel Bailli de Suffren Tour Eiffel
149, avenue de Suffren, 75015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 56 58 64 64
fax: (33 1) 44 49 08 72

Holiday Inn Tour Eiffel
102, Bld de Grenelle, 75015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 40 59 90 90
fax: (33 1) 45 75 79 10

Mercure Paris Tour Eiffel
64, Bld de Grenelle, 75015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 45 78 90 90
fax: (33 1) 45 78 95 55

Hilton
8, avenue de Suffren, 750015 Paris
tel: (33 1) 44 38 56 00
fax: (33 1) 44 38 56 10

Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agency located in UNESCO can assist with hotel accommodation
tel: (33 1)53 44 16 83
fax: (33 1) 53 44 16 84
email: <unesco@cwtfrance.com>

More information on accommodation can also be found at the following:

http://www.paris-touristoffice.com/index.hmtl

Elections during the General Conference
Elections for the Executive Board will be held on Friday, 14 October with, if necessary, a second ballot on Saturday, 15 October. Elections to the subsidiary bodies will be held on 18 October. The elections to the World Heritage Committee will be held during the General Assembly of States Parties, 10-12 October.

The bodies to be elected during the time of the General Conference include:

 Executive Board
 Legal Committee
 Headquarters Committee
 IBE - Council of the UNESCO Bureau of Education
 CIGEPS - Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport
 MAB - International Co-ordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere
 IHP - Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme
 MOST - Intergovernmental Council of the Management of Social Transformations Programme
 IGBC - Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee
 Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation
 Executive Committee of the International Campaign for the Establishment of the Nubia Museum in Aswan and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo
 IPDC - Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication
 IFAP - Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme
 UIS - Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
 World Heritage Committee

If any Member State wishes to run for election to any of these bodies then it should notify the Secretary of the General Conference, Ms Birgitte Moller (fax 33 1 45 68 57 01), and the Chair of the Asia-Pacific (ASPAC) Candidatures Ad hoc Working Group, H.E. Ms Bhaswati Mukherjee (fax 33 1 47 34 51 88) as soon as possible. Alternatively we are happy to facilitate if you so desire.

If your country is not able to attend the General Conference, Credentials can still be prepared which authorise a non-national to act on your behalf, including voting, their name would simply appear as part of your Delegation on the List of Participants. Voting is very important if the voice of the Pacific is to count, therefore it is important to ensure that your Credentials are in order.

Some Key Issues at the General Conference

• Appointment of the Director-General for a four-year term
• The report of the ad hoc working group on the relationship between the three organs of UNESCO
• Adoption of the Draft International Convention against Doping in Sport
• Adoption of the Draft Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and artistic Expressions
• Adoption of the Draft Declaration on the Universal Norms on Bioethics
• Preliminary discussions of the next Medium-Term Strategy (34 C/4)
• Youth Forum
• Round table for ministers of education on "Education for All"
• Round table for ministers of science on "Basic Sciences"
• 60th Anniversary of UNESCO

UNESCO Chair in Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious Relations

A new UNESCO Chair was recently established at the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Clayton (Australia)

The purpose of the Chair is to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation in the field of sociology of religion. It will serve as a means of facilitating collaboration between high-level, internationally recognized researchers and teaching staff of the University and other institutions in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Japan, and the Asia and the Pacific region.

Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System formally established - Work begins on systems for the Caribbean and the Mediterranean

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System formally came into existence on 30 June 2005 with the establishment of an Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) to govern it. The 23rd Assembly of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) also adopted resolutions establishing similar bodies for the Caribbean and adjacent regions as well as the North-East Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas.

Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura welcomed the developments and encouraged participants “to maintain the momentum that has allowed a great deal of progress to be achieved in a few short months.” Mr Matsuura also stressed that “UNESCO would continue to support Member States in their efforts to provide the best possible protection for their populations against tsunamis and other ocean-related hazards.”

The ICG for the Indian Ocean system will be made up of the IOC’s Member States in the region and be supported by a secretariat, provided by the IOC. The Group is expected to hold its first meeting from August 3 to 5, in Perth (Australia).

The Coordination Group will: coordinate IOTWS activities; organize and facilitate data exchange “at or near real time”; promote tsunami research; promote the establishment and further development of national tsunami warning and mitigation capacities; develop, adopt and monitor implementation of work plans of the IOTWS, and identify required resources; promote relevant capacity building; liase and coordinate with other tsunami warning systems, organizations, programmes and projects; promote the implementation of the warning system within a multi-hazard framework; and constantly scrutinize the status of the system and how it satisfies needs.

