Being the best man

Last week I had the honor of being the best man at the wedding of one of my best friends. I was totally taken by surprise when Ramses and Ilham told me that they were expecting their first baby and that they wanted  to get married in New York. Their plan was to have a "speed wedding'' and they thought the best place to have it would be New York. I was even more surprised, however, when they told me they wanted me as their witness. I have gotten used to being a NY tour guide for my visitors the past few months, but this was something completely different and unexpected. I had never been a witness before and I started to get slightly nervous. I  asked them what I was supposed to do and they answered that I just needed to show up at the ceremony and sign the marriage documents. Just like that. 

The ceremony was at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau and I got there before the bride and groom. As I waited, I observed all the other couples getting ready for their big day. Some just came in their jeans and sneakers while others came in beautiful dresses and suits. Despite these differences, I noticed the simplicity and relaxedness of the whole thing. This was exactly what Ramses and Ilham wanted and they got in the end. Both looked stunning. Ramses was wearing a spiky white suit and Ilham a lovely black and white dress. The wedding performer turned out to be a very cranky lady who probably does fifty ceremonies a day. She had a huge pile of wedding documents and mistook my friends for the wrong couple. It made the whole situation even more hilarious. It took her about a minute to find out who they were and after a couple more minutes Ramses could finally kiss his new wife. 

Afterwards, we went to a park for some romantic wedding pictures and we ended the day in a tiny restaurant in Soho with beer and burgers. The perfect end of a special day.

Aleks, my latest visitor, arrived yesterday. So I am back to being a happy tour guide again...

Celebrity week

New York is famous for the celebrities you might bump into while walking down the street or sitting in a bar or restaurant. I had already heard a few stories from people who had spotted a movie star, singer, model or politician, and I wondered whether the same thing would to happen to me. Well this week it finally happened. Ironically, in the same week that my sister came to visit me. It was her first time in New York and probably a visit that we will both never forget.

It started Friday last week, when I attended a seminar at the UN on the International Criminal Court Review Conference which takes place in Kampala, Uganda, this month. This conference is very crucial for the future of the ICC and I expected some interesting discussions during the seminar. I was unaware, however, that the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, would do the opening speech. His speech of course was very general in terms and quite predictable, as he recalled all UN member states to ratify the statute of the ICC and to support the work of the Court. I was nevertheless happy to witness the "UN boss" speak.

Another speaker at the UN this week was the controversial President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He gave a speech before the General Assembly at the conference on nuclear non-proliferation. He of course criticized the US and other Western powers for failing to fulfill their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This lead to a walk out during his speech by several delegations, including the Netherlands. He also spoke at a news conference at the Millennium Hotel, across the street from our office. During this speech he warned that Security Council resolutions against Iran would further jeopardize any prospects of normal ties between the US and Iran. I did not see President Ahmadinejad in person, but I certainly noticed his presence at the UN. There were tons of police and security agents standing in front of our building, armed with machine guns and wearing bullet proof vests. I almost felt like being on a movie set.

On Tuesday, my sister and I attended the launch of a short documentary called the "Lazarus Effect". The film captures a series of true-life stories of HIV-positive Africans who are still alive through the effects of antiretrovirals. The film is part of the Red Campaign which raises awareness of the issue and includes many stars, like Bono, Penelope Cruz and many others. The screening of the movie took place in the Museum of Modern Art and Tom had arranged tickets for us through his work. It started with a cocktail reception and soon the first celebrities arrived on the red carpet. My sister, like a real paparazzi, managed to worm her way through the crowd and took really good pictures of Bono, Iman (wife of David Bowie), Gabourey Sidibe (actress Precious) and some other semi-stars. Before the film, we noticed the presence of stand-up comedian Chris Rock who had avoided the red carpet. After the film, my sister and I waited at the exit to see if we could spot him. He finally showed up with his wife and Carla, Ms. Cheekiness herself, approached him, gave him a hand, told him who we were and asked if she could be on a picture with him. He seemed quite surprised by my sister's self-confidence and before he knew it I took a picture of them. Carla and I couldn't stop laughing while leaving the building. However, the fun was not over yet.

On Thursday, I met with Dominik, a German friend of mine. We both studied in Sydney four years ago and became good friends. He was in New York this week with a couple of his friends and we decided to meet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We had dinner first and went to a bar afterwards called the Brooklyn Bowl. This bar has become one of my favorite bars here and the drummer of the band the Roots, Questlove, was the DJ of the night. We stood there for a while drinking and talking when one of Dominik's friends approached me and told me that Janet Jackson was sitting five meters behind us. I did not believe him at first and turned around to have a better look. It was her, with very short hair, talking to some friends and just having a good time. We tried to get a picture with her, but her bodyguards were not too keen. Unfortunately, my sister decided to stay home that evening. Her cheekiness would have definitely gotten us another picture. Nevertheless, it was a moment to never forget...

