GENEVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Earlier this week we had the privilege to visit the lovely city of Geneva, Switzerland. We all boarded a plane around noon Monday and were in the city in no time; ready to show the Swiss people what the Justice Studies in Budapest Program is all about. The reason for our trip was to visit two UN offices located in Geneva, UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) and UNHCR (The UN Refugee agency). This gave us a very rare experience to be able to meet face to face with important people from all over the globe who are very esteemed and experienced in their respective fields.
The logo to the UN Environmental Programme
After eating about seven baguettes and forty-five croissants we set out Tuesday morning to the UNEP offices in downtown Geneva. When we arrived we saw a schedule for the day’s festivities, and you’re not going to believe this, but we were on the schedule! We entered the meeting room and were greeted by two distinguished women in their fields, Angela Cropper and Barbara Ruis. Mrs. Cropper is the Deputy Executive of UNEP, which is essentially the second in command for the entire organization. Mrs. Ruis was a long-term employee of the UNEP offices who also had spent considerable time working as a professor and working in other UN agencies. They were both extremely amiable and intelligent, and they spoke with us in a very frank manner. They let us dictate the meeting with our own questions and curiosities, and they did not shy away from answering the “tough” questions the JSPB program is known for.
The Justice Studies boys and girls can handle the truth!
We talked for a somewhat lengthy time and the entire presentation was interesting, yet as always there were several key take away points that really stood out to me. One was Mrs. Ruis’ comments about how she felt guilty about the fact that she worked for an environmental organization yet was constantly flying to different locations around the world, and therefore creating a very sizeable “carbon footprint”. She also pointed out that one of the troubles about working with the different environmental ministries around the world was that quite often they are on the bottom end of the ol’ totem pole in their respective countries’ government. I felt that was a good point because more than likely if you asked the average American who the head of the EPA is (Lisa Jackson), they would have no idea and perhaps rightfully so due to the somewhat ceremonial aspects of the position. Mrs. Cropper spoke about the paths countries must take to work towards a “green economy”, and the different costs and benefits of doing so. I myself asked a somewhat ambiguous question regarding the wastefulness of major cities and the perils of over-population and over-industrialization, She answered the question very thoughtfully and did not dodge the major issues that the world’s ever-growing population presents to the world’s geography and availability of resources. She pointed out that cities can be environmentally friendly and energy efficient if they are built in a proper and precise manner. She also said that environmental groups are aware of the problems that over-population may place on the world, but they are working on figuring out where these problems will surface the most and how to combat them in the most efficient manner possible.
This is a video by the one and only Cat Stevens called, "Where do the Children Play". It deals with the ideas that over-industrialization can make us forget about the simple things that make life worth living.
After a quick lunch in the infamous UNEP cafeteria, we set upon the offices of the UNHCR (The UN refugee Agency). I was extremely excited for this because I am involved and interested in the plights of displaces and disadvantaged people in Uganda and the Congo and I hoped that the speaker may offer some insights as to how the agency was dealing with these agencies. The speaker’s name was Semih Bulbut, and he was a Turkish man who had been working with the agency for a very long time. He spoke at length about the definition of a refugee and what he and his agency does on a daily basis. Although he did not go into specific details about disaster relief scenarios, he was very esteemed and cordial and his talk did have some interesting moments. Towards the end of his talk he spoke about relief efforts in Iraq since the start of the US occupation in 2003. It was interesting how he described the fact that the US donates more money than any other country to the UN’s disaster relief efforts, but in this case we are the ones responsible for the disaster! With that being said I sensed no tone of anger or resentment from Bulbut, in fact he told us that he hopes to one day see us working in his office side-by-side to help better the cause of humanity!
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