Geneva, “The City of Peace”

Ah, Geneva.

My second trip to Europe started in Geneva. Geneva is a remarkable city – it is easy to get around (known as the world’s most compact metropolis). It is a world financial center and a global diplomatic hub, and over 40% of its residents are international. And it doesn’t hurt that it is beautiful, sitting on the shore of Geneva Lake and surrounded by the Alps. In fact - not sure why - pictures of Geneva just don’t seem to be able to capture its beauty and charm.

Of course, for me, the main attraction was its renown as the “City of Peace.” It has hosted high-stakes negotiations and peace talks such as the oft referenced Geneva Convention, is the home to countless organizations that engage in peace and conflict work (more people from the United Nations are housed in Geneva than in New York), and its infrastructure is set up to host international meetings and conferences. Geneva is unique not only in the scope of organizations and activity, but in the investment the city itself has made—hundreds of millions of dollars—to situate itself as a premier city for diplomacy, conflict resolution, and humanitarian work internationally.

One example is the Geneva Graduate Institute (GGI). Founded in 1927 by the League of Nations, it was one of the world’s first academic and research institutions dedicated to the study of international relations. The intent was to have GGI be the leading authority on the nature of peace and conflict, and to train future diplomatic leaders. It continues in that vein today, both in its research and scholarship, and as an applied center for conflict resolution and peace services. The campus (the “Maison de la Paix,” or House of Peace) is a vibrant set of buildings that house a dozen other NGOs in addition to GGI, such as Interpeace, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, and, as you will see, the Small Arms Survey.

Marie-Laure Salles

Achim Wennman

Keith Krause

I met with Marie-Laure Salles, the Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute; Achim Wennman, Nagulendran chair in Peace Mediation, and Keith Krause, Director, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, and Curt Gasteyger Chair in International Security and Conflict Studies.

GGI quickly determined that peace should be defined not only in terms of the cessation of conflicts, but through a restoration of justice and equity, including a plan for the sustainability of the gains. Stopping conflict is not that helpful if there is quick backsliding toward violence, or if the conditions that started the conflict in the first place still remain.

In order for the work of an accord or reconciliation to proceed, and for sustainability to be achieved, trust must be earned, established, and maintained. In order to do their work, the mediators must first earn the trust of the stakeholders, with the goal of eventually generating trust between the stakeholders themselves.

My discussion with these exerts ranged across the field of conflict and peace itself. It is a crowded, competitive field; funds are generally available for a limited number of conflicts, and everyone is going after the same pots of money. At the same time there is endless work to do be done throughout the world, wars and conflicts for which there is little money and therefore far fewer organizations willing to try and help.

GGI has carefully curated a culture of conversation. With students from over 100 countries, they believe in and teach reflection before action. It is very Swiss. To the Swiss, diplomacy is not a profession but a way of life. Dialogue is the Swiss way. But it also has its downside. In a neutral country, the ethic of dialogue and compromise, the striving for peace and harmony, can tend to avoid the tougher, more dangerous problems, the extreme issues, placing the comfort of consensus over the struggle with those issues not amenable to it.

Mark Downes

I also met with Mark Downes, Director of the Small Arms Survey, one of the many NGOs hosted by GGI. It is a database tracking global violent deaths and the global possession of small arms and light weapons. They track armed violence, arms trafficking, stockpile management, and so on. While what they do really falls outside the scope of the center I hope to build, the conversation was fascinating. While we in the US often think of gun deaths as a uniquely US problem, small arms wreak havoc all over the world. There are a half million global violent deaths because of small arms. And here was the surprising news, at least to me: while the arms they used to track were almost exclusively guns manufactured by the major companies, now up to 40% of the weapons they track are 3-D printed, polymer weapons; massive numbers of kits (basically incomplete guns and therefore often not considered firearms, but easily converted); and gas powered weapons. These non-industrial guns are beginning to be manufactured on an industrial scale; and when you add drones, IEDs, etc. we are entering a new world where guns will be easier to access, harder to detect, and more widespread. In fact, that new world is already here.

The Villa Moynier Rue de Lausanne

Zachary Douglas, MIDS Program Director Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes

CIDS, the “Center for International Dispute Settlement,” is a joint center of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva. I spoke to two of the legal scholars who run its degree program, MIDS, the “Master in International Dispute Settlement” program. MIDS is a leading LL.M. program offering advanced and specialized legal training in international dispute settlement. Geneva bills itself as birthplace of modern international law, so it is fitting to study it there.

MIDS is run from the beautiful Villa Moynier, a historic villa surrounded by a beautiful park with a view of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc. Idyllic. I met with Zachary Douglas, the Program Director, at the villa.

Zachary pointed out his effort to always step back, to try and see the whole, broad picture of disputes and how we resolve them. He felt the European perspective can get too narrow, too specific, tied up in silos, and is often too short-term. After stopping violence on the ground - always the primary goal - peace efforts take many, many years; he suggested 50 years at leasts (incidentally, exactly the same time frame mentioned by Gary Mason of Belfast). MIDS is legalistic, its students all practicing lawyers, and it teaches international arbitration and litigation between state actors, so its focus departs somewhat from my efforts to establish PACT. But the legal framework is crucial in much conflict resolution and peace efforts, so PACT has to walk hand-in-hand with the legal community. (I recently spoke at a meeting of ATLas, the Atlanta International Arbitration Society).

I met with the gracious Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, the former Director of MIDS, at GGI. Laurence and I also discussed the role of law in peacekeeping. And she was thoughtful about offering me a number of valuable contacts. I continue to be amazed at the generosity and interest of almost everyone I have met in this field. While don’t want to idealize those who go into this field, as I am sure, like all fields, it takes many types, I also believe that those who choose peacekeeping as their focus must start with an impulse of service and reconciliation. I have not met a single person yet who has not been generous with their time and willing to help me build this new center.