UN MEMORIES
It was Beethoven’s 5th Symphony; I remember the opening chords… Solemn, stern, powerful, the notes filled the hall with a vibrancy unusual for the setting. It was not the score that surprised me; it was the harmony that emerged as the music filled a space that started...
Relever le défi pour se faire une place Après l’Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, j’avais reçu une offre de contrat de courte durée au BIT après un stage au service juridique. C’était le début d’une carrière pleine de défis et de combats acharnés mais qui est...
En octobre 1991, j’ai été nommé à la tête du Bureau de l’OIT à Pékin — mon quatrième lieu d’affectation en moins de 15 ans de service. Je connaissais les différences entre catégories de personnel, mais j’étais persuadé qu’elles partageaient l’essentiel, à savoir un...
In 1993, while on a mission to Bogota, promoting and defending ILO standards and its position on pension systems reforms, I lay awake with jetlag around 3:00 a.m. in my hotel room when I saw a slip of paper being slid though the door. It was a warning note. “You ILO...
1989, au terme d’une décennie d’affrontements violents entre des groupes armés, les Contras, et le gouvernement sandiniste, les deux parties s’engagent dans un processus de paix. Ce processus donne lieu à l’organisation d’élections sous la surveillance de l’ONU pour...
My UN career started in Liberia in 1990, as a consultant, in the midst of the civil war, and ended in 2008 in Senegal, as the UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. Along the way, I have seen many attempts for the UN to act as “one UN.” Fast-forward to...
A retired “frontalier” recalls how living in France and working in Geneva illustrates what the United Nations is all about I first came to Geneva almost 50 years ago on mission from New York. The beauty of Lac Léman, the majesty of the Alps and Jura and the efficiency...
From a small town in Colombia to advising the world on how to handle quality issues in international trade. My UN Experience: It is never too late or is it? I joined the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 1980 at age 41 and retired almost 20 years later. I was at...
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 more than what I brought to the...
UN MEMORIES
En octobre 1991, j’ai été nommé à la tête du Bureau de l’OIT à Pékin — mon quatrième lieu d’affectation en moins de 15 ans de service. Je connaissais les différences entre catégories de personnel, mais j’étais persuadé qu’elles partageaient l’essentiel, à savoir un...
In 1993, while on a mission to Bogota, promoting and defending ILO standards and its position on pension systems reforms, I lay awake with jetlag around 3:00 a.m. in my hotel room when I saw a slip of paper being slid though the door. It was a warning note. “You ILO...
1989, au terme d’une décennie d’affrontements violents entre des groupes armés, les Contras, et le gouvernement sandiniste, les deux parties s’engagent dans un processus de paix. Ce processus donne lieu à l’organisation d’élections sous la surveillance de l’ONU pour...
My UN career started in Liberia in 1990, as a consultant, in the midst of the civil war, and ended in 2008 in Senegal, as the UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. Along the way, I have seen many attempts for the UN to act as “one UN.” Fast-forward to...
A retired “frontalier” recalls how living in France and working in Geneva illustrates what the United Nations is all about I first came to Geneva almost 50 years ago on mission from New York. The beauty of Lac Léman, the majesty of the Alps and Jura and the efficiency...
From a small town in Colombia to advising the world on how to handle quality issues in international trade. My UN Experience: It is never too late or is it? I joined the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 1980 at age 41 and retired almost 20 years later. I was at...
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 more than what I brought to the...
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”. A major focus of the work was...
C’est difficile de résumer une longue vie. Ce n’est pas la durée de la vie qui complique l’exercice, mais les surprises, les défis, les opportunités qui me guettaient constamment et changeaient son cours à tour de rôle. Un parcours sinueux et divers J’ai eu la chance...