Sign of life

It has been a while since I last wrote on my blog. Has it been laziness, busyness or lack of inspiration? Or maybe a combination of all three? Yes maybe. I am pretty much past the excitement of my first few weeks here. But I consider that normal. I have felt it before in Sweden and Australia. After a while things start to loose their shine and brilliance, work becomes work, and you get into your daily routines. Yes even in New York! It is probably a good sign too. It means I have adapted to my new live here and that I am slowly becoming a New Yorker. Nevertheless, there are still enough exciting things to write about, like the arrival of my sister today. Many more visitors will follow the coming weeks, so I have to get myself on the horse again. Once you start writing you have to keep going... 

For now, I will leave you with my latest entry on our interns weblog. Here it is.

Life back to normal

Everything is pretty much back to normal since last week. Laura left a week ago and it took me a couple of days of getting used to being alone again. It was great to have her here with me, especially on my birthday. She has been here a few times before, so we decided to avoid most of the touristy places. The weather was nice and sunny most of the time, so we just went for long nice walks and I showed her some nice parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. We also went to some nice restaurants, little cafes, bars, and we attended a beautiful dance show in the Lincoln Center. It felt like a mini holiday. Another great surprise was a three day visit by Tijmen (my KLM friend) and Dave, another good friend of mine from back home. Laura met with them during the day and I met with them after work.

They also came to see me at work one day and the funniest thing happened. We were sitting outside in the sun during lunchtime and I was telling them that our Princes Maxima was visiting the UN, as she is the Secretary General's advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. She had given a speech the day before at the Finance for Development Conference. Then we started talking about her in general and that same time I noticed her walking across the street from us. I stood up and said, "look, look, look, I think that's Maxima!" Then we all walked up closer and saw that it was her. She was surrounded by maybe four people and she was carrying some documents. She looked really relaxed and there was no royal aura surrounding her. It all went really fast, so we did not get the chance to talk to her or take a picture. Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable moment.

I also showed the guys the office and they met with my boss and some of my colleagues. The atmosphere and work ethic in the office has much improved since we made the necessary changes. Everyone has been attending tons of meetings and some projects have finally taken off. I have attended two interesting panel discussions myself  hosted by New York University. One was on the International Criminal Court and the United States. And the other one was on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. I especially enjoyed the first one as it had Stephen Rapp as one of the keynote speakers. He is currently the US State Department's ambassador at large for War Crimes Issues. I have been reading a lot about the ICC since I started working at GPF and it inspired me to write something on our new interns blog about the ICC applying double standards with respect to African countries. You can read it here.

We also have weekly vodcasts now on our website in which we inform the public about our latest posted articles and activities going on at the UN. Last week it was my turn to stand in front of the camera. You can watch it here. I am also in an other video for future interns which was filmed during my first week at GPF. I kept it quiet until now as I felt a bit embarrassed. It is not the best video in terms of editing, but you can watch it here.

Enjoy!

Positive things ahead

I have been in New York for nearly two months now and it feels the city has really become an integral part of me and vice versa. Although the honeymoon is over, it feels I have really settled down into this gigantic and rich city. New York, like any other city or country, has its annoyances but these things do not weigh up to the many positive things it has to offer. I understand now why people keep coming back to this city. A normal holiday is simply too short. I sometimes even wonder whether six months are enough to fully enjoy this city. Probably not when you're working from Monday until Friday, but I am not complaining. So far, my evenings and weekends were well spend. I have met with colleagues for lunch in Brooklyn and dim sun in Queens. I have been jogging in Central Park and I have made long walks to Washington Heights, Harlem and along the Hudson River. Furthermore, I have been to a NBA basket ball game, to bars with very good live jazz music ,several restaurants and one ore two art gallery's. Nevertheless, there are still many things left on my "to do list". 

Last Tuesday I had my first visitor from the Netherlands. Tijmen, a friend of mine working for the KLM, had a 24 hours stop in New York. We met in his hotel after work and had dinner in a really nice tapas restaurant in Soho. Afterwards we had a couple of drinks in Greenwich and the Meat Packing District. It was a great evening and it was nice to catch up with a good friend from back home. Next week, I will have my next "special" visitor, Laura. I am really looking forward to see here again after two months of separation. I have never been a  believer of long distance relationships and never thought I would end up in one, but it is working out pretty well so far (thanks to skype as well). She arrives next Wednesday and is staying for ten days. I will take Friday and Monday off from work. Friday the 19th is my birthday as well, so it will be a very special one as I will turn 30 in New York with my girlfriend. I have nothing else to wish for. Well maybe a sunny week like last week, because it is raining constantly right now. 

