IOCM Study Trip 2022

The final visit on our first day took us to the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations Office and other international organizations, where we had a chance to participate in an hour-long discussion with Fridtjof Dunkel, First Secretary of the Human Rights Section of the German Mission. The discussion centred on the theoretical and practical aspects of the work of the UN Human Rights Council, the role of NGOs, the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, as well as on Mr Dunkel's professional experience in negotiating and drafting official UN HRC documents. On another note, the most recent developments regarding Germany's membership at the UN HRC and the termination of Russia's membership in the Council were discussed. The day concluded with a group photo.

Back on the grounds of the Palais des Nations, we were hosted in the newly completed building H by Nisha Manjooran, who serves in the Office of the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Humanitarian Financing and Resource Mobilization Division, Florent Mehaule, Desk Officer for the Syria Crisis at OCHA, and Sergio da Silva, Civil-Military Coordination Officer at OCHA. The session in a space previously used as OCHA's situation room as the humanitarian situation in Ukraine developed began with a presentation of OCHA's working method, their current engagement in Ukraine and an overview of OCHA's activities at the headquarters in Geneva. The speakers then opened the floor for questions and shared a lively dialogue with the IOCM students on topics such as; the challenges of coordination in complex emergencies, OCHA's cluster approach, funding mechanisms, the role of gender in humanitarian affairs, humanitarian access, advocacy and humanitarian aid, the aid-development nexus and counter-measures against aid dependency. The speakers touched upon their field experience and career pathways, and the meeting ended with a detailed overview of OCHA's current activities in Ukraine and their challenges.

The final part of our study trip was a successful visit to the World Health Organization (WHO). We were welcomed by high-ranking officials, including Catharina Boehme, Chef de Cabinet of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – Director General at WHO, Carmen Dolea, Head of International Health Regulations (IHR) Secretariat at WHO, and Munjoo Park, Technical Officer at the Office of the Director General. After a gratefully received sandwich lunch, the three experts devoted their time to us and, in a short presentation, outlined the current challenges WHO is facing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and how a reorientation and adaptation can be accomplished to better face future pandemics. The subsequent talk had to be extended in time so that the many questions of the students could be answered in detail. Among other things, possible reforms of the International Health Regulations, the plans for the so-called Pandemic Treaty and the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional structure of the WHO were discussed extensively. The WHO representatives were impressed by the students' level of expertise and asked for further collaboration with the cohort to discuss possible approaches to optimize the organization's operation.