The United Nations presence in Geneva is vast, multidisciplinary, multicultural, multilingual and -literally- from all over the world. It has been here for a century, as we inherited part of what our colleagues at the League of Nations had created with a visionary spirit so many decades ago. But this successful trajectory implies that international staff actually live in this beautiful city and its surroundings, that we find housing, that we find education and health services, and that we feel welcome. This edition is dedicated to some of these realities, with a particular focus on lodging, as we all know how important our homes are during our permanence in Switzerland.
In these pages, you will also read an interview with Mr. Edouard Jay, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the WTO and EFTA, who co-chairs the Steering Committee of the Forum of Mayors that will take place on 6 October. Other readings relevant to staff include an article on the equal pay issue and the end of the common system, and an insight into remote interpretation in the context of COVID-19.
Finally, we hope our readers will enjoy our selection of cultural events that will take place in Geneva and surroundings, among others, the Spanish Language Week and Festival La Bâtie.
We wish you a pleasant reading!