40th anniversary of the Association of German employees working in international organizations (VDBIO)

Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Brunne,
Sehr geehrter Herr Botschafter Seidenberger,
Sehr geehrter Herr Dr. Rösler,
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Es ist mir eine besondere Ehre und ein großes Vergnügen, heute, anlässlich des 40. Jahrestages des Verbands deutscher Bediensteter bei Internationalen Organisationen zu Ihnen zu sprechen. Vielen Dank für diese Einladung!

When the United Nations was founded, Germany was not among its members. And yet, Germany was intrinsically linked with the very purpose of the UN: Establishing the UN in 1945 was a direct response by the international community to the Second World War. Preventing future generations from the scourge of war was at the heart of this newly created international organization. When the two parts of the then divided Germany finally joined the UN in 1973, as more than 130 other countries had done before, this was symbolically important. Since then, Germany, by now united, has played a very prominent role. Today, Germany is the fourth biggest contributor to the UN budget¹, with more than US$ 2 billion in 2014. The 1497 German staff working at the UN Common System in 2014 put Germany in 12th place among staff contributing countries.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall, a reunited Germany has come into its own as a global Nation that many look up to. It has mediated in negotiations of the Iranian nuclear programme and facilitated the Minsk agreement concerning the conflict in Ukraine. It has provided leadership in the refugee crisis, welcoming hundreds of thousands of refugees and committing several billion Euros in funds for the victims of the war in Syria alone. Ambassador Rücker, who represented Germany in Geneva during the last two years, has been nominated Special Representative of the Federal Government for the Middle East Stability Partnership, to strengthen support to refugees in countries where they find their first secure havens. Germany has been a formidable advocate of human rights work, with Ambassador Rücker serving as President of the Human Rights Council in 2015. For many years, Germany has supported practical disarmament measures, and it is committed to leading on the implementation of major frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

If today, Germany is recognized as a global leader, helping to respond to the most burning issues of our time, it is in no small measure also thanks to several thousand committed staff that have contributed their experience, skills and hard work as part of different organizations. Your Association is providing invaluable support to them, allowing them to fulfil this ambitious role and I thank you for your efforts over the past 40 years.

As you may have noticed, many of the activities mentioned earlier have their base in International Geneva: the city is an important hub for peace and mediation efforts: crucial negotiations on Iran, Libya, Yemen and others have been held in Geneva over the past 3 years and meetings on Syria continue to take place in the Palais des Nations. Refugee and humanitarian work is primarily carried out by UNHCR, IOM and the Red Cross System coordinated from their Geneva headquarters. The Human Rights Council, as the principal inter-governmental body of the UN examining thematic and country-specific situations of human rights violations is based in Geneva. The Conference on Disarmament meets here. Germany is one of the most active countries in the Geneva disarmament community, with Ambassador Biontino a well-respected expert in the field of nuclear disarmament and new weapons technologies. There is a whole list of agencies active here contributing to the implementation of the Paris agreement and the SDGs.

International Geneva is extremely diverse, hosting the headquarters of 33 international organisations. More than 400 non-governmental organizations and more than 900 multinationals are registered in Geneva.

Annually, Geneva welcomes more than 200,000 delegates taking part in more than 12,000 international conferences and meetings – that is more than in New York. In addition, there are more than 3,000 professional and private visits a year by heads of state, government and ministers.

More than 23,000 staff in international organizations in Geneva contribute to implementing global agendas². Around 9,400 staff work for the United Nations family in Geneva, which is the largest concentration of UN personnel in the world. There are more than 330 Germans working in the core
UN agencies here in Geneva alone³.

Beyond the UN, think tanks such as the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung build bridges between Germany and the world, via international Geneva. Many Germans enrich the Swiss research landscape: it was under the leadership of a German Director-General, Prof. Rolf Heuer, that the Higgs Boson particle was discovered at CERN. If international Geneva is such an inspiring place, it is also thanks to these and many other Germans, including all of you in the room.

