The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund

United Nations Headquarters Internship 2004

End of Internship Report
Gemma Tracey
The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund Internship Report 2004

Contents Page

Introduction………………………………………………………Page 3

Chapter One – Preparations……………………………………..Page 4

Internship Paperwork…………………….……...…………Page 5
Preparatory Reading…………………………………….….Page 5
Visa Application………………………………………..…..Page 5
Travel………………………………………………….……Page 6
Accommodation…………………………………………….Page 6
Travel in New York…………………………………………Page 7
UN Internship Programme Introduction Session…………...Page 7

Chapter Two – Internship………………………………………..Page 8

My work in PBPU…………………………………………...Page 9
Finding out more about the UN…………………………….Page 11
The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund…………………………Page 11
The Internship Programme…………………………………Page 12

Chapter Three – New York, New York………………………...Page 13

Conclusion………………………………………………………..Page 16

Appendix One – Photographs with colleagues from the Department

of Peacekeeping Operations…………………………………….Page 17

Appendix Two – Recommended reading for future interns….Page 19

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The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund Internship Report 2004

Introduction

On Tuesday 19th August 2003 a terrorist attack on the United Nations Headquarters in
Baghdad killed 22 peacekeepers, among them Fiona Watson, Political Advisor to the
Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de
Mello, and a graduate of Heriot-Watt University.

On 20th September 2004 I began an internship at UN Headquarters in New York

through the Fiona Watson Memorial Fund, which was established by the Watson
family and Heriot-Watt University following Fiona’s death.

The Fund covered my travel and living expenses during my time in New York – and
offered me a real ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity. The LINT course at Heriot-Watt
University had provided me with a range of skills, which I was keen to put to good
use, and had also allowed me to develop my interest in international relations and
organisations. The internship was an excellent chance to deepen my understanding of
international issues and to make a small contribution to the work of the United
Nations. In our troubled world, I believe that it is the UN and its dedicated staff that
can make a real difference. It was an honour to work at UN Headquarters for three
months through the Fiona Watson Memorial Fund.

This report provides an account of my internship, and will hopefully be of use to

future Fiona Watson Memorial Fund award winners. The report is divided into three
main sections, which deal with preparations for the internship, my work at the UN and
my time in New York.

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Chapter One

Preparations

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The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund Internship Report 2004

After finding out that my application for a place on the United Nations Headquarters
internship programme had been successful in early July, the process of organising my
stay in New York began. The main issues that I had to deal with over the summer
months prior to departure were: Paperwork linked to the internship; preparatory
reading; visa application; travel itinerary and accommodation.

Internship Paperwork

The Development and Alumni Office at Heriot-Watt University told me in early July
that my application for a UN internship had been successful and that I would be
working in the Best Practices Unit (PBPU) of the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations (DPKO). Shortly after this I was sent, via e-mail, my official offer letter
and internship agreement by Anne Favreau, the Internship Coordinator. This offer
letter contained information about my placement, supervisor, visa, length of
internship etc.

Although the Fiona Watson Memorial Award covers all travel and living costs for a
period of three months, the internship programme is officially for a period of two
months, as stated in the offer letter from the Internship Coordinator. However, once I
had begun my internship my supervisor explained that it was possible to extend the
length of my placement and helped organise the relevant paperwork.

Preparatory Reading

My supervisor, Eiko Ikegaya, also contacted me in early July and outlined in more
detail the different tasks I would do while in PBPU. She also provided me with some
advice on papers and books I could read as an introduction to peacekeeping. The
PBPU website (which I would help to maintain as an intern) was very useful – it
contains numerous papers dealing with peacekeeping issues. Sir Brian Urquhart’s
memoir “A Life in Peace and War” was also excellent – he was one of the pioneers of
the concept of peacekeeping and worked for many years within the UN Secretariat.

A list of recommended reading for future interns is provided in Appendix 1.

Visa Application

The offer letter from the Internship Coordinator was necessary to obtain my US visa
(a B-1 visa). Future interns should begin the application process as son as possible
after receiving their offer letter. All details about the application process can be found
at the website of either the United States Embassy in London
(www.usembassy.org.uk/) or the US Consulate in Belfast
(www.usembassy.org.uk/nireland/), depending where future interns want to have their
visa application interview. It is best to call to organise this interview as soon as
possible as the waiting list is rather long.

Another point to bear in mind is that I needed to provide a particular size of

photograph for the visa (an ordinary passport photograph is not suitable). Only three
stores is Scotland currently offer this service (details are provided by the Embassy).

