UN tourism body says Canada quit more than two weeks before Mugabe issue arose

Sometimes, you just have to grin and bear it.

Foreign Minister John Baird stood smiling in a suit and tie, staring into a swarm of snapping photographers.

All around him, celebrating Africa Day at a downtown Ottawa conference centre May 30, were the top envoys posted to Canada of about a dozen African countries.

Dressed in traditional garb, Zimbabwean Ambassador Florence Zano Chideya, the dean of the African diplomatic corps in Canada, stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Baird.

For the cameras, they smiled. But earlier that day, Mr. Baird and his government expressed nothing but disdain for the government Ms. Chideya represents.

"Mr. Speaker, added to a list that includes Kofi Annan and Angelina Jolie is one Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe's despotic leader this week was named as a UN envoy. His title? International tourism ambassador for the UN World Tourism Organization," said Conservative MP Joe Daniel.

In a friendly question to Mr. Baird, he continued: "Could the minister of foreign affairs please inform the House how Canada intends to respond to the fact that someone prevented from travelling to Europe because he has committed egregious human rights abuses is being recognized in this way by the UN?"

Mr. Baird responded that "it truly is outrageous that someone with such a bad track record on human rights could be appointed to something by a United Nations body. It shows how out of touch this body is with reality."

"Canada has signalled its intention to withdraw from the UN World Tourism Organization," he said, "a decision that will take place later this month."

The story has made headlines as far as Britain, and prompted Zimbabwe's tourism minister to reportedly fume that Canada is "inviting the wrath of Africa."

But the UN agency says Mr. Mugabe was never appointed an ambassador?he was just awarded a letter sent to governments worldwide. And there's no clear-cut agreement about why Canada decided to pull out of the global tourism body, to what extent the UNWTO's recognition of Mr. Mugabe played into Canada's withdrawal, and when it, in fact withdrew or will withdraw.

While Mr. Baird said the UNWTO's recognition of the Zimbabwean leader represented the "last straw" that prompted him to finalize Canada's exit, the agency says Canada's withdrawal took effect more than two weeks before the Mugabe story hit the global newswires, leading one analyst to say it was used as a political reason to justify a decision taken a year ago.

The Canadian government says it still needs to confirm domestically a decision taken at an international level.

Disputed withdrawal date

Although Mr. Baird never explicitly linked the two together, Canadian and international media interpreted his words with headlines such as: "Canada quits UN body over Mugabe honour."

Mr. Baird's press secretary, Joseph Lavoie, later said that Mr. Baird did not cite Mr. Mugabe as the reason for withdrawing, but rather as an example of why Canada is leaving the UNWTO.

"In fact, when [Mr. Baird] saw what they had done with respect to Mugabe, it represented for him the last straw. And after hearing that, he signed the order-in-council almost immediately," said Mr. Lavoie.

Canada gave its exit notice about a year ago, but "the final step in that withdrawal process requires an order-in-council, so that's what we're talking about by getting that done this week," he said May 31.

As of June 1, no such Cabinet-approved administrative notice had been made public, although it may not have been disclosed because it hadn't yet received final approval.

The last order-in-council related to the UNWTO was signed in 2000 to give the foreign minister the authority to apply for membership in the agency, which it gained later that year.

But as far as the UNWTO is concerned, it doesn't need any further finalization; Canada is already out of the agency, and had left more than two weeks before the Mugabe issue arose.

On May 12, 2011, Canada formally communicated to the UNWTO, in a letter not made public, that it wanted to withdraw its full membership in the agency, according to Sandra Carvao, the UNWTO's communications chief. It didn't say why.

"According to UNWTO Statutes, withdrawal is effective one year after the formal notice (12 May 2012)," wrote Ms. Carvao in an email to Embassy May 31.

Under that timeline, the agency would have dropped Canada from its membership 18 days before Mr. Baird highlighted Mr. Mugabe's recognition and said Canada had signalled it wanted to leave the UNWTO, "a decision that will take place later this month."

