By Asmieu Bah
New York was my home throughout September, as a fellow of the United Nations. Strictly as planned my fellow fellows and I are now in the Swiss capital on the last leg of our fellowship. For four weeks in one of the world’s busiest and liveliest cities, it was a great experience that I am sure will shape our career for the future.
I arrived in Geneva in the early afternoon hours of Sunday. After about half an hour from the airport I got to the Hotel Eden. The lush mountains and trees that I saw when I stepped outside the airport are enough to give a first time visitor like me a lasting impression of this peaceful and green country called Switzerland.
The first imposing thing here is the greenness of the city. From streets to premises, let alone parks, trees are planted everywhere. The city has not been deforested like we have done to Freetown. A few decades ago, perhaps up to fifteen years ago, Freetown’s Lion Mountain after which the country was named by Pedro Da Cintra, was totally green.
But with the serious and unplanned housing situation, corruption and lawlessness in the lands ministry, people have inhabited the mountains illegally. Not only that they have cut down the trees and left the mountains bare, causing serious environmental mishap. The Minister of Lands and his officials need to see, if they already have not done so, how the people of this country preserve their God-given mountains and forests. Here the people have not altered the handiwork of nature, and that has made their country the envy of other nations.
On the day after our arrival we began our normal routine lectures though this time in another UN Headquarters called Palaia des Nations or UNOG. The UN Office in Geneva is the second largest of its four major offices in the world. Palais des Nations, as it is called, was built in the mid 1920s for then League of Nations, the body that metamorphosed into the United Nations in 1945 after it failed to avert a second world war the aftermath of which gave birth to the UN. It can be described as a modern building but one with ancient features; I know that sounds paradoxical, but that is just what it is. The interior of the building is well designed with sparkling marble tiles.
On our first morning the tour guide took us on a conducted tour, he showed us the obelisk that Russia donated to the UN. Also festooning the place are paintings gifted to the world body by other countries, artifacts and vestiges of the Second World War amongst them a photo of victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings in Japan by the United States. They have been kept in the museum for future generations to learn from the scourge of war and not to venture into another war
The Palais des Nations hosts a number of UN programmes including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the United Nations Commission for Europe (ECE).
For very obvious reasons UNOG has less security when compared to UN Headquarters in New York. Chiefly NYC is far more populous with up to 10 million people compared to Geneva’s half a million. The New York headquarters houses the Secretary General of the organisation in a country that is most times a target for terrorists attack.
Entering the Palais des Nations is not as stressful and cumbersome as entering the UN HQ in New York where you have to remove your belt, wrist watch, as well as bring our your laptop computer for separate scanning. In Geneva the security screening is bit relaxed even though not lax.
The founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross 150 years ago, Henri Dunant, must have thought of the serenity and neutrality that Geneva symbolised and still does when he chose it as the organisation’s headquarters. The city can be described as the hallmark of peacefulness in a world full of crime in every corner. There are very few policemen on the streets, not to talk about military men. People are very law abiding, the security forces have little job to do compared to the police in other capitals. The ambiance is one of calmness. No wonder the country has very high life expectancy. Rush hour here is not rush hour. You do not see the crowds you see in other big cities like New York. The few days I have spent here I can only recall few times of ambulances sirens, as opposed to New York where almost every five minutes witnessed a police ambulance siren.
Another indelible experience I have had here is the influence of Germany and France on the country. The French and Deutsche languages are widely spoken here. They are so widespread that you would for a moment think that you were in Paris of Bonn. The vehicles are either German or French made. From Golf to Peugeot to Renault and Volvo, one can see that the country is a ready market for these two big European countries. I asked one of the chefs in my hotel about the language they speak in Switzerland. “Here we speak French, German or Italian depending on which city you live” she politely told me.
But for a tourist there is another aspect also worth noting. Geneva is more expensive than New York. The dollar is less in terms of the value to the Swiss Franc. US$ 100 (one hundred dollars) can hardly feed you for two days.
Our visit to the offices of one of the most-widely read newspapers in the country, Le Temps, gave us the opportunity to analyse the media landscape in Geneva. According to one of the senior correspondents, their paper is the New York Times of Switzerland. They print 40, 000 copies a day. When asked about story lines we realised that most of their stories are soft, which he said was due to the peaceful nature of the Swiss.
Don’t mistake their peaceful nature for docility. Democracy is well entrenched and planted in Switzerland. The people can ask their government to change any law they think is not working in their interest. Ironically, the country hosts a UN Headquarter but it only became a member of the UN in 2002. The people had to decide through the ballot box whether their country should join the world body. Their initial non-membership was to maintain their global neutrality which they thought UN membership would compromise.
One cannot equate the advancement and infrastructural development in New York to Geneva but it is safe to say that Swiss leaders have delivered on the ingredients of life for their people. Geneva cannot boast of the many skyscrapers and subways of New York, but without a doubt the public transport system is as organised as New York’s and the housing policy is also affordable for the middle class.
Every year African leaders visit western capitals, sleep in the best hotels, drive on their roads. But it remains a mystery how they have failed to give to their people back home what the western leaders have given. And Africa is far more resource-endowed than these countries. These are not heavenly gifts; these are life’s entitlements – good roads, energy and piped water. How I wish all my compatriots would see what development means in New York and Geneva if only that would make them hold their leaders to account and not worship them.
As they say here, au revoir until I join you back in Freetown next week, to face with the realities of life in my home city, which I love most, regardless.
Asmieu Bah is a broadcast journalist at SLBC and is on a UN fellowship in the USA and Switzerland.
(C) Politico 03/10/13
