On Thursday February 9th, Ashley and I embarked on the UN for our first time since working at GYAN, with our spiffy new UN passes. Our first stop at the UN was conference room four for the Commission on Social Development. We had absolutely no idea where to go, but we found our way soon enough thanks to the signs (and Vidar’s directions).
Once we arrived at conference room four, we found a seat on the side of the conference room floor. Once we entered the commission was allowing different member states to make statements about social development in their nations. We heard from countries like China, Tanzania and Spain. Once the speakers got their thank yous out of the way, they began to talk about what each respective government has done to attempt to eradicate poverty in their own nations ant their overall positions. This was also a perfect time for us to practice our language skills Ashley switching between English Spanish and Russian (although the Russian was a bit beyond her vocabulary) while I listened intently to Spain’s remarks (in Spanish) and the switching between Spanish and English for the rest. We love the multi-lingual ear pieces! It was then time to depart from conference room four and embark onward towards our main event of the day: UN Management Reform Panel moderated by Lou Dobbs!
Our mission was to find Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium. Considering that neither of us could pronounce this properly we figured it would be difficult. After wandering around for a bit we found the library and the auditorium, and we were early, to say the least (people still lingered from the previous event). It then became time to explore the UN. We wandered around, found a cafeteria with a wonderful view of the east river, and sushi. When leaving we found an area with tables set up by the women’s guild. Here they were raising funds by selling anything from knitted shawls to jewelry to chocolate covered strawberries. We then made our way back to the library for the panel discussion.
We were still early so as people poured into the auditorium the main question on our minds was…what do all the different colors on the UN passes stand for. All we knew was that our passes were brown to indicate NGO status. We saw red, blue, yellow, and orange ones with a diagonal slash passes. The auditorium filled quickly with a random of passes. Now for the main event (drum roll).
The panel discussion was hosted by Lou Dobbs of CNN, with panelists Ambassador Richard Williamson, Danielle Pletka, Branka Jikich, and Roderick Hills. The overall consensus of the panelist was that without management reform the UN was failing in its task and those who would be hurt the most are those who the UN is primarily there to help, the poor and oppressed. Each panelist offered a different exact prescription. Richard Williamson felt that the most effective reform would be better oversight and that the human rights commission needs to be made more meaningful. Danielle Pletka felt that the UN is mired in the past and needs to be brought into the present. Branka Jikich laid out three suggestions: 1. the creation of an effective chief operating officer, 2. a better ethics office and whistle blower protection, 3. a modern personnel system to create a more professional staff. Roderick Hill felt the most pressing matters were for accountability and more efficient oversight. After the opening statements, the panelist proceeded to answer specific questions from the audience.
It was a great day overall and we learned a lot. Like a red pass means a country delegate, and that there needs to be management reform in the UN. Hopefully these ideas for reform will take place to make a more efficient UN.
