One of the highlights of our Geneva adventure was a tour of the United Nations - such an amazing and important organisation. And the tour was amazing - wish I could remember it all. If you ever have the chance, don't miss it.
There are around 20,000 people from all over the world working for/with the UN in Geneva. And you can see it as you walk around the city - it's as diverse as Dubai, with every language, type of dress and culture you can imagine. Very cool. There are currently 193 member states in the United Nations.
The room below is used for the Human Rights hearings and discussions. The ceiling, which you can see a bit of here is painted with lots of different colours and textures to represent the variety of cultures in the world. As expected, each country in the UN has a labelled chair - they are arranged alphabetically. And yes, Iran and Iraq sit next to one another, and no, it doesn't cause problems.
A closer view of the seats. After the member states come the special groups (can't remember what she called them) like the Vatican and Palestine - not voting members but invited to all discussions and can participate. Then come the observers, which could be non- government organisations like WWF or Bank Mondiale. Every seat has a microphone, translation earpiece and voting button (if appropriate).
The UN receives lots of gifts from the various countries so while this is 'just' a working office of the UN, it seems a bit more like a museum or art gallery. This was a gift from China and I can't represent it in the photos, but it's a tapestry with a changing perspective. The set of stairs you see in front stays in front no matter where you're standing to look at the tapestry.
This is where they hold discussions on weapons and conflict. Discussions on Isreal, Palestine and recently negotiations around a treaty to ban nuclear weapons take place in this very room. Pretty awesome to sit where these discussions have and are taking place.
There are hundreds of large and small conference rooms throughout the building. The amount of work and people involved is a bit overwhelming.
And of course, we had to get a good photo of the flag display. It was a sunny and very calm day so hard to see the flags themselves. No idea where the US flag is.
There are around 20,000 people from all over the world working for/with the UN in Geneva. And you can see it as you walk around the city - it's as diverse as Dubai, with every language, type of dress and culture you can imagine. Very cool. There are currently 193 member states in the United Nations.
The room below is used for the Human Rights hearings and discussions. The ceiling, which you can see a bit of here is painted with lots of different colours and textures to represent the variety of cultures in the world. As expected, each country in the UN has a labelled chair - they are arranged alphabetically. And yes, Iran and Iraq sit next to one another, and no, it doesn't cause problems.
A closer view of the seats. After the member states come the special groups (can't remember what she called them) like the Vatican and Palestine - not voting members but invited to all discussions and can participate. Then come the observers, which could be non- government organisations like WWF or Bank Mondiale. Every seat has a microphone, translation earpiece and voting button (if appropriate).
The UN receives lots of gifts from the various countries so while this is 'just' a working office of the UN, it seems a bit more like a museum or art gallery. This was a gift from China and I can't represent it in the photos, but it's a tapestry with a changing perspective. The set of stairs you see in front stays in front no matter where you're standing to look at the tapestry.
This is where they hold discussions on weapons and conflict. Discussions on Isreal, Palestine and recently negotiations around a treaty to ban nuclear weapons take place in this very room. Pretty awesome to sit where these discussions have and are taking place.
There are hundreds of large and small conference rooms throughout the building. The amount of work and people involved is a bit overwhelming.
And of course, we had to get a good photo of the flag display. It was a sunny and very calm day so hard to see the flags themselves. No idea where the US flag is.
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