Visit to the United Nations in Geneva

See also this link: http://www.unog.ch/

Waiting to start our UN tour

Yesterday, Tuesday 22 March, was World Water day, and also the day that the ZIWA Swinging Sixties group visited the UN offices in Geneva. We numbered over 40 ladies in our reserved seats on the 8.03 train from Zurich, and several others joined us at our destination. Experienced chairlady Vreni Riedler once again managed this feat of organisation. The ladies enjoyed the chance to catch up with friends old and new on the train journey.

The flags of the member nations

In Geneva we took a bus to Appia and walked along from there to the UN HQ buildings. Security was in operation and we went through airport-style X-ray checks for ourselves and our bags. At the same time, we were getting word of the terrible terrorist attacks in Brussels, which was very sad. However, once inside the UN building, we were greeted by three guides, and Vreni took charge over the division into two English-speaking and one German-speaking groups. The three groups took slightly different routes through the Palais des Nations and heard different comments.


The UN Organisation

Our ZIWA ladies of several nations

Our guide, Ji, took us upstairs to inspect the board listing all the organisational components of the UN.  We learnt that the General Assembly meets on the second Tuesday in September when each member is allowed to speak for 15 minutes. The UN currently comprises 193 full voting members of the General Assembly and two observers: the state of Palestine is hoping to join, and the Vatican City wishes merely to watch. We saw an image of the 195 flags. The GA votes on topics such as security and the budget, and a two thirds majority is required. The Security Council has five permanent and ten elected members for each two-year term.  They are responsible for peace-keeping missions in the event of conflict - surely an ongoing requirement. Currently the Secretary General is Ban Ki-moon, who is due to step down shortly, and he was preceded by Kofi Annan, who also stood for a nine year term.

Room XX, the Hall of Human Rights

Other branches of the UN organisation include the Secretariat, the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and Social Council. The International Court of Justice is located in the Hague. The UN functions in six languages - English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French and Arabic, but the day-to-day working languages in Geneva are English and French.

See more about the organisation structure at this link: http://www.un.org/en/about-un/index.html.

The UN family also includes special agencies such as the International Labor Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNESCO, Unicef, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and several others who all have their own budget. UN offices are located in New York, Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna.

The Hall of Human Rights and the exhibition hall

Our Chinese guide Ji led us over the bridge from new to old

After the introduction to the UN organisation, we looked into the Hall of Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room where informal conversations were taking place. All formal meetings here are filmed live. It is possible to take a seat in a meeting by reserving in advance.

The art exhibition was impressive

Then we crossed from the new building, over a bridge with views of the grounds, to a large marbled hall known as The Hall of Lost Footsteps. This imposing room featured an exhibition of art works submitted by the member nations. On World Water Day we saw huge paintings, quilts and collages relating to water and other subjects. The old part of the building was founded in 1946 when there were 51 member states. There is a ceiling sculpture by the Spanish artists Miquel Barcelo and was a gift from the Spanish nation.


Room 18 Conference Room

Our third stop was to view a conference centre from the balcony behind a glass screen. We heard something about the organisation of meetings held in Geneva in several small conference rooms with a similar layout. When conferences between warring nations take place, it can be difficult to arrange the seating. In the past, Geneva has hosted meetings of the Afghanistan peace talks, El Salvador, Egypt and former Yugoslavia, as well as meetings involving Iran and Iraq, India and Pakistan and North and South Korea, for example. The member states sit in the front rows and behind them may sit their guests. Geneva employs many translators, some of whom work for the member states and some for the UN itself.

A view into the conference room

The UN budget is based on Gross National Product of its members. The US is the largest with 22 percent of the contribution, while the smallest member pays 0.004 percent. Special projects also have an ad hoc budget allocation. We noticed that the UN building is still relatively low-tech compared to modern high-tech companies.

Cafe de Paris Chez Boubiez
See this link: Chez Boubier

After the three stops on our tour, we met the other groups in the foyer, and after a brief visit to the gift shop, we took the bus 8 back to Cornavin station. From there it was a few steps to the well-known and traditional Cafe de Paris Chez Boubier. We managed to squeeze in all 48 ZIWA ladies for a lunch of the signature, and only, dish of entrecôte of beef accompanied by a sizzling butter sauce, along with French fries and a green salad. By now we were all very thirsty and starving after our busy morning. Thanks again to Vreni for putting it all together.

Julia Newton, 23 March 2016