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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...
Partaking in negotiations at the UN means that one becomes part of a long – and sometimes heavy – history. It also means that for diplomats and delegates, their relative role and weight suffers some level of disproportion in comparison with that of the institutions...
What is more revealing: what goes on record or what is left out? Isn’t a skilled negotiator able to have a global vision of what is going on, keeping mindful of the fact that our perception of reality is fragmentary, and that any issue ought to be looked at from...
Switzerland has long specialized in providing a neutral venue for discreet encounters and discussions. In the present case, religious and community leaders from Morocco, Tunisia, Belgium, and France gathered somewhere above ‘Lac Léman’ to explore ways to counter...
April 2016, I am sitting on a train gliding along the pretty lakes of central Switzerland and my life is about to take a decisive turn. In my hand is the job description for the position as Photo Editor of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The paper is entirely covered...
