It’s a sunny evening in Manhattan, and our friend Dino who works at the United Nations gives us a special tour of the UN headquarter.
I admit that my expectations were low. Yes, there was very likely going to be a large office building with long hallways, elevators, meeting rooms and general assembly halls with some sort of representative character.
What I did not expect was to be placed in the setting of a next possible Netflix series. With elevator operators in every elevator pushing buttons, security officers from probably all member states, original to peculiar – to say the least – artefact donations from all around the world, a very 50ies to 60ies interior design, individuals who like, well, unique personalities, bars and lounges not accessible to the general public (not speaking of children), where UN staff hangs out and where personal relationships are built and probably reach from the very possible best to the very possible worst. A fascinating cosmos of its own. I really hope that some gifted playwright will think of a powerful script one day. There must be endless material.
At the same time, the activities of the United Nations have in so many ways marked my life, and not only in a personal or political way. My professional life is full of UN output:
Being an arbitration practitioner, the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958, aka the New York Convention, is my professional bible so to say. It is in force in nearly 150 countries all over the world and provides that a foreign award rendered by an arbitral tribunal must be declared enforceable by the courts of each signatory state, unless the arbitration preceding the award suffered from substantial procedural defaults such as a violation of due process or fair trial principles.
Or the United Nations Model Law on Arbitration on which many countries around the world, including Germany, have based their domestic arbitration laws with the intent of harmonizing domestic arbitration systems worldwide. Just to mention a third one, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 1985, aka CISG, aims at creating a uniform sales law for cross-border trade, and is a body of law that I regularly work with, even academically.
While we are at UNHQ today, a conference on the world oceans is ongoing, water pollution and sustainable fishing being key topics. Speaking of water, the view from the headquarters’ riverside over the East River is spectacular. As is the peaceful rose garden next to the main building. May they serve as a source of constant inspiration for those working here for the greater good.
