Geneva Isn't For Hoodrats

            Upon my return from team JSBP’s quick trip to Geneva I have to conclude that Switzerland is no place for a hoodrat like me. The roads sparkled with diamonds and every windowsill displayed thousand dollar watches. The people spoke with a smooth and melodic French accent and wore only the finest of suits. The businessmen took every stride with an air of financial knowledge. The Gyros were four to five times as expensive as in Budapest, and the convenient stores stopped selling beer at nine (in Hungary I’m almost certain they lower liquor prices as the night progresses towards morning).

            However, even though Geneva wasn’t exactly my cup of tea as a city, the academic experience that I was fortunate enough to encounter was extremely enlightening. Team JSBP was lucky enough to get invited into the United Nation Environmental Programme’s headquarters in Switzerland. There we sat in a private room and asked questions of four esteemed members of UNEP, which is a very important organization in the grand scheme of international environmental policy and advocacy.

            The first speaker of the conference was Angela Cropper, who is the Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP’s coming Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. Cropper was a fascinating individual. She fielded questions rather than strictly lecturing, and was so succinct and well spoken in regards to her answers that it seemed as though she had nearly too much knowledge on the topic of global environmental policy. Perhaps one of her most interesting sermons addressed the issue of the United Nations and their effectiveness in convincing various national governments to adopt their environmental policies. I felt as though she was very honest in her response, and did not shy away from the fact that in many ways UNEP has been somewhat inefficient in actually getting their policies to transform into authentic action. However, she also made me feel hopeful for the future. The fact that a woman like her holds the reins when it comes to communicating with the various foreign ministers of the world makes me think that winning their hearts and minds in regard to instilling positive environmental policy is inevitable.

           

                                                         Cropper has a way with words

            We also had the chance to speak with Barbara Ruis, who is a legal advisor for UNEP. At one point she mentioned that she felt bad for being as frequent of a flyer as her job required her to be. I had never considered the fact that it may be somewhat selfish to fly constantly, due to the amount of environmental damage that every takeoff and landing produces. I had never considered the idea that maybe every person should have a limit on how many times she or he flies throughout a lifetime.

            After visiting UNEP team JSBP moved on to the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There we sat through a presentation on the main functions of the UN Refugee Agency, with a special focus on the current Iraqi refugee situation. It’s interesting to think about the fact that as a country we invaded Iraq without the consent of the United Nations, and yet one of their most successful organizations has been in charge of cleaning up much of our mess. The amount of human displacement in Iraq has been astounding since the US began using military force in the region in the early 2000s. Many citizens of the country have been forced to flee their homes in search of a safer environment, or have moved from their villages due to their complete destruction. The UNHCR has put forth an astonishing amount of effort in this region. They have provided safe drinking water, food, and a place to stay for the people that the US has had a hand in dislodging. As an American, I have to admit that I felt a little ashamed and embarrassed during this presentation. The Iraq war has truly done permanent damage to the American image abroad, and it’s hard to blame members of the international population for not being overly receptive to US citizens.

It also must have been hard for the residents of Geneva to enjoy the hoodrat presence that some of the JSBPers and I brought to their clean and quiet streets.  

Keep it keepin people,

And I’ll keep hooding,

Love,

Mama’s Boy               

Dr. Attila Nyikos and the EU

School Blog 7

What’s been happening people? Anything going wrong in the real world these days?

Last Wednesday the JSBP crew and I got a chance to hear about some of the things that are going right in the world, which was a nice change of pace from the gloomy tales of Hungarian history that our ears are so often subject to.  We were lucky enough to hear a lecture from Dr. Attila Nyikos, who is the head of Hungary’s National Disaster Management International Relations department. He is a very important figure in the stratosphere of Hungarian government, and it was quite easy to come to that conclusion from his presence in the room.

Experts Pexterts

He plays the lead role in what he described as Hungary’s version of FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in place in case of crisis in the US motherland). As a citizen of any nation it’s really easy to take for granted the idea that the government will always be there for you whenever the proverbial shit hits the fan. If a tsunami rips through Hampton I truly do feel like FEMA has got my back, and is prepared to help me in case of any such emergency. However, the logistical preparations and manpower that is required for any such operation is massive, and there needs to be an organized group of talented people in charge for any relief project to go smoothly.

