“At the United Nations, there are two worlds: Headquarters and the field. United Nations Headquarters in New York is our mothership. In iconic rooms such as the General Assembly Hall and the Security Council Chamber, our Member States make decisions that affect people across the globe. Meanwhile, the field is where those decisions are felt most acutely. It’s where you find our peacekeeping missions, our vital humanitarian operations, our mediators engaging in shuttle