The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the UN Charter, young researchers discuss the future of Sports, Culture and Tourism with top international officials
Around the world, the United Nations’ 75th birthday on the 26th of June is providing the backdrop for a global discussion about the future of the organization and the role multilateralism can play in resolving today’s challenges.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought a new urgency to this discussion, highlighting even more the benefits of cooperation across borders, sectors and generations but also the impacts it has on culture, sports and tourism – the focus of an event today in Geneva, the UN’s European hub, in which young researchers exchanged views with top representatives of the key international agencies in these areas.
“Multilateralism has always been an interplay of national and shared global concerns and it is increasingly so as we are now more interdependent, more interconnected than ever. Culture, tourism and sports, be it in different forms, have all served as inspiring expressions of national identity and pride, ” said Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, addressed the audience in an inaugural video message.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has brought us to a pivotal moment. Although many are longing to get back to normal, now it’s precisely the time to end ‘business as usual’, he said.
“Now, it’s the time to put into practice the commitment to future generations that it is central to the UN charter and to make progress on the future we want. That is the spirit in which the UN75 anniversary is conceived of by the Secretary-General last year.”
The UN75 event was organized by UN Geneva, in cooperation with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, the University of Geneva and foraus, the Swiss Think Tank on Foreign Policy. In addition to hosting many UN agencies, Switzerland is also home to a number of international sports organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Covid-19 had had a massive impact on large sports events, and has led to such as the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year.
“This UN dialogue comes at an important and most appropriate time. The world is looking for new ways to better understand and to address the far-reaching consequences” said Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, in a video message in which he stressed sport as a school of life that can teach values.
“The first lesson we all learn from this crisis is: we need more solidarity. Solidarity within societies and solidarity among the nations of this world. Solidarity is at the heart of the Olympic games which unite the world in all our diversity. In these difficult times, we need the Olympic values of excellence, friendship, respect and solidarity more than ever,” Bach said.
In a post-Covid-19 world, the relationship with culture is being increasingly mediated through the digital interface. However, this relationship continues to be fraught with several socio-economic, as well as legal-ethical tensions.
For Paras Arora, a Master's degree candidate at the Graduate Institute “the virus has entered our cultures now, right. That is it ok for us, to attend for example the death of a very close relative, a Sunday sermon for that matter through Zoom. How is that impacting our religious engagement with, you know, ourselves? So, to treat cultural changes at this point of time as deeply ethical changes with herself is also extremely important. And that can only happen with a more multilateral engagement across borders and across levels of governance”.
Tourism, a complex sector of the economy was badly hit by the pandemic. Beyond a spectacular drop at the international and national scales, local impacts of the crisis are very difficult to quantify. For Raphael Languillon-Aussel, Researcher at the Université de Genève "it is difficult to synthesize the diversity of impacts that tourism has at the local level and it is true that local actors are a little invisible behind major events and large international groups that focus their attention on the media, they focus people's attention”.
Sports can work toward multilateralism in many aspects particularly through the Sustainable Devleopment Goals (SDGs). “If we think about multilateralism and also our SDG’s, actually I think it is number 5 and number 10 that are talking about gender equality and also to reduce all kinds of inequalities”, said Yalan Liu, Graduate Institute, Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (Foraus). “We think sports can have a strong social impact for increasing this kind of social inclusion. We want to gather people, like both female and male of all ages, of all kind of race, to be together to have the strong solidarity to overcome this global health crisis and we believe sports can play a role in building back strong”.
- Wide shot: Auditorium at Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General: “Multilateralism has always been an interplay of national and shared global concerns and it is increasingly so as we are now more interdependent, more interconnected than ever. Culture, tourism and sports, be it in different forms, have all served as inspiring expressions of national identity and pride”.
- Close up, student listening
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General: “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought us to a pivotal moment. Although many are longing to get back to normal, now it’s precisely the time to end ‘business as usual’. Now, it’s the time to put into practice the commitment to future generations that it is central to the UN charter and to make progress on the future we want. That is the spirit in which the UN75 anniversary is conceived of by the Secretary-General last year.”.
- Close up: Student listening
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee (IOC): “This UN dialogue comes at an important and most appropriate time. The world is looking for new ways to better understand and to address the far reaching consequences”.
- Medium shot: Audience listening
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee (IOC): “The first lesson we all learn from this crisis is: we need more solidarity. Solidarity within societies and solidarity among the nations of this world. Solidarity is at the heart of the Olympic games which unite the world in all our diversity. In these difficult times, we need the Olympic values of excellence, friendship, respect and solidarity more than ever”.
- Close up: Cameraman
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Paras Arora, Master's candidate & Hans Wilsdorf Scholar, The Graduate Institute, Geneva: “The virus has entered our cultures now, right. That is it ok for us, to attend for example the death of a very close relative, a Sunday sermon for that matter through Zoom. How is that impacting our religious engagement with, you know, ourselves? So, to treat cultural changes at this point of time as deeply ethical changes with herself is also extremely important. And that can only happen with a more multilateral engagement across borders and across levels of governance”.
- Close up: Young man looking at screen
- SOUNDBITE (FR) - Raphael Languillon-Aussel, Researcher, Université de Genève : « Il est difficile de synthétiser la diversité des impacts que le tourisme a au niveau local et c’est vrai que les acteurs locaux sont un peu invisibilisées derrière les grands événements et les grands groupes internationaux qui eux focalisent l’attention des médias, ils focalisent l’attention des populations ». "It is difficult to synthesize the diversity of impacts that tourism has at the local level and it is true that local actors are a little invisible behind major events and large international groups that focus their attention on the media, they focus people's attention”.
- Medium shot: Moderators in auditorium
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Yalan Liu, Graduate Institute, Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (Foraus): “If we think about this multilateralism and also our SDG’s, actually I think it is number 5 and number 10 that are talking about gender equality and also to reduce all kinds of inequalities. We think sports can have a strong social impact for increasing this kind of social inclusion. We want to gather people, like both female and male of all ages, of all kind of race, to be together to have the strong solidarity to overcome this global health crisis and we believe sports can play a role in building back strong”.
- Wide shot, auditorium
- Various shots, audience
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday called on States to do all in their power to end senseless conflicts and suffering.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.