The importance of this rich and unique ecosystem of Geneva for the international community is not well understood by many. Organizations have found themselves under enormous financial pressures, some to the point of almost having to close down, others considering relocation.
To increase awareness of how and why Geneva is more than the sum of its parts, I have launched the Perception Change Project in 2014. With the help of numerous examples, we illustrate the impact of the work done in Geneva on every person anywhere in the world. What do I mean by impact? You would not be able to use your mobile phone, for example, or rely on the security of the child seat in your car, if it was not for organizations in Geneva working together on international norms and standards and overseeing their implementation.

The Perception Change Project has also produced a recipe book on peace, rights and well-being. It provides a fun format to explain how international Geneva works. Thanks to the help of several VDBIO-members the book is also available in German and I have brought each of you a copy to take home.

We are pursuing other projects: a portal that allows access to the wealth of data collected by Geneva-based organizations – all in one place.

With the PCP, I aim at one simple objective: In a few years from now, if you stop any person on the street in any given place and ask: ‘What does the UN mean in your personal life?’ you would actually get an answer. Perception Change is also about change within and among the people who work for the UN and other international agencies. Our own staff should be motivated by the impact that the organization has around the world.

The 70th anniversary of the UN that we were celebrating last year reminded us of the massive successes that we owe to the UN. There was the positive role of the UN in decolonization and self-determination. Nuclear weapons have never been used since World War II. On average, and despite some dire situations, humanity has never had it so good. We live longer and healthier lives; we are better nourished and educated. The UN System has had a major share in achieving this.

At the same time, being conscious of the positive impact of the UN does not mean being uncritical and denying what is going wrong. We are all conscious of the many things that could and should be improved. In addition, implementing our ambitious global roadmap over the coming 15 years will require an entirely new and integrated way of operating, breaking down the institutional silos between organizations. Your Association has provided an umbrella, allowing members to connect across organizational boundaries and duty stations for the past four decades. I invite you to use this experience and contribute to the much-needed governance change facilitating innovation from within.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the 70 years since its establishment, the world of work at the UN has changed - certainly since I first joined 35 years ago. Similar changes occur in other international organizations and, in fact, throughout the labour market. We are today in the midst of a technological revolution that is transforming everything so fundamentally and rapidly, that it is hard to grasp. This has an impact on the world of work of tomorrow. Some professions will be replaced by technology, others will be newly created. Social and creative skills will be in high demand. Most likely, there will be a need for innovative individuals that can use available technological tools for the analysis of complex problems. In the future, there may be more work-life balance and flexibility in organizing our work days but maybe less job security.

The changes may come with increased fragmentation, isolation and exclusion across societies. Professional networks like yours should accompany those changes, anticipating labour market developments, providing guidance on retraining, connecting professionals and linking them to the labour demand.

We as staff have to be open to change. I invite you to involve the younger VDBIO-members - they will be most affected by the changes but they may also be best able to think out of the box. Support your mid-career staff. Ongoing training is crucial to prepare them for future leadership and management tasks. Tap into the experiences of current leaders and strengthen your mentoring programmes. Be mobile, horizontally, vertically but and between duty stations.

In the future, there will be more responsibility placed on the individual. The notion of belonging and community will be more defined by personal projects and individual values and interests rather than by space, work and family. I invite you to think in a new spirit of networked solidarity. VDBIO is an excellent starting point.

And all the while don’t forget to have some fun. Time flies and life goes by quickly, as you can see with those 40 years of your association. If you enjoy what you do you will be more successful and you will inspire others. In this spirit, let me raise my glass and say: Happy birthday, VDBIO, and many more happy years to come!

I thank you.



¹ Agencies that reported these contributions are DPKO, FAO, IAEA, ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IMO, IOM, ITC, ITU, UN, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-HABITAT, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, UNRWA; UNU, UNWOMEN; UNWTO, WFP, WHO, WIPO, WMO and WTO

²République et Canton de Genève, Informations statistiques : Les organisations internationales établies à Genève : résultats de l’enquête 2015, No. 30 – Décembre 2015

³Source: CEB database, includes the following organizations: UNAIDS, UNHCR, UNICC, UNICEF, ILO, ITC, ITU, UNJSPF, UN, UNDP, UNFPA, UNITAR, UNOPS, WHO, WIPO, WMO