Page 5 - Luce 2020

T he I nterview

This was 1973 and Berlin was very much very suspicious of him, I found him quite periodic meetings with the High
a divided city, the so-called barometer entertaining and certainly interesting. Commissioner and other staff of the
of detente in the middle of the Cold UNHCR on proposed directions for the
War. Australia had, like several other SR Please do tell us more of your career various activities of the organisation.
countries, a diplomatic representation progress as a young woman and a I found UNHCR to be a highly
in West Berlin designated a military pathfinder in the area of law relating to professional organisation. Later, when
mission because it was accredited to the refugees and humanitarian concerns. my diplomatic career took me back
governing post-war military powers of to Canberra with one child, and my
Britain, the US and France. The eastern EF My third posting with the Department husband still in Geneva – he was
sector of Berlin was occupied by the of Foreign Affairs was to the Australian working for the UN in disaster relief – I
4th power, the Soviet Union. In the Permanent Mission in Geneva. There decided to take long service leave and
Berlin I got to know, the Wall which I was responsible for the portfolio of accepted a six-month secondment with
divided east from west, together with its humanitarian responsibilities, which UNHCR, which ended up lasting 26
various crossing points, most famously included following the Commission years!
Checkpoint Charlie, were very real. on Human Rights, as well as covering
It was an intriguing time – like being the work of the United Nations High SR I gather you did some challenging
a bit player in the middle of a John Le Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). work in the field, as it were. Tell us
Carré novel! I spent a fair amount of At one point I was elected by States to about that.
time going backwards and forwards serve for a year as the Rapporteur of
between East and West, meeting in UNHCR’s intergovernmental oversight EF I had an atypical UNHCR career.
the process a number of famous and body, the Executive Committee. I was Because I had already reached a
infamous characters whose names the first woman to hold the Rapporteur certain level in my diplomatic career,
are having a revival with the 30th position, elected on behalf of the I began with UNHCR at a relatively
anniversary of the fall of the Wall. They western group of governments. high level and I rose quite quickly, with
included the Australian ‘Red Professor’, a protection specialisation. I ended
Frederick Rose, anthropologist and While the Rapporteur does not actually up being mostly based in Geneva,
committed communist who had left write any report as such, it is that even while I travelled extensively to
Australia under a cloud having been person’s job to present the reports of operations around the world.
implicated in the Russian spy case, the the various sessions of the Executive
Petrov affair. A book has just come Committee, negotiate any changes, In my various incarnations in UNHCR
out about him revealing that he was which can be quite politically sensitive, I visited most of the big operations
an informer for the Stasi, including on and generally to take part in governance and many of the forgotten ones, trying
Australian diplomats. I met Fred Rose activities of various sorts throughout the to spend as much time as possible
several times and while I was always year of the appointment.These included visiting refugee groups, often in very

On the Ethiopian border with
children from Eritrea

J anet Clarke Hall 5