US stands alone over cultural diversity treaty

By Frances Williams
October 20, 2005
Financial Times
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/05706cd6-4107-11da-b3f9-00000e2511c8.html 
A United Nations treaty to protect and promote cultural diversity is likely to be overwhelmingly approved today in the face of lonely opposition from the US, which fears the impact on exports of US films and television programmes.
In an emotional debate in Unesco (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) that preceded today's vote, supporters of the treaty led by France and Canada said it would help countries defend domestic culture from the homogenising influence of globalisation.
In a preliminary vote this week, 151 countries backed the pact, with the US and Israel the sole opponents. Australia and the Pacific island of Kiribati abstained.
The treaty affirms the sovereign right of countries to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions and requires this to be taken into account in applying other accords, such as the rules of the World Trade Organisation.
France and Canada have backed the pact as a way of reinforcing their claim to keep the cultural exception they enjoy at the WTO.
Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the French culture minister, said this week that the Unesco vote would vindicate France's position on the cultural exception. Liza Frulla, minister of Canadian heritage, said it was a tool to protect our own identities.
The European Union said the treaty will give a lifeline to any communities who feel their cultural diversity is being threatened, particularly in developing countries.
However, the US says the treaty is couched in vague and ambiguous language that could be used to restrict cultural diversity and block trade in cultural goods and services.
Louise Oliver, the US ambassador to Paris-based Unesco, told the FT: The foundation of cultural diversity is freedom. The main proponents of this convention seem more interested in control over international trade flows and the lives of their citizens than in promoting freedom and cultural diversity.