La revue officielle des fonctionnaires internationaux – The official magazine of international civil servants Disarmament A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK FEATURED P.10 UNITED NATIONS P.16 UNITED NATIONS P.34 2018 Nuclear Interview with Giving back, disarmament Executive Secretary sharing and JUNE – and the legacy of the UNECE committed to 780 of Hiroshima the SDGs O N Think Healthcare without BORDERS Supplemental health insurance for UN, ILO and WHO staff members For subscription, contact GPAFI www.gpafi.com New attractive conditions for WHO members International Health Insurance www.uniqa.ch La revue officielle des fonctionnaires internationaux – The official magazine of international civil servants Disarmament A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK FEATURED P.10 UNITED NATIONS P.16 UNITED NATIONS P.34 2018 Nuclear Interview with Giving back, ALEXANDER MEJIA disarmament Executive Secretary sharing and JUNE – and the legacy of the UNECE committed to Shutterstock 780 of Hiroshima the SDGs O N © Rédacteur en chef / Editor-in-chief ÉDITORIAL / EDITOR’S NOTE 3 After many years of political hindrance, Après de nombreuses années d'obstacles the Conference on Disarmament is back at politiques, la Conférence du désarmement FEATURED / À LA UNE work in full force in 2018. This is an issue est de retour en 2018. C'est un sujet qui nous A race to peace 5 close to our hearts as we have many col- tient à cœur, vu les nombreux collègues qui Can Geneva become again leagues working at this venerable institution travaillent dans cette vénérable institution the city of disarmament? 8 at the Palais and its Secretary General is du Palais et dont le Secrétaire général est le Nuclear disarmament the UNOG Director General. In this edition Directeur général de l'ONUG. Dans cette édi- and the legacy of Hiroshima 10 we offer you an overview of the institution, tion, nous vous offrons une vue d'ensemble The liability issues related the process and several perspectives on the de l'institution et de plusieurs perspectives to the use of Lethal Autonomous future of disarmament. After all, this has sur l'avenir du désarmement. Après tout, Weapons Systems 12 been, it certainly is, and it will continue to cela a été, est et continuera d'être l'une des UN SG’s Disarmament Agenda: be, one of humanity’s highest aspirations. aspirations les plus élevées de l'humanité. Action Now 14 On this subject, you will hear from Hiroshi- Sur le même sujet, vous pourrez lire sur ma’s Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki about the le rôle d'Hiroshima dans la promotion UNITED NATIONS / NATIONS UNIES role of Hiroshima to promote a world free d'un monde sans armes nucléaires, ainsi UNECE, a Do-Tank committed from nuclear weapons and from Ambassa- qu’une contribution de l'ambassadeur to do good things better 16 dor and permanent representative of Sri et représentant permanent du Sri Lanka Bicycles and SDGs: Right on Target! 30 Lanka Mr. A.L.A. Azeez. M. A.L.A. Azeez. Giving back, sharing and committed In this edition you will also find an inter- Dans cette édition, vous trouverez égale- to the SDGs 34 view of UNECE Executive Secretary Ms. ment une interview de la Secrétaire exécu- Monitoring, evaluating… and then what? 36 Olga Algayerova, who shares her views tive de la CEE-ONU, Mme Olga Algayerova, and the projects of this important regional qui parle des projets de cette importante GLOBAL AFFAIRS / AFFAIRES GLOBALES Commission. You will also read about the commission. Vous lirez aussi sur la contri- International engagement of the Republic of Tajikistan in the field Republic of Tajikistan’s contributions to bution de la République du Tadjikistan à la of water cooperation 20 International Decade for Action “Water for Décennie internationale d'action « L'eau au Transparency and competitiveness: Sustainable Development”. service du développement durable ». Brazil’s fight against corruption 22 Additionally, you will read about the De plus, vous lirez sur la vie du général The future of work 32 extraordinary life of Polish General polonais Kosciuszko, défenseur de la liberté Kosciuszko who fought for freedom and et les droits de l'homme. General Kosciuszko, a man ahead of his time 44 human rights. Plusieurs autres articles sont d’intérêt pour Several other articles are relevant to UN le personnel de l'ONU, tel que celui sur la Fake news, Fake history, Fake law 46 staff, including an exploration of the value valeur et contraintes des descriptions d'em- WHO / OMS and constraints of job descriptions, the ploi et l'avenir du travail. The ‘End Polio Now’ tulips back! 23 issue of monitoring and the future of work. D'autres sujets incluent diverses initiatives, Other topics include various initiatives, telles que les tulipes ‘End Polio Now’, le Can We Achieve Real Accountability in the UN Common System and Truly such as the ‘End Polio Now’ tulips, the Geneva bike2work et Greycells, une Protect Whistleblowers? 