Week 2 With the Dominican Delegation

Hi Everyone!

            It is hard to believe that I am already done with two weeks of my time at the UN and only have 2 weeks left!

            This past week was a very busy week for me because I have really started to get into the “groove” of the work that I have been doing! I was given a great deal of autonomy this week and was able to balance my time between attending the Human Rights Council as well as side events and also starting to work on the database that I am creating!

            Monday was a day full of side events (small discussion panels). I attended a panel on food shortages in the Sahel region of Africa as well as on elder abuse. I found the panel on elder abuse very interesting because the women who were running the panel were extremely passionate about the issues that they were discussing. I really enjoyed listening to the women speak about a cause that they feel so strongly about and even felt comfortable lending my opinion on the issue! It was the first time that I had spoken at a side event so I was extremely nervous, but the women helped me to feel comfortable enough to contribute J. On Tuesday, I attended a forum on Women’s rights and then spent a little time working on the Dominican Database. I have been in touch with a Dominican Friar in the US who is going to help me with the technological aspects of the project. We are envisioning an interactive map that allows viewers to click on countries around the world to see if there are Dominicans located there! It is a big project but I am hopeful that I will see it through to completion. As of right now, I am just working on gathering information about Dominicans around the world so that everything will be organized when it comes time to create the final product! At the end of the day on Tuesday, I attended a side event explaining special procedures of the UN. An example of a “special procedure” would be the Special Rapporteurs that I discussed in an earlier post. Special procedures allow the UN to function effectively and are a great way to obtain a great deal of information regarding various Human Rights issues. I thought that it was great that the UN took the time to host an event explaining its procedures for new members or interns and really learned a lot from hearing the experts talk about the different ways that the UN functions!

            Wednesday was a very interesting day for me because the Human Rights Council was discussing the situation in Syria as a Human Rights Situation that needed the council’s attention. I knew that there was conflict in Syria but did not comprehend the full magnitude of it until I heard the different delegates discussing it. The Human Rights Council room was full of cameras and reporters on Wednesday because they were all eager to learn what the UN had to say about the situation in Syria. I was happy to learn that a number of member states are urging the creation of a Special Raporteur (SR) to study the situation in Syria. This means that the issue will be studied very closely and that the SR will return to the Human Rights Council with recommendations about how the situation should be handled in the future. I was relieved to hear that this situation is going to be studied much more closely and hope that the human rights situation does not deteriorate much further before changes can be made. 

These are some pictures that I took of the Human Rights Council from the seat that I usually sit in! All of the cameras and reporters were there to listen to the discussions about Syria and the Human Rights Situation there.

            On Thursday, I was in the Human Rights Council all day and listened to the conclusion of the Syria discussion and the beginning of the discussions of the Human Rights situation in Belarus. These conversations were extremely eye opening for me and I realized that although I was aware of the situations in both Belarus and Syria, I definitely need to do more research and be more aware of what is going on in the world around me. I was extremely shocked by some of the things that I heard and I know that if I were to pay more attention to world news I would probably not have been as shocked. I have now set the goal for myself of being more aware of situations occurring across the globe so that I am not surprised in this way again in the future.

Friday was a very difficult day for me because of a side event I attended in the afternoon. Friday morning was standard, I attended the Human Rights Council where the delegates were discussing Human Rights in a Multicultural Context. However, Friday afternoon, I attended a screening on the film “The Whistleblower.” The film was about human trafficking in Bosnia following the war and the failure of the UN to address the human rights violations that were taking place. It was a very difficult movie to watch and I found the true stories contained in it to be extremely disturbing. At the conclusion of the film, one of the moderators of the event stated, “There’s lots for us to think about and we’re in the right place to do it.” I thought that was an interesting way to tie the film into the UN and also the Human Rights Council.

Overall, I enjoyed my second week as a member of the Dominican Delegation but I also found it to be a very difficult week. I was shocked by some of the things that I heard and witnessed and was forced to question how such horrific Human Rights violations are taking place around the world. However, I had an extremely enlightening conversation with Fr. Carlos prior to his departure during which he was able to shed some positivity on the situation. He explained to me that it is at times extremely depressing to hear about the conditions some people are living in, but that there are still delegates fighting at the UN to try to right these wrongs that are taking place. I realized that the outlook would be extremely grim if there was no structure such as the UN in place to address these issues, but the fact that there are individuals who are willing to dedicate almost 10 hours a day everyday to discussing these issues and the best way to correct them can definitely give us hope for the future J

            I am looking forward to beginning my third week of work and hope that it will be as productive and enlightening as my past two weeks have been! 

These Peacocks live on the grounds of the UN!