The framework for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System was established at two IOC-organized coordination meetings attended by countries from the region, donor nations and institutional partners. They agreed that the system will consist of “a coordinated network of national systems”, whose assets would be “owned and operated by the Member States hosting or otherways taking responsibility for them”.

The system, work on which has already begun, is expected to be fully operational by July 2006. It will consist of enhanced seismographic networks, networks of real-time sea-level gauges and deep-sea ocean pressure sensors, along with national tsunami warning centres linked to national disaster management systems.

In a fast-track effort to detect the presence or absence of a tsunami after a strong earthquake, the IOC has overseen the installation or upgrading of tide gauges. In addition to recording information about climate and sea-level change, this equipment is already transmitting real-time information that would enable the detection of a tsunami.

The resolutions concerning the Caribbean and the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean are based on the same lines.

The IOC Assembly also decided to establish a working group to set the framework for a global tsunami and other ocean-related hazards early warning system.
Sue Williams, Press Relations Section


Australian Permanent Delegation to UNESCO

Jane MADDEN, Permanent Delegate
William THORN, Deputy Permanent Delegate
Tracey HAINES, Deputy Permanent Delegate
Anne SIWICKI, Policy Officer

4, rue Jean Rey, 75724 Paris Cedex 15
Tel: (33 1) 40 59 33 44
Fax: (33 1) 40 59 33 53
Email: anne.siwicki@dfat.gov.au
http://www.france.embassy.gov.au
Photo credit: UNESCO


General Conference at a Glance

Provisional Timetable of Work
30 September - 2 October: Youth Forum
3-12 October: Plenary
3-4 October: Credentials Committee
3, 4, 6, 11, 13, 14, 18 October: Nominations Committee
3, 7, 11, 14, 18 October : Bureau
4-10 October: Administrative Commission
4-6 October: Legal Committee
4-6 October: Commission II - Education
5 October: Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of UNESCO
7-8 October: Round table for ministers of education on "Education for All"
7-12 October: Commission III - Natural Sciences; Social and Human Sciences
10 October: Commission II – Education cont’d
10-11 October: General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
11-13 October: Commission V - Communication
11-17 October: Commission I - General Questions & Programme Support e.g. Participation Programme, National Commissions, and the report of the ad hoc working group on the relations between the three organs of UNESCO
12 October: Appointment of the Director-General
13-14 October: Round table for ministers of science on "Basic Sciences"
13-18 October: Commission IV - Culture
14 October: Executive Board Elections
18 October: Elections to the subsidiary bodies
19-21 October: Plenary

Meetings of Pacific Member States during the General Conference

Arrangements have made for the Pacific Delegations to meet during the General Conference. Dates for these meetings, to be held from 08:30 to 09:45 in Salle XVI of the Miollis Building, are 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19 and 21 October.


Speakers' list
Heads of Delegation wishing to speak during the General Policy Debate in Plenary will need to register their request with the Secretariat of the General Conference (fax 33 1 45 68 57 01). The Director-General has requested that two optional dates at least 48 hours apart are proposed. Speakers are requested to limit their interventions to 8 minutes in the General Policy Debate. As the List of Speakers is filling up rapidly, we recommend that you secure your speaking slot as soon as possible. The list of speakers is available on the General Conference website:
<http://www.unesco.org/confgen>

Meeting times
Plenary and Commission meeting times are normally scheduled as follow:
10:00 - 13:00 and 15:00 - 18:00
Chairs of the Commissions may call for meetings to commence earlier and/or finish later.

Seating arrangements
In the plenary meeting rooms and the commissions, Member States have one place allocated to them in the French alphabetical order, commencing with Egypt, whose name has been drawn by lot.

Documents
General Conference documents are accessible on the internet:
<http://www.unesco.org/confgen/en_documents.shtml>
Documents will available every day in the Documents Distribution Service (lower ground floor). In each meeting room, delegates will find at their place a complete set of documents needed for the work body which is using the room.

More comprehensive information can be found in the General Conference Guide which will be available upon arrival.

Essential Reading
Two documents: 33 C/1 (Agenda) and 33 C/2 (Organization of work) must be read as is the "Manual of the General Conference (2004 Edition)". These have been despatched to all Member States but additional copies are available as above. The Webzine of the General Conference, an online information tool which provides a daily overview of the work of the Conference and also contains official notices and other information of interest to participants, is also essential reading.

General Conference Secretariat
Ms Birgitte Moller, Secretary of the General Conference
phone: (33 1) 45 68 13 18 fax: (33 1) 45 68 57 01
<b.moller@unesco.org>
Mr Luis Salamanques, Assistant to the Secretary of the General Conference
phone: (33 1) 45 68 14 39 fax: (33 1) 45 68 57 01
<l.salamanques@unesco.org>


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