In case you weren’t up at 5am and missed it, UN Dispatch has been covering UN Talk Radio Day today (see posts here and here).
We’ve just seen a barrage of guests come in and out of the room (including OCHA Spokesman Stephanie Bunker, Australian Ambassador Robert Hill, and Azza Karam, Culture Advisor at the United Nations Population Fund). Canadian Ambassador Henri-Paul Normandin just finished speaking with Alan and Kerri. Near the end, Kerri brought up the situation in Zimbabwe and asked about the UN’s involvement. Ambassador Normandin said that the UN had been involved in Zimbabwe for a while, providing humanitarian assistance and saving lives. In addition, he said that the United Nations also provides a platform for dialogue and that “by bringing people together, we can exert influence on them.” Whereas, if we, instead, had an international organization formed from a select group of allies, we wouldn’t have that opportunity. The seemingly pop-culture-savvy Ambassador also mentioned the movie Blood Diamond and the fact that former Liberian warlord (who fueled the conflict in Seirra Leone) will soon face trial for war crimes at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.