By Asmieu Bah
I had always wanted to visit the United States. I had always wanted to see the United Nations at work. It is therefore a dream come true that I am writing from the UN headquarters in New York. It is indeed an honour and privilege to attend a United Nations fellowship such as I am doing now in a city that never sleeps.
The fellowship programme was mandated in December 1980 by UN General Assembly Resolution 35/201 and renamed in September 2003 as “Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists’ Fellowship Programme” to honour Ms. Reham Al-Farra, a young UN staff member killed in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.
It has been sponsored annually since 1981 by the United Nations Department of Public Information as a fellowship programme for junior and mid-level broadcasters and journalists from developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Since 2012, its last week continues in Geneva. As of 2012, 510 journalists and broadcasters from 165 countries have taken part in the prestigious Programme.
This year’s fellows are drawn from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. The selection process is daunting. First travelling to the US.
John F Kennedy Airport in New York was my final destination when I left Freetown. As someone visiting the US for the first time it was a good experience for me especially considering the role America plays in shaping the world.
It is also an eye opener and a new dawn for those of us attending this year’s programme considering the briefings and lectures we have received from heads and directors of different departments, as well as by envoys and ambassadors of various missions of the United Nations. These briefings have indeed added to our knowledge of the workings of the world body – the United Nations.
Like children on their first day at school, we were spellbound to see for the first time the building in which far reaching decisions have been taken for decades. The gigantic United Nations Headquarters building with dozens of storeys situated in Manhattan is indeed imposing. Every minute of the day people from the nook and cranny of the globe gather here to get a glimpse of the building and if possible take photos that they will show to their families and friends back home.
At our first entry to the building we were greeted by armed security officials and metal detecting machines that scanned anyone and everyone entering the building. The building is well guarded, complete with close circuit television (CCTV) cameras mounted all over the place which can monitor the movement of everyone. Almost foolproof. How does anyone master such a colossal building floor by floor? I wonder. All of us participants heaved a sigh of relief once the organisers told us that they would only lead us for two days and that on the remaining weeks we would be on our to find our way into the building and the briefing rooms. In less than three days we understood which escalators to use to go to the cafeteria and to our briefing rooms.
The first part of our briefings and lectures was by the Jordanian-born Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi. He is the first envoy on youth to be appointed by a UN Secretary General. His appointment is crucial because youth comprise up to half of the world’s population and scarily, the majority of them are unemployed and are found in developing countries. The envoy has a plethora of problems to grapple with something he himself acknowledged during his presentation.
One of the foremost things Ahmad has done is to establish the first UN online platform for youths, where youth issues will be discussed. According to him the UN volunteer age will be reduced to 18 as a way of bringing in on board many youths who may wish to become UN volunteers.
From our discussion I concluded that indeed the young envoy has knowledge on youth issues and also has the passion to extricate youth in their current state of despair. One of his plans is to bring young people to the centre stage and in decision-making rooms where they themselves will be drivers of their own destiny.
On the second day we also had the opportunity to listen to presentations by the Associate Expert in Political Affairs Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. It was a good learning moment for us the fellows as we were able to know that the first report on children in armed conflict was written by Dr Gracia Machelle, wife of the erstwhile South African President Nelson Mandela. It was after she had published that report that the UN appointed an envoy on children in armed conflict. Since 1999 the UN has passed 19 resolutions that deal with children in armed conflict.
During the past one week we have visited many departments of the UN and the UN television and radio.
The United Nations Headquarters symbolises the apt description of the phrase “melting pot”, where every country is represented. From its lobby to the highest floor one can see people from every corner of the globe.
The organisation has survived for almost seven decades, managing the balance of power between and amongst big powers and smaller countries, representing the views and aspirations of every nation through its annual General Assembly meetings.
It has also succeeded in restoring peace in some war torn countries and in preventing wars in others. But the big debate now within the walls of the UN is the Syrian conflict. In all our lectures the issue has come up repeatedly. Some fellows are of the opinion that the organisation’s decisions are hardly binding on the big powers like USA, China, and Russia who are permanent members of the United Nations and wield the powerful veto power.
As we begin a new week we are set to receive more lectures and presentations from various big wigs of the UN, and no doubt we will be there to ask the hard questions that journalists are known for. You can bet that the Syria question will come again and again. In subsequent articles I will share my visit to Ground Zero, the place where once stood the World Trade Centre, as well as bring you more impressions about the city that never sleeps.
Asmieu Bah is a TV journalist at the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation
(C) Politico 10/09/13
