UN: I interact with people and I educate myself by listening to the horrors people experience




U.N Internship Reflection Paper #2
Entering the second half of my internship at the United Nations I have been able to obtain a more spherical perspective about the conflicts and human right violations around the globe. I interact with people and I educate myself by listening to the horrors people experience in their everyday lives because of war, corruption and inadequate policies. Another thing that stands out for me during my internship is women’s role in politics, as well as their success and their contribution to peacekeeping and human rights protection maintenance.

My role at the United Nations has generally been the same, with the difference that I was able to meet more correspondents in person and I had the privilege to be given an interview from some of them regarding the new political realm the United States has entered. Taking interviews was the extra thing I wanted to do as an intern, and I achieved it. I have been fortunate throughout this experience because my supervisor gives me the unrestricted freedom of interviewing whomever I think is important and by that he helps me to practice my journalism/reporting skills. I am happy to say that through interviewing anyone I can at the UN, I am becoming more ready to pursue a career as a journalist because I am exposing myself and talk to people I never thought I would talk to. During my interviews, what was interesting to me was to see UN employees’ attitude changing towards the new US ambassador Nikki Haley. At first everyone thought of her as an extreme conservative member of the Trump Administration but they have now come to realized that she is really trying to contribute to the United Nations’ mission to the fullest.

I listen to Nikki Haley at a Security Council Meeting about “Trafficking, Modern Slavery, Forced Labour in Conflict Situations.” Recounting the story of a young Syrian woman forced into prostitution in Lebanon, noted that more than 21 million people were trapped in modern slavery and the problem was only becoming more difficult to resolve, with online predators luring people into trafficking rings. Standing up to modern slavery and forced labour was an element of United States foreign policy and efforts to advance human dignity, she said, recalling President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he would work to end human trafficking and devote more resources to that end. A new program created to finance transformational projects intended to end modern slavery aimed to raise funds from public and private sources, she said, adding that an advisory council was helping the Federal Government address human trafficking. (http://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc12751.doc.htm)

An important person who talked via Skype about her experience in her country was activist Ilwad Elman, from Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Somalia. She talked about how overwhelming the scale of trafficking in her country is. She recalled that the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre had focused on helping those living in squalor during the 2011 famine, particularly those in refugee camps. She also shared stories about people who had travelled for days just to reach safety. Yet, upon reaching the camp for the internally displaced in Mogadishu, they had found rampant sexual exploitation, she said. Women were often forced into transactional sex, either for food or for safety. Forced marriage in the camps was another major issue, she said, recounting the story of a young woman forced to marry a man who had then charged other men to have sex with her. (http://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc12751.doc.htm)

The Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized that much more could be done to prevent or punish the crime, recalling that, since trafficking did not respect borders, Member States must strengthen cooperation on law enforcement, investigations and intelligence-sharing. Meanwhile, underlying vulnerabilities must be addressed by empowering girls through education, ensuring respect for the rights of minorities and establishing safe and legal migration channels. (http://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc12751.doc.htm) Representatives from the member States addressed this problem in their own countries and proposed solutions and strategies on how each country should deal with this crucial problem.

I have been able to listen to different voices and opinions in all of the Security Council meetings, the briefings and from the corespondents. It is extremely interesting and enlightening to see all the struggles the United Nations and its Member States are trying to tackle and their hard work and collaboration with any organizations, such as, UNICEF, in order to protect human rights and ensure peacekeeping in the world, especially in the Middle East and Africa. I believe that the United Nations’ core is to serve the public. For example, the UN Volunteers (UNV) based in Germany, has a staff of around 150 at headquarters, and almost 7,000 volunteers deployed in the field. UNV also has an Office in New York, four Regional Offices in Bangkok, Dakar, Nairobi and Panama City, that develop regional interventions to advance peace and development, and around 80 Field Units that represent the organization at the country level. The UNV contribute to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. (https://www.unv.org/about-unv)

The United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more. By providing a forum for its members to express their views in the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies and committees, the UN embraces dialogue between its members, and by hosting negotiations, the Organization has become a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together.

Maria M. Andriotis
United Nations Media Intern
Master of Arts in Public Media – Journalism Concentration
Fordham University – Graduate School of Arts and Science

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