n.y.c. what is it about you?

view from UN

New Yoooooooorrk! Oh, how I have missed you.

First thing first. UNGA First Committee meeting!

The last time I was at the UN as a visitor was probably in 2003. I just remember being super excited when the guide told us we were standing on international ground.

My first event was to attend the conference on humanitarian consequences on nuclear weapons. Quite a crowd and various delegations attended including a number of NGOs. Since I was only able to make it to the last past of the meeting (thank you, American Airlines for your delayed flight), I caught the part about "Don't bank on the bomb." The discussion focused on the financial aspect about the maintenance and production of nuclear weapons. According to the speaker, there are 32 countries in the world that supports such maintenance which amounts to $314 billion US dollars. And then, there was talk regarding a treaty banning nuclear weapons. As Rebecca Johnson argued, getting to the treaty is the first step. Training comes after, to educate the people, provide training courses like the CTBTO does. The States Parties should also look at what is missing in the NPT.

The session started at 15h, where I was really glad to see many representatives from Geneva in the room. It's always nice to see familiar faces, especially at the First Committee. It was certainly lovely to have the DPRK and Japan have their rights of reply at the VERY END of the conference. So it lasted half an hour more than it was supposed to and I didn't get home until 21h30. What an exhausting day.

After taking the train to Penn Station this morning, I walked the 40 mins distance to the UN and headed to a meeting with a delegation. The discussion today for the side event was International Humanitarian Law hosted by New Zealand and Switzerland. Though this was round 2 of the IHL discussion stemming from the OEWG, most of the second part of the event was the same, on the necessity and proportionality of IHL.

Finally, the result of 8 months worth of work for the Open-ended working group on taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations -- the Chair of the OEWG reported back to the GA today. Glad my internship in the past 8 months produced some results. More statements from various countries, including the USA who mentioned that they will not support any new mechanisms for nuclear disarmament.

So far so good. I look forward to the rest of the week until the 26th, frolicking in the city. That being said, I'm so glad to be back in the city again. Café, museums, central park and all those shenanigans, here I come!

Follow me on twitter or here for more craziness in NYC!