26 Geneva bike2work and Greycells, an asso- association de retraités de l'ONU pour le Internship at the United Nations: ciation UN retirees for development. développement. A comparative perspective 28 Finally, we hope our readers will enjoy Enfin, nous espérons que nos lecteurs It is in your interest to regularly update the first installment of travel stories about apprécieront le récit de voyage sur les vol- your post description 38 volcanos, as well as a glimpse of 1816, the cans, ainsi qu'un aperçu de 1816, « l’année so called “Year Without a Summer”. sans été ». ARTS & CULTURE Happy reading! n Bonne lecture ! n Gothic Geneva and the year without a summer 42 Sur les volcans du monde (1re partie) 44 The official magazine of the international La revue officielle des fonctionnaires civil servants of the United Nations at internationaux des Nations Unies à Genève Geneva and of the Word Health Organization et de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé UN Special – June 2018 | 3 Ramin et Leili Varembé FEATURED / À LA UNE © Shutterstock A race to peace Disarmament, the act of reducing, SEBASTIAN HOFBAUER, UNITAR and disarmament, we should be able to pay in full for the limiting, or abolishing weapons, is a A costly burden global fight against poverty and cornerstone for human development as The world spent US$1.69 tril- actually keep some change. I lion on military expenditures am an optimist but I am doubt- enshrined in the letter and the spirit of in 2016, or the equivalent of ful that many of us will see this the Charter of the United Nations (UN). US$227 per person that year. in their lifetime. To put this in perspective, US$227 is one third of the Strength in the 21st century annual income a poor person Why is that? The answer is Consequently, our organization has in the developing world needs rather simple. Armament long been at the forefront of attempting to receive to merely eat, if you remains the most tangible tool consider that since 2015 the of power of short-sighted polit- this seemingly impossible task. It is World Bank defines the inter- ical leaders, in both the devel- time to reflect on the socio-economic national extreme poverty line oped and the developing world. at US$1.90 per day. Another Armies and their weapons are Ramin et Leili burden of armament, what we are way to understand how offen- still seen as a means to pro- sive this amount is, relates to ject power to the world, to your Varembé doing against it today, and what keeps the ongoing discussion on the neighbours, and perhaps more the scales tilted towards peace, rather financing for the Agenda 2030. importantly, to the citizens that According to The Guardian, it is you govern. It takes a lot of guts than nuclear devastation. estimated that US$1,4 trillion to get rid of your military power per year are needed to pay for if you are a progressive leader. all the projects, programmes, And even if you attempt do that, and initiatives involved in you would always be accused national development plans of a lack of patriotism and of and the like. So, in the hypo- being irresponsible towards thetical, utopian, unrealistic, the future of your nation. It is and highly unlikely scenario in a natural reaction of societies which the world governments to feel protected by the ability would decide to embrace peace to use force and the capacity to UN Special – June 2018 | 5 © Wikimedia commons/A. Savin Topol-M, an intercontinental ballistic missile in preparation for Victory Parade in Moscow deploy a traditional army. So is Charter. Indeed, our Secre- While tremendous progress has the current international con- this changing in the 21st Cen- tary-General recently reiterated been made, the Conference’s text of tensions and renewed tury? Perhaps it is, as more and that “the current international mission, as you will see, is not risk of use of nuclear weapons, more citizens are waking up security situation underscores a simple one. The fact that its tangible progress is a much- to the new reality of terrorism the vital need to restore disar- members represent all regions needed signal. The revitalized and (lack of) cybersecurity. The mament as an integral compo- of the world also means that work of the Conference gives concept of a traditional army is nent of our collective efforts to different positions, opinions, us reason to be optimistic. Now, changing rapidly but the finan- prevent armed conflict and to and interests are bound to to say it with the words of our cial requirements remain the maintain international peace collide. This makes reaching Secretary-General, “the most same.