New Year brings new controls on plastic waste and more local, national and global action
Approximately 50 tonnes of plastic enter Lake Geneva every year, according to a study commissioned by the Association for the Safeguard of Lake Léman [1]. Most of this waste comes in the form of particles from tyres brought by runoff water, followed by discarded...
Ms Adversity, let’s go for a walk.
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (including #3: Good Health and Well-Being, #9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and #10: Reduced Inequality), and in the month of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I would...
Would you want to work in the UN of the future?
Last month, a report from a management task force on the future of work at the UN caused considerable consternation among staff with a proposal for new, agile staff contracts. We asked two of those responsible for the report for their views on the future of work both...
Just brew it: 100 Coffees for Inclusion at the International Trade Centre
Inclusion fatigue? Have some coffee! How we stimulated diversity discussions at the International Trade Centre by talking to 100 employees. At the Caribbean region’s recent musical celebration of the United Nation’s 75th Anniversary, Barbadian superstar Rihanna said...
Can diplomacy work online?
This article contains some brief observations, based mainly on recent formal and informal meetings that I serviced and/or attended at the Palais des Nations, as well as on discussions with colleagues and delegates on their experience with ’online diplomacy‘ in the...
What is it like to interpret a remote meeting?
Teamwork is turning it into a success, but what do interpreters make of Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI)? Before the pandemic, interpreters’ experience of RSI was sporadic and invariably negative. It was often sprung on them unannounced and involved sound...
Larbi Djacta, ICSC Chair: I am making the ICSC more transparent
UN Today recently met with Larbi Djacta, the Chair of the International Civil Service Commission, the body that recommends our salaries and conditions of service. You were elected chair of the ICSC, two years ago, at a time when the credibility of the Commission and...
What the Staff Council has been doing for you
Town hall on Equal Pay In early August we organized a town hall on Equal Pay, where we invited an OSLA lawyer to make a brief presentation following the judgement of the UN Dispute Tribunal, to explain on the grounds to appeal the judgement to the UN Appeals Tribunal....
On Her Majesty’s Service
Julian Braithwaite, the UK’s permanent representative talks about dealing with Brexit, online meetings, UN funding, explaining his work to an audience back home and cocktail parties. When Julian Braithwaite arrived in Geneva five years ago as the UK’s permanent...
I grew up with the mountains. International Mountain Day matters to me
This year International Mountain Day celebrates biodiversity. As a mountaineer and environmental expert, Andrea Cararo tells UN Today why this day matters to him and why it should to all of us. Since I was a kid, I have always been a...
Michelle Bachelet on her motivations, achievements and human rights during Covid
On 10 December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day. We have asked Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to share her views and insights. Your role as High Commissioner receives a lot of attention, and also...
Geneva’s public transportation in a pandemic world
Interview with Anne Hornung-Soukup, Chair of the Board, TPG (transports publics genevois). How has the tpg adjusted to a pandemic world? When Covid-19 reached Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Government stated clearly that public transport...
La Suisse romande à l’épreuve de la COVID-19
Pour le Président de la Fédération des entreprises de Suisse romande, Ivan Slatkine, le pragmatisme du gouvernement a amorti l’impact de la Covid19 sur l’économie mais le modèle d’affaires genevois doit évoluer, et il faut éviter les...
What I learned at the UN in four lessons
All and each one of my forty years of professional life were devoted to multilateral cooperation, including serving at UNCTAD from 1999 to 2014, when I retired and decided, stubbornly, to continue defending the same UN cause. I learned...
From the Pandemic to the League of Cities: an interview with Lord Foster, Architect, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners and President of the Norman Foster Foundation
On 6 October Lord Foster opened the first UN Forum of Mayors at the Palais des Nations, with an inspirational and optimistic speech on how COVID-19, and pandemics in general, have shaped our cities, often accelerating positive...
Remembering Quino, creator of Mafalda, the girl who wanted to join the UN
¡Paren el mundo que me quiero bajar! Although for many years this famous sentence has been wrongly attributed to Mafalda, it fits the purpose for the beginning of our story. For indeed on September 30th the world stopped to let Joaquín...
Hip and knee replacement: benefits of computer-assisted surgery
Hip and knee replacements are among the most commonly performed orthopedic procedures and their number continues to grow worldwide. Significant improvements in implant design and materials have been observed over the past decade. However,...
University of Geneva launches new certifying course in strategic and operational philanthropy
UNIGE launches new executive education courses to certify professional knowledge in strategic and operational philanthropy in 2021. The University of Geneva will launch a new course in strategic and operational philanthropy in autumn...
Quelques idées pour acheter local et en ligne
La crise de la CODIV-19 et le confinement ont bousculé nos habitudes de consommation. Face à cette situation, il est plus que jamais important d’acheter local. Plusieurs initiatives de soutien aux entreprises et producteurs locaux ont vu...
Editor’s Note – December 2020
This is my last edition as Editor-in-Chief of UN Today and I want to express my appreciation to all of you, our readers, for your permanent support to our editorial efforts at the UN in Geneva. Before this strange year 2020, I had the...