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The Embassy provides a list of the documents needed for the visa application process.
I also took the letter Heriot-Watt had sent me, detailing the money I would be
receiving from the Memorial Fund, as well as a copy of my degree certificate and
transcript to the interview in London. These actually proved to be very useful as the
offer letter from the UN did not fully satisfy the Embassy official. Therefore it may
be useful if Heriot-Watt were to provide future interns with an official letter simply
stating that they have been chosen for the Fiona Watson Memorial Award internship,
simply as back-up.

Some British interns I met in New York had decided not to apply for a visa given the
Visa Waiver Programme (which allows British nationals to stay up to 3 months in the
USA without a visa). However, the Internship Coordinator stated that it was
compulsory to have the B-1 visa and I actually stayed a little longer than three
months, as future interns from Heriot-Watt are likely to do.

Travel

I flew with Continental Airlines direct from Glasgow to Newark Liberty Airport
(Continental also fly from Edinburgh direct). Although Newark Airport is actually in
New Jersey it is as easy to get into NYC from Newark as from JFK International. I
would recommend contacting The SuperShuttle (Telephone: 1-212-258-3826) to
organise transport into New York City – this is much cheaper than a cab and will take
you to any address in NY. I arrived in New York a week before the beginning of my
internship.

Accommodation

Accommodation provided me with the biggest challenge when preparing for the
internship, and may present problems for future interns. However, it is certainly
helpful to bear in mind that hundreds of UN interns face the same problem each year,
and all the interns I met had eventually found suitable accommodation. Furthermore,
I quickly discovered that apartments were one of the main topics of discussion among
New Yorkers: How much do you pay in rent? How did you find it? How many rooms?
were questions I heard being asked many times.

The Internship Coordinator provided me with a list of hotels and hostels to begin my
search. The list also included a number of websites that give information on sublets
and roomshares available in NYC. The best one of these is www.craigslist.org.
However it is not advised to organise a sublet while still in the UK: Viewing is
definitely necessary in NY as standards vary widely and different parts of the city
each have their own atmosphere. The main difficulty I faced was that not many
people had furnished rooms to rent out for a period of only three months.

I booked into the Gershwin Hostel. However, I would not recommend this to future
interns as it is really geared towards backpackers – twelve bunkbeds in one room is
not really suitable when you are going to be working every day. Fortunately some
contacts I had in New York (literally friends of friends) offered me a room while I
continued my search for permanent accommodation.

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I saw quite a number of apartments during my first fortnight in NY (all through

www.craigslist.org). Eventually it was through other friends of friends that I found
my studio apartment, in the East Village of Manhattan.

However, the fact that I organised my sublet through friends ended up causing me
trouble, admittedly through my own stupidity. I did not sign a lease agreement before
moving in and therefore had to pay more rent than initially agreed, from my own
finances. Therefore, future interns should sign a proper rent agreement before taking
an apartment. Another piece of advice is to look for accommodation in Brooklyn or
Queens – rooms are cheaper than in Manhattan and, depending on where you are, the
commute to the UN is often quicker than from some parts of Manhattan.

Travel in New York

I found the public transport system in New York excellent. The subway system runs
throughout the day and night and I always felt safe travelling alone. I bought the
unlimited monthly Metrocard. This allows unlimited travel on all forms of public
transport and can be purchased from automated machines at subway stops. I would
advise buying this with a bank card and keeping the receipt – if you lose your
Metrocard, or have it stolen, you will be given a free replacement if you provide your
receipt.

UN Internship Introduction Session

On the Friday before the start of my internship I went to the UN to be issued with my
UN Grounds Pass and meet the Internship Coordinator. It was actually while filling
out the application for the Grounds Pass that I saw the Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, for the first time…a good start to the internship!

An introduction session with the Internship Coordinator followed the issuing of the
Grounds Passes. However, because of the number of people waiting for passes, the
majority of interns did not arrive until the session was almost over. However, Anne
Favreau always responded quickly to any questions I asked and other interns provided
me with extra advice. Therefore, future interns should not worry too much if the
same happens in future years. A UN tour is also supposed to form part of the
introduction session. However, because the General Assembly was in session during
the Fall Internship Programme, this was not provided until later.

The main advantage of the Introduction session was that it gave me an opportunity to
meet some of the other interns. There were around 140 other young people from all
over the world taking part in the internship programme at the same time as me. The
main means of communication between the interns is the Yahoo Group – all interns
are invited to join a couple of weeks before the beginning of the internship. It is a
way for the interns to share advice and information on: accommodation, cell phones,
concerts, lectures, social events etc.

