UNbelievable

Today, I visited the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. I was almost literally buzzing with excitement waiting in line to enter the building. Through my classes at Occidental College, I learned a lot about the UN, international law, and the barriers and benefits involved in both, so I was eager to see where "where the magic happens," as they say. I could not wait to see the rooms that have seen both sweeping changes for the better as well as bitter conflict and debate. When we arrived, we first had a short informational briefing on how the UN got started, starting with President Woodrow Wilson, his 14 points, and the League of Nations. Afterwards, we got a short tour of the small museum of the history of the UN. Inside, there are both old and new documents, including the original Charter and old UN posters marking the beginnings of major thematic priorities such as migration, refugees, health, and disarmament. Next, we got a tour and explanation of the UN Library there. As students with our program, we get UN Library passes for the entirety of the semester, granting us personal workspaces and access to all published works, to the archives (which include documents from the League of Nations), and to the various online databases the UN Library has subscriptions to. Amazing, no? Needless to say, I will certainly be taking advantage of this prestigious work space.

After this, we went to the Palais de Nations, which is where the meeting halls are located. Our tour was lead by a man who, throughout the course of the tour, let show his fluency in English, Spanish, Russian, and French. The UN is truly an amazing place... Our tour guide showed us the two main meeting halls: the Assembly Hall and the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilization Room (more commonly known as Room 20, or, more formally, Room XX). The Assembly Hall is the largest meeting room there, where that major events take place. Room XX is, obviously, for meetings on human rights-themed discussions. According to our tour guide, the main three topics of discussion that happen in UNOG (the UN Office in Geneva) are economic development, humanitarian assistance and human rights, and disarmament. Surprisingly, many conferences and debates are open to more than just countries' delegates, in fact many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are allowed in and can participate in discussions. While I may not want to become a diplomat in my future, the idea of one day working for an NGO and being invited to participate in a discussion in Room XX on the human right to family planning... AH!

Although not the centerpiece of the tours nor the institution overall, there are a few pieces of art I saw throughout the tour that really inspired. In the small hall where we had our introductions to the UN when we first arrived, there is a painting called The Dream of Peace (see it here, read more here), which was painted in 1939 by Henrik Sørensen. This massive painting depicts humans' current suffering (depicted on the bottom two tiers of the pyramid), while offering an aspiration - a dream - for peace (depicted at the very top). Pivotal to the painting's message is the man standing upright in the center of the canvas, who symbolizes that we do not have to tolerate such poor conditions; we can "stand up to" them and make a change; the power is within each of us. Another key element is the lack of resolution in the figures depicting peace; they are not fully realized because peace is as such: not fully realized. Peace is a goal we are constantly striving towards and will always be a work in progress. While I hope this is not necessarily true - that peace is indeed more attainable that we think - it's a powerful piece of art, given its context.

Another piece of art I enjoyed is the ceiling of Room XX. I have taken photos of it, but it is very hard to understand without being in the room. The massive, slightly domed ceiling is dripping with paint stalactites and bursting with color. It was made by the Spanish artist, Miguel Barceló in 2007-2008. According to our tour guide, it is meant to represent that human rights is an incredibly complex issue, with many participating perspectives, none of which are totally right nor totally wrong. When you look at the ceiling from different angles, it never looks the same; shapes and color vary at every vantage point, thus representing the multitude of differing perspectives involved in human rights debates. UNOG's website states that the ceiling piece "represents the themes of multiculturalism, mutual tolerance, and understanding between cultures," (UNOG). It really is quite the site to see.

While the tour guide touched on some topics of intense debate in the international community, it was primarily a general tour giving an overview of what the UN is and how it works. I wished that I had gotten to delve deeper into some issues, such as "How much influence doest eh UN really have?" but I suppose I will just have to wait to debate and read about these issues another time.

🌐✌🏻

P.S. Pardon the pun in the blog post title, it simply had to be done...