L’impact bien réel du mécanisme de plaintes des organes conventionnels de l’ONU : « une évolution positive, largement »
« Un mécanisme presque juridictionnel - même s’il n’est pas une cour internationale – qui fonctionne comme une cour ». C’est ainsi qu’Anna Batalla, juriste au Haut-Commissariat aux droits de l’homme, définit le mécanisme de plaintes...
His abilities. Their disabilities.
When the rights of persons with disabilities are secured, the world gets closer to upholding the core values and principles of the United Nations Charter. Last year the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy was launched by the...
Geneva Marks 100 Years of Multilateralism and Looks to the Next 100 Years
UN Geneva and partners celebrate the centenary of modern multilateralism with a series of activities. Evolution of global cooperation in the Swiss city is highlighted. COVID-19 reinforces the need for multilateral problem-solving....
Fighting racism internationally starts with confronting racism internally
Leadership Starts at Home The world desperately needs UN leadership to combat systemic racism. That cannot happen without tackling the systemic racism within the organization. Systemic racism normalized inside institutions normalizes...
How Racist Is the UN?
Back in June, Antonio Guterres told a staff townhall that “if racism exists anywhere, it also exists in the UN.” But how racist is the UN? And in an international organization, with staff from all quarters, what is racism? Let’s start...
Racisme, retour au pire ?
Historienne de la littérature du XIXe siècle, Nicole Savy, a travaillé sur les stéréotypes racistes et antisémites. Elle a exercé des responsabilités nationales à la Ligue française des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen. Les comportements...
Nos suggestions de lecture sur le racisme
Le chant des revenants Jesmyn Ward Pivot du roman, Jojo, 13 ans, vit dans une petite ville du Mississipi. Il est né d’un homme blanc, Michael, et d’une femme noire, Léonie. Accro à la cocaïne, sa mère ne se remet pas de l’assassinat de...
100 ans de multilatéralisme à Genève
100 ans de multilatéralisme à Genève est un coffret indispensable. Il permettra aux lecteurs de trouver un ensemble d’informations à la hauteur de l’importance du sujet traité. Tatiana Valovaya, directrice générale de l'Office européen...
Advocating labour standards in the neoliberal era
I worked for the International Labour Organization (ILO) from 1986 to 2001. I started at the ILO’s International Institute for Social Studies in charge of a research programme called “Labour Institutions and New Industrial Organization”....
Lynn Nottage, playwright and screenwriter
Lynn Nottage writes about those left behind and is the first and only female playwright and a screenwriter to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama ….twice! What do you see as the root causes of racism in today societies, in particular in...
Why tobacco control is important during COVID‑19 pandemic ?
Tobacco should be considered a pandemic – a slow-motion pandemic – that adds its lethal features to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.The harmful effects of tobacco on human health have been well documented, but people are not often aware of...
Quand une sculpture vaut mille mots
S’il fallait choisir un mot pour parler de l’œuvre du sculpteur Sandrine Plante, Cri serait le terme le plus approprié. Un cri, viscéral, puissant qui traverse les corps de terre, défigure les visages, interpelle les visiteurs. C’est le...
A call for action
Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence for Philanthropy As AI is bound to transform the philanthropic sector what urgent issues need to be addressed to ensure its ethical and impactful use? Artificial Intelligence (AI) broadly...
Movember : a month dedicated to male health
Every year during the month of November, men are invited to grow a moustache. The objective of movember (contraction of “moustache” and “November”) ? Raise awareness about male health among the general public and collect donations which...
The “Escalade” celebration, a symbolic tradition in Geneva
The history of the "Escalade" The Escalade (scaling the defensive wall) is an annual celebration of the Protestant Genevan people’s victory over the Catholic Duke of Savoy’s surprise attack on the rich, independent and liberal Republic of...
Calvin in America
A Unique Virtual Experience ! Temporary exhibition at the International Museum of the Reformation until February 28th, 2021 In November 1620, the passengers and crew of the Mayflower reached the coast of Massachusetts and established a...
Remembering Victims on the Roads in the time of COVID-19
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims The year 2020 has seen unprecedented events. The COVID-19 crisis has brought grief and financial difficulties to many, and tremendous changes to the daily lives of us all. But it is...
Photos of the month: United for our goals
Mayors & Ambassadors. Scoring the Sustainable Development goals Let's get moving for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)! The Forum of Mayors 2020 brought together last October mayors and diplomats on a football field. City...
The new frontier of human rights
Empowering the UN Human Rights Office with a digital view In this November edition, the UN Human Rights Office and Microsoft share insights from their 5-year partnership and its concrete outcomes. Promoting and protecting the human rights...
Editor’s Note – November 2020
Whether you stand out at work for the colour of your skin, or even if you don’t but care about the present and future, this edition of UN Today is for you. We know that racism is everywhere, and also in Europe, in Switzerland and at our...
How life has changed in my 32 years at the Palais
In the first article of this series, UN Today asks Cathy Peck Arif to look back over her 32 years at the Palais (although she’s not near retirement yet) and tell us how things have changed, for the better or for the worse.
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