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Chapter Two

Internship

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The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund Internship Report 2004

I worked as an intern in the Best Practices Unit (PBPU) of the Department of

Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). DPKO, by planning, preparing, managing and
directing the various UN peacekeeping operations, assists the Member States and the
Secretary-General to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the
purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.1 PBPU supports DPKO in
fulfilling its above role by learning from experience, problem solving and transferring
best practices in UN peacekeeping.2

My work in the Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit

› PBPU Website
The main task given to me by Eiko Ikegaya, my supervisor, was to help with the
maintenance of the PBPU website (http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/). I made sure there
was up-to-date information on upcoming events, created spotlights on particularly
important topics and replied to e-mails sent to the website’s Webmaster account. I
was initially concerned that this would be an IT-based internship – in reality
working on the website was an excellent introduction to DPKO’s work (and also
encouraged me to improve my IT skills!).

Drafting summaries for the website was a task I found particularly interesting and
useful as it made use of the skills I had developed on the LINT course and also
allowed me to increase my knowledge and understanding of peacekeeping issues –
the documents on the website deal with issues such as disarmament, gender,
humanitarian affairs and also provide information on the countries affected by
conflict and the activities of the various peacekeeping missions.

› Knowledge Management Toolbox Project

Unlike summary writing, Knowledge Management was a completely new area for
me. Part of PBPU’s mission is to improve the way knowledge is shared within
DPKO – a particularly difficult task given that so much of the Department’s work
takes place in the various field missions throughout the world. The website itself
forms a major part of the KM project. While I was in New York my supervisor
was working towards adding more elements to the Knowledge Management
‘toolbox’. I helped her with this by carrying out internet research on two tools:
After action reviews and best practices reporting. Later on in my internship we
developed a questionnaire, which aimed to improve the sharing of knowledge
within the peacekeeping community by finding out the needs of DPKO staff, both
at Headquarters and in the field.

I also helped to process the data once people began returning their completed
questionnaires. Although this initially appeared to be a rather dry task, it turned
out be particularly educational as the responses gave a clear, if sometimes
shocking, insight into the problems faced by problems faced by people working in
the UN field missions. I was particularly pleased to be involved in this aspect of
the Unit’s work as it introduced me to a completely new area of expertise which I

1
Mission Statement of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations,
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/info/page3.htm
2
About Us, Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit website, http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/about.aspx

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feel will be of use in whatever work I do in the future. The Knowledge

Management project being led by my supervisor is also a new venture for PBPU –
it is just a pity that my involvement is now at an end (a common refrain now that
my internship is over!).

In October my supervisor was off work for a few weeks – something which actually
had a rather positive influence on my experience at the UN. The members of PBPU,
the Chief, David Harland, and Deputy Chief, Fatemeh Ziai, in particular, seem very
keen that interns are given interesting tasks and learn from their time with the Unit.
This meant that while my supervisor was absent I was given a range of new tasks.

› Budgetary Issues
I helped prepare the Unit’s budget documents. This mainly involved helping to
draft the PBPU Financial Performance Report. This was one of the most
challenging tasks I was given, especially since it had to be drafted to a strict
deadline. The preparation of the budget called upon me to work with almost all
the members of the Unit, allowing me to gain a wider understanding of the
different areas of work done within PBPU.

› Note-taking
I took notes at some UN meetings – another task which allowed me to use the
skills I had developed at Heriot-Watt. One of these meetings was with Mr. Olara
Otunnu, the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict; another was the launch of
DPKO’s Gender Resource Package.

› Speaker Series
I helped to organise PBPU’s Speaker Series. The series included brownbag
lunches – specialists in the field of peacekeeping came to speak to DPKO
employees about particular issues such as the peace process in Burundi or the role
of the OSCE. Other meetings involved handpicked invitees and brought together
high-level members of DPKO and specialists to discuss issues such as Internally
Displaced Persons.

I am particularly pleased that I was involved in the organisation of these events:

Simply attending helped me to develop a deeper understanding of peacekeeping,
while helping in the organisation forced me to improve my planning skills and
increased my confidence (I had never telephoned an Under-Secretary-General’s
Office before…).

› Editing
Another member of PBPU asked me to help him by proofreading and editing the
Lessons Learned Study he was drafting on the activities of the United Nations
Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). I helped him with the editing of other
documents during my internship. Yet again LINT skills were very useful!

I was particularly pleased that the different tasks I was given allowed me to work with
a number of the different members of PBPU. The UN internship allowed me to talk
to many interesting and inspirational people from various countries and with different
professional backgrounds. The Unit was very welcoming and I felt that I was making
a real contribution to their work during my internship.

