Geog a Blog On Tour – Day 4

Hi Geog-a-Bloggies,

Today was sadly the final day of our little geography adventure, but we were still full of energy and excitement for the day ahead. The primary focus of today was on global governance, and more specifically on the United Nations. Geneva holds huge importance in the sphere of global governance, with it being the European headquarters of the United Nations in the Palais des Nations, as well as hosting many inter-governmental organisations. There are many reasons for this agglomeration of international organisations, including the political stability of Switzerland, its neutrality in international affairs, the excellent infrastructure and the low taxes.


We had the opportunity to visit the UN base in Geneva, as well as receive a guided tour of the base; the visit was eye-opening and truly showed the passion behind the international institution. We got to look into a UNHCR meeting; seeing actual diplomats in their working environments was both inspiring and motivational. The UN officially came into existence on 24th October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council - France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK and the US - and the majority of the other 46 signatories. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN; the other bases are in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi and are all designated as international territory. The UN is the only intergovernmental organisation where all the world's states can be members, meet and engage in dialogue over the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.

After the tour, we had the chance to visit the gift shop, where many of us purchased matching UN t-shirts which, despite being expensive, were completely worth it.  

Once we had enjoyed lunch in the botanical gardens, we sat for a bit longer and discussed the UN in more depth; talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, as well as its history. We concluded that the main strength of the UN was its ability to create a global forum for discussion of international issues, and its main weakness was its inefficiency due to the competing national interests of the 193 member countries, as seen in the lack of intervention during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

We then returned to the hotel before catching the flight home, all whilst reflecting on what we had learned from the trip, the new skills we had learnt, as well as our renewed passion for the subject we love.

Thank you Mr Patton and Miss Parkes for organising this trip and making it so enjoyable. Also thank you Geog-a-Bloggies for joining us on our journey!

Love,

The Geog a Blog Team





























Location: Palais des Nations, 1202 Genève, Switzerland

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