            Dr. Nyikos is the luminous figure behind Hungary’s disaster management organization, and earlier this year he spent six months as the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Affairs president as well. This means that from his office in Geneva, Nyikos led the disaster management departments (the FEMAs) for every one of the twenty-seven European Union member nations. Nyikos and his team of EU statesmen were in charge of the preparations for relief in case any serious emergencies were to occur throughout Europe. They were also in the leadership position if any such civil adversities transpired, such as the Hungarian red sludge accident or the evacuation of EU citizens who were left homeless refugees in northern Africa due to Muammar Gaddafi’s terrorism in Libya.

Member Nations

Nyikos was an interesting character, and his recent work from within the European Union was extremely impressive to say the least. The European Union is a very polarizing organization. Most European’s feel an incredibly strong tie to their home country, and are not completely sold on the idea of a single European voice. When asked about the issue, Nyikos stated that the “EU is not perfect, but it’s the best we have”. However, after hearing him talk about the time he spent working within the EU my opinion is that it is truly a positive step for all European nationalities.

Nyikos and his teammates within the civil protection organization were often from different nations and spoke different mother tongues, yet they worked together as a unit towards common goals. I think that this is the most prominent feature of the European Union. Enhanced communication between Europeans of different nationalities is crucial for the continued peace and prosperity of this region. After hundreds of years of animosity and fighting between many of these diverse peoples it is time for mutual understanding to become solidified. Oftentimes when you actually have the chance of conversing with someone in person, that person (or persons) becomes very hard to blindly hate.

So word up European Union, keep up the communication and you’ll end up on the right side of history.

Love,

Mama’s Boy  

Dr. Lajos Korona

School Blog number 6

            Last Wednesday the JSBP crew and I got the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Lajos Korona, a highly esteemed lawyer in Budapest’s metropolitan public prosecutor’s office. Korona was a really nice guy, and was rocking a pretty sweet suit if I must say so myself. He gave us some excellent insights on the Hungarian legal system, crime trends in Budapest, as well as his job as a public prosecutor in particular.

The branch of the public prosecutor’s office that Lajos works for is in charge of the supervision of police investigations. Korona spends almost no time working in the courtroom, but his job is extremely important nonetheless. It can be argued that the most significant aspect of any successful criminal lawsuit lies within the police’s investigation of the specific occurrences of the case. Without the proper police work (ie. evidence collection, witness questioning) it is impossible to decide whether a defendant is guilty or innocent. Korona is in charge of overseeing the procedures of an investigation with the goal of making sure that there have been no illegalities committed by the state in its attempt to convict a criminal. Korona’s work is paramount to the success and transparency of any democratic legal process. He and his colleagues are involved in keeping the police accountable for their work, and assuring that they maintain honesty in their attempts to solve a crime. Without this key checkpoint in the Hungarian legal system there would be room for fraudulent investigative behavior, such as tampering with evidence or improperly investigating witnesses.

            Dr. Korona pointed out that there are very rarely any problems in the investigative work done by the rendorseg in Budapest. This could very well be due to the fact that his department is constantly overlooking each officer’s work to make sure that he or she is acting in a professional and honest manner throughout every criminal investigation. The many filters that are in place throughout Hungary’s criminal investigation process have been paramount in creating a fair and well-balanced legal system for all Magyars.

            Korona then went on to discuss the types of crime that are prevalent in modern day Budapest. He said that his department deals mostly with criminal investigations involving drug crimes, homicide, and high stakes property crime. Budapest is contaminated with these three categories of criminal activity, much like most major cities throughout the world. One form of crime that Korona discussed that I was not as familiar with, however, was human trafficking. In many cases, Hungarian women will be smuggled to various countries in Western Europe to become prostitutes. These girls are delivered to their future pimps though middlemen who participate in human trafficking for a living. Unfortunately, most of the Hungarian women who are delivered to places like the Netherlands and Sweden to be sold as prostitutes are doing so according to their own will, which makes this type of crime very hard to stop.

Women sold and bought

            A crime of this nature is shocking to me. The fact that many Hungarian women are willing to sell themselves in order to get to Western Europe is a truly scary thought. It is also a somewhat sad reflection of the desperate times that a large population of lower class Hungarians find themselves buried in. It was interesting to hear the perspective of someone who works within the Hungarian legal on such an issue. Korona seemed very sad about such a form of criminal behavior, but quite clearly affirmed that there wasn’t much to be done about it.
Some problems are too complex to be solved within the simple confines of a legal system. 

Keep it keeping my homies,

Love,

Mama’s Boy                 

Oktoberfest

Home Sweet Munich Night 1 

8:30 am

Table Friends

Tough Times