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Finding out more about the United Nations

The United Nations is an enormous organisation and, although I am delighted that I

was placed in DPKO, the internship afforded an excellent opportunity to find out
more about other areas of the UN’s work. Indeed, my supervisor and other colleagues
encouraged me to attend any events or meetings organised by other departments that
interested me. Future interns should read the Daily Journal, which provides a digest
of events taking place at UNHQ. The Interns’ Yahoo Group is also good for
information on upcoming events.

Being part of the Fall Internship Programme was a particular advantage as the 59th
Session of the General Assembly was meeting. During the first fortnight of my
internship various world leaders spoke as part of the General Debate. This did mean
that huge numbers of extra fences, bomb disposal experts, snipers etc., plus the
world’s press surrounded the Headquarters complex. While this seemed to be an
inconvenience for staff members, the interns rather enjoyed the ‘buzz’ that could be
felt.

Going to the General Assembly was certainly a real experience. I heard politicians
such as Iyad Allawi, Jack Straw and even Prince Albert of Monaco speak.
Furthermore, I heard the UN interpreters at work – very interesting after four years on
the LINT course.

Other events included a lunchtime meeting with the Secretary-General of Amnesty

International, Irene Khan, and the screening of the film “En Route to Baghdad” which
detailed the work of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the SRSG for Iraq who was also a victim
of the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.

The Fiona Watson Memorial Fund

I began my internship just over a year after the attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad.
A number of people at the UN expressed to me how pleased they were that the
internship had been established so quickly after the tragedy. Indeed a number of
people I worked with had known Fiona Watson and spoke to me about the exceptional
work she had done, including the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and the Assistant-Secretary-General for DPKO,
Hedi Annabi.

Another of Fiona Watson’s former colleagues, Mary Eliza Kimball, was particularly
helpful during my time in New York. Indeed, in my second week at the UN she took
me to a session of the Security Council attended by the Secretary-General. It proved
to be quite a Friday afternoon, as I was allowed to sit on the floor of the Chamber, just
behind the Chinese Ambassador, while Resolutions were passed.

The most memorable experience of all was my meeting with the UN Secretary-
General, Kofi Annan on a cold, foggy New York winter day, just before the end of
my internship. The SG talked to me for several minutes in his office about the work I
had done while at the UN, my studies and future plans – he even managed a word of
Russian. It was a true honour to meet Mr. Annan: My time in New York strengthened

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my belief in the importance of the United Nations and engendered in me a deep

respect for the Secretary-General and his colleagues.

The Internship Programme

The internship coordinator established three committees to help the interns direct our
time in New York: Newsletter committee, social committee and yearbook committee.
I volunteered to be part of the Yearbook Committee and a small group of us produced
the Fall Internship 2004 Yearbook – a memento which included a photo and profile of
each intern, information about the United Nations and the important events that had
taken place during our time at Headquarters. This was a good way of meeting other
interns and a useful experience, as I had not been involved in any similar type of
project before.

Upon completion of the internship everyone is given a certificate, a copy of the

yearbook and the photograph of the entire intern group with the Secretary-General.

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Chapter Three

New York, New York

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The wonderful thing about the Fiona Watson Memorial Fund is that it not only
provides graduates like me with the opportunity to work at the United Nations (a real
dream come true), but also allows us to experience life in New York City.

There is at times a rather difficult relationship between the city and the organisation –
some New Yorkers wish to literally ‘evict’ the UN from New York. However, the
UN’s presence actually contributes billions of dollars to the city’s finances each year.
The UN and its employees also benefit from being based in this vibrant city (…and so
did I!). Sir Brian Urquhart sums this up in his memoir about his time with the United
Nations:
“The vitality, the vibrant cosmopolitanism, the abrasive pressures, and
the manifest and heroic imperfections of New York City…have provided
a testing and stimulating environment for the world organization…it is
a mutually advantageous relationship…I believe that if the UN
eventually grows stronger and more important, New York City will have
been a major contributor to the process.”3

A word of warning to future interns: Living elsewhere will be difficult after three
months in the city that never sleeps. They should also be aware that my time in New
York barely allowed me to scratch the surface of what the city has to offer.

› International Affairs Events

As well as the UN, numerous pressure groups and think tanks have offices in New
York. I attended a number of public lectures about international events including
a discussion at the Carnegie Council on ethics and American foreign policy and a
conference on America in the eyes of the rest of the world.

At the end of the LINT course I knew that I was interested in working in the
sphere of international relations and organisations. The UN internship was an
excellent opportunity for me to find out more about these areas. The events I
attended outside work provided a further opportunity to broaden my perspective
on a number of international issues, particularly interesting in the lead up to the
US Presidential elections.

