Page 393 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

The international norms of behavior, of which Geneva is the major
producer and repository, make it possible for UN Member States to make their
national decisions on the basis of correct and accurate methods based on
technological and specific information and at the same time be guided in this
decision making by generally accepted human values. Geneva is currently
transforming its activities from that of the collection of information to its active
dissemination, in particular, by electronic means. The organizations of the UN
system in Geneva have huge amounts of data and analytical material at their
disposal. For example, WIPO is developing a new system called “WIPONET”
that contains over l million pages of documents on intellectual property issues.
UNOG maintains the biggest database in the UN, the Optical Disk System,
that contains about 170 Gigabytes of data representing more than 3.5 million
pages.

What is particularly important is the know-how that attracts more political
leaders in Geneva than ever before. Last year, 105 Heads of States and Gov-
ernment Ministers and high dignitaries visited Geneva not only for participation
in conferences but also for consultations with Heads of UN agencies and pro-
grammes. All of this makes me believe that the power of Geneva International
in the future is its knowledge.

My strong intention is to make these three dimensions of UN activities in
Geneva norm setting, operations and know-how - accessible not only to
Member States but also to other international actors.

As the largest UN office in Europe, UNOG is well positioned to maintain
cooperation with regional entities and structures, and has already developed
ties with several established European intergovernmental bodies. The first
major step in this direction was taken in 1993 when UNOG suggested to the
Council of Europe and to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in
Europe (now the OSCE) that periodic meetings be held between institutions
of the three organizations to improve coordination, cooperation and exchange
of information on issues of mutual concern, particularly in conflict areas where
diverse organizations with different mandates had a presence in the field. Since
then, this “informal process of tripartite consultations” has evolved into a useful
mechanism which fosters new channels of communication and helps to bridge
differences in institutional cultures.

When the process was launched in 1993, its initial focus was on humanitar-
ian crises for which the three organizations were co-located in the field,

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