This is also a good moment to reflect on my first six weeks with GPF. I have to admit that the internship has not fully lived up to my expectations so far. This has a simple reason. GPF is an independent non-governmental organization which relies on funding from individuals, foundations, partner organizations etc. Lately, GPF, like many other non-governmental organizations, has been the victim of funding cuts. Last year our boss Jim had to let go all of his paid senior staff as he simply could not afford having them on board. As a result, the interns run the office without, in my view, proper guidance and structure. Everyone has been working within their portfolio without  properly informing the others about their work and activities. I noticed, furthermore, that there were many ideas and projects floating around the office, but that there was no incentive into materializing them. This has negatively affected the atmosphere in the office in terms of motivation and inspiration and most people were quite annoyed about it.

Jim was away last week and I proposed an intern meeting to sit down and discuss how we could better structure our work and make it more challenging for ourselves. It turned out to be a very fruitful meeting with many good ideas and plans and we decided to make some important changes, like two weekly staff meetings (a regular one and a thematic one), the creation of an interns blog, and the creation of vodcasts and podcasts for the website. Me and Joe have also decided to take up a project on the UN individual sanctions regime and the recent creation of the UN Ombudsman. We had our first thematic staff meeting last Wednesday in which we briefed each other about the latest developments in our portfolios and we got some nice discussions and idea's going on. The atmosphere in the office seems to have improved since last Monday and everyone seems to enjoy their work much more. Let's hope it stays this way.

The best part of my internship has so far been my UN pass, which has given me almost unlimited access to any UN meeting and the opportunity to meet very interesting people and other interns.  Last Thursday I attended a forum addressing the Goldstone Report on the Gaza conflict and the underlying question whether international law really matters. It was a very interesting meeting and I was especially impressed by one of the keynote speakers, Richard Falk, an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. His arguments in support of the report were spot on and he spoke very clear and eloquent. Yesterday I attended a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) as it was considering a state report by Uzbekistan under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This was also very interesting  as I got a better notion of the work of the HRC. Hopefully, I will attend more interesting meetings in the near future.  

So yes, things are looking positive right now. Both personally and professionally. 

 

       

Looking for Bill

Last week I attended my first Security Council (SC) meeting. In this meeting the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, briefed the SC about the humanitarian situation in Haiti. John Holmes had just returned from Haiti and stated that the humanitarian situation in Haiti had improved and that the most needed medical needs were pretty much taken care of. He emphasized, however, that much more needed to be done in terms of emergency shelter, non-food items and sanitation. He was calling for a “shelter and sanitation surge” for the Haitians still in need after last month’s devastating earthquake. Alain Le Roy stressed that the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) counted on the SC’s support to help the Haitian government meet the enormous challenges before it. Since 12 January MINUSTAH has been supporting and assisting in relief operations and in securing security and public order. Le Roy, made clear that the security situation in Haiti is stable, but still fragile. Finally, Leo Mérorès, the Permanent Representative of Haiti at the UN extended his thanks to the “great family of nations” in assisting his country.

To be honest I did not pay much attention to the words spoken by the speakers during this 30 minute meeting. Luckily there are always press releases after each meeting. I was rather looking for Bill Clinton as he is the United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti. The day before, he and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the UN’s largest-ever appeal for $1.4 billion to assist 3 million Haitians in need. Some colleagues told me that they had seen Clinton during a SC meeting on Haiti last October. I did not see him unfortunately. Maybe he was still recovering from the heart procedure he underwent two weeks ago. My colleague, Joseph, has written an interesting story on his blog about the irony of Bill Clinton’s current role in Haiti. It is an interesting read.

Besides looking for Bill, I was also observing the fifties style chamber of the SC. I had seen a photo of the SC chamber taken in 1954 and I came to the conclusion that it has not changed a bit. The decorations on the wall, the two large windows overlooking the East River, the huge mural between the two windows, the council’s horseshoe table and the seats for the delegates and diplomats. It made me think about all the decisions taken in this chamber in the last 58 years that have had major global impacts (think of the Korean War, the Gulf War, the economic sanctions against countries such as Iraq, Iran, Nord Korea). It also reminded me about the moments the SC did not rise to the occasion (think of Srebrenica, Rwanda and Darfur). It made me realize that it is always nice to read about the SC from books and articles, but you get a better sense of reality while sitting there up close and seeing the council at work.

By the way it is snowing again...