Claude Rochon, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, wrote in an email to Embassy that there is no legal requirement for an order-in-council to leave the UNWTO, but "submissions for an OiC are a matter of Canadian policy in order to confirm domestically Canada's withdrawal from this organization."

The UNWTO might not need it, but it's a domestic process to confirm a decision taken at an international level, she wrote.

Fran?ois B?dard, a University of Quebec at Montreal professor in the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies, said he doesn't know for sure why the Canadian government left the UNWTO, but wondered whether it was using the Zimbabwean issue for political gain.

"I think that it was...a political reason to justify a decision that has been taken a year ago," he said in a phone interview on June 4.

Mr. B?dard represents his university at UNWTO meetings, as it is an affiliate member of the organization. He has been involved in the agency for 20 years.

He attended the UNWTO's last full session of the 155-member group last October in Gyeongju, South Korea, when the general assembly noted Canada's withdrawal announcement "with regret" and unanimously urged the country to reconsider its decision.

No Canadian government official attended the meeting, according to the agency's participant list and Mr. B?dard's memory.

Canada owed about $388,000 in yearly dues to the UNWTO in 2011; it was one of the highest-paying members.

Although Canada's membership dues are low compared to those it pays to other international institutions, said Mr. B?dard, in an era of budget cuts, the costs may appear to outweigh the benefits.

"We don't see how we can benefit in participating in that UN agency," he said.

In the 1990s, Canada and France played a key role in the UNWTO to create the Tourism Satellite Account, he said, an internationally-recognized tool to measure tourism activity in an economy, which Mr. B?dard added "benefits almost the entire world."

While some foreign policy watchers may have never heard of the Madrid-based agency, it mainly works on public policy issues. Like most other UN agencies, it mostly supports developing countries, said Mr. B?dard.

The United States and United Kingdom are not current members, he said, nor are several Scandinavian countries.

David Goldstein, president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said Canada's withdrawal is "not unexpected."

The UNWTO was meant to be a clearinghouse for information and industry metrics, he said, "and was becoming of decreasing value on an annual basis."

"I just think the minister made a principled move," he said.

Ambassador or ambassador?

At the same meeting last October, participants decided to hold the next general assembly in 2013 at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, at Victoria Falls, a waterfall recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site.

UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai, Zambian President Michael Sata, and Mr. Mugabe signed an agreement there on May 29 on their upcoming hosting duties. Mr. Rifai also gave the two presidents an open letter on travel and tourism, calling on world leaders to support the tourism sector as a source of development and job creation.

The letter was sent to all heads of state and government worldwide, according to the tourism body.

The UNWTO doesn't have an ambassador program and "the receiving of the Open Letter implies no legal commitment or official title attribution to the country or recipient," read a statement on its website.

That still doesn't sit well with the Canadian government.

"[It] was not that they were making [Mr. Mugabe] a big-a Ambassador, but rather that they were legitimizing Mugabe by enlisting him to promote tourism. So as far as we were concerned, as far as the minister is concerned, this makes Mugabe a small-a ambassador," said Mr. Lavoie.

"They talked about how Zimbabwe was a great tourism destination. For us, that was just egregious."

Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Mr. Rifai as saying: "I was told about the wonderful experience and the warm hospitality of this country" and "By coming here, it is recognition, an endorsement on the country that it is a safe destination."

Ms. Carvao said Mr. Rifai actually said: "I was told about the wonderful experience and the warm hospitality of the people of this country...By coming here, I can see it."

Zimbabwean officials have dismissed Canada's pullout. The US government-funded broadcaster Voice of America reported that Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said Canada should stop politicizing the tourism industry.

"It shows the convulsions in their foreign policy and the way they communicate in their government," he told the Herald.

"Our bid was an African bid. By doing this today they are inviting the wrath of Africa."

Canada is "confronting Africa and should be ready to bear the consequences," he added.

In a similar move against another state it considers a pariah, Canada boycotted the UN Conference on Disarmament while North Korea chaired the body last summer.

kshane@embassymag.ca

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