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Revealing the backstage area of international cooperation lies at the very core of this series. Here, it translates quite literally. The different layers in this image mirror the various roles and responsibilities shared across the room as well as behind the scenes,...
Conference delegates can be a fun tribe to watch at times. At large-scale gatherings, up to ten or fifteen events can take place simultaneously, with overbooking happening in every room. Latecomers or corridor wanderers end up standing by the door. A single...
The suit, the tie, the mic, the earpiece. Every world has its stereotypical attributes, its mythical figures. International Geneva is no exception. Like an impressionist artist, a photographer can focus on fragments which, when put together and looked at from a...
Last month, we talked about the important work of the interpreters. At the other end of the line are the listeners – and sometimes decision-makers – whose concentration skills are put to the test, day after day. Among them are often students and aspiring...
The Delegate Whisperers. In interpretation, precision is everything. In the September edition of this magazine, we learned that “interpreting is not an easy task, [that] it is a job that requires extreme concentration, intense mental effort and a considerable amount...
We have already talked, in this space, about conference fatigue. It is one of the many stumbling blocks on the (sometimes monotonous) route of day-to-day multilateralism. However, in career paths often marked by anticlimactic experiences, I have observed again...
Metaphorically as much as literally, diplomacy can be seen as happening between the soft touch of a hand and the jarring sound of a falling hammer. Just like pencils, paper clips, ICT devicesand coffee, proximity and distancing playa key role in the toolbox of...
Fragmentary at the best of times, reality is nowadays largely virtual too. How do we forge our opinions? On what do we base our judgment? Despite major strides over the past decade – all the more so with the COVID-19 pandemic - we might yet see the full extent of what...
The Palais des Nations is a Tower of Babel inhabited by a polymorphic tribe. Their origins are untraceable, languages spoken are indecipherable, and functions performed are inscrutable. Among their mysterious customs, one consists of gathering at night for...
It is tempting to caption this photograph with a diatribe on how diplomats can be bound to turn a blind eye to reality, whereas in fact, this was an unusual yoga session taking place during the 2018 World Health Assembly (WHA) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. To...