› Museums
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through the iconic building of the
Guggenheim Museum and onto the newly reopened Museum of Modern Art, New
York is a veritable museum-lovers paradise. The city’s outer boroughs also have a
lot to offer: the Brooklyn Museum was a particular favourite as well as being
cheaper and quieter than its Manhattan counterparts.

Future interns should investigate the evenings when museums offer ‘pay-as-you-
wish’ admission. The wonderful MoMA is free with a UN Grounds Pass – much
better than the normal admission of $20.

› Concerts, shows and plays

3
Urquhart, Brian, A Life in Peace and War, W.W. Norton and Company, 1991, pp. 111-2

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The city has plenty to offer in terms of entertainment. I saw a rather unusual play
SoHo and had a wonderful evening at the Metropolitan Opera. Future interns
should use their student card, as some discounts are very generous. The
volunteers’ desk outside the UN staff cafeteria also provides vouchers for
discounts and information on concerts and musicals etc.

A number of free concerts were also organised by the UN itself. I attended an

excellent one organised by UNAIDS to mark World Aids Day. Kofi Annan gave
the keynote address and there were performances by an HIV-positive choir from
South Africa as well as speeches given by people affected by the disease. Like my
work at the UN, events like this provided me with much respect for the work of
the UN and inspiration – I hope to work in support of the UN’s principles and
aims in the future.

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Conclusion

I do not think that it would be an exaggeration to state that the Fiona Watson
Memorial Fund offered me a life-changing experience. Only a few months after
graduating from the LINT course at Heriot-Watt I was able to work at the heart of the
United Nations system, in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. What I
gained from my internship can be summarised as follows:

Skills
My work in the peacekeeping Best Practices Unit allowed me to both develop my
existing skills and develop new ones.

Knowledge
As a novice to the field of peacekeeping, the internship opened a window onto a new
and interesting area of the UN’s work. I have long wanted to work in the
international relations sphere, and I am sure that the knowledge I gained while in New
York will continue to be of great use to me well into the future.

People
While in New York I met a whole range of new people – and have returned with
many new friends. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet UN staff
members and I learnt a great deal from the many discussions I had while at
Headquarters.

Inspiration for the Future

Some people told me that my internship at the United Nations would leave me
disillusioned with the work of the Organisation. On the contrary, my time in New
York impressed upon me the importance of the UN’s work. Furthermore, meeting
UN employees from around the globe has inspired me to work in the humanitarian
field in the future.

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Appendix 1 – Photographs with DPKO colleagues

Mary Eliza Kimball, Senior Political Affairs Officer, Asia and Middle East
Division, DPKO and myself

The photographs on the following page are with the people I worked closely
with during my internship – my colleagues from the Peacekeeping Best Practices
Unit (PBPU).

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Appendix 2 - Recommended Reading List for Future Interns

› Peacekeeping

“A Life In Peace and War”, Sir Brian Urquhart, W.W. Norton and Company, 1991
(Out of print in the UK – I bought a second-hand copy through Amazon)
This book provides a good, general background to the foundation of the United
Nations and to the field of peacekeeping.

“Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures – A True Story from Hell on
Earth”, Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson, Hyperion, New
York, 2004
An account of the involvement of three young people in UN peacekeeping
missions in the 1990s. The publication of this book has caused somewhat of a
scandal at UN Headquarters. The three authors came to speak at one of the
brownbag lunches organised by PBPU. Although a rather ‘light’ book, it does
provide an interesting insight into the reality of UN peacekeeping missions.

“Shake Hands With The Devil”, Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Random House
Canada, 2004
Lt. Gen. Dallaire was Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission
for Rwanda at the time of the genocide

The PBPU website (http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/) also provides a good selection of

articles and papers on peacekeeping. I would recommend the following:
“Handbook on UN Multidimensional Peacekeeping Operations”, DPKO
“Evolving Models of Peacekeeping: Policy Implications and Responses”, Bruce
Jones
“A Current Perspective of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations”, Lt. Gen.
Satish Nambiar

› United Nations - General

“Basic Facts About the United Nations”, United Nations Department of Public
Information, New York, 2000
This is a good reference book, which provides information about the entire UN
system. A useful book to have during the internship – copies can be bought in the
UN Bookshop.

“Sergio Vieira de Mello – An Exceptional Man”, George Gordon-Lennox and

Annick Stevenson, Editions du Tricorne, Geneva, 2004
An account of the impressive UN career of Sergio Vieira de Mello, who also lost
his life in the bombing of the UN building in Baghdad. I was given this as a gift
when I left the UN and reading it strengthened my wish to work for, or in support
of, the United Nations in the future.

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