On Saturday 1 February, 200 students from across the UK gathered in Edinburgh for UNA-UK’s Youth Conference 2014. They were joined in the Scottish capital by UN policy experts and staff, as well as members of the UNA-UK team, for a day of discussion, advice and networking.
The event started with an examination of atrocity prevention lead by Ian Martin, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya. Mr Martin reflected on his experience of human rights protection in the field, and the emergence of the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). He then chaired an intense debate on the impact of R2P between Dr Jess Gifkins and Dr Aidan Hehir. Audience participation was high with verbal, written and tweeted questions from the floor.
UNA’s Youth Council presented their work to the conference before a lunch break that gave everyone the chance to meet and network with speakers and other delegates.
Post-lunch activities focussed on equipping delegates to pursue a career at the United Nations with John Ericson, Chief of the Outreach Unit in the Office of Human Resources Management of the UN in New York, being flown in exclusively for this meeting. Following an overview of UN careers, Mr Ericson chaired a panel of four (Ian Martin, Wasim Mir of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, UNA-UK's Alexandra Buskie and Nicky Meek, an intern at the International Maritime Organisation) whose level of experience ranged from established career to second-internship. Mr Ericson was then grilled by UNA-UK's Richard Nelmes who asked him questions submitted by attendees in a one-on-one interview.
Attendees said they left the conference better informed and engaged on real policy issues and more motivated than ever to pursue a career at the UN.
Mr Ericson said:
The UN must continue to recruit talented, motivated and energetic people who meet the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and competence. I was impressed by the calibre and enthusiasm of the people I met at the UNA-UK Youth Conference and was delighted to have had the opportunity of engaging with them.
Apurv Gupta, President of the UNA Youth Council said:
I am delighted that we were able to hold the youth conference in Edinburgh this year. The day was packed with people, ideas and opportunities for interaction. I’d like to thank the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth office who partnered with us for this event – without their help it would not have been possible.
Photos from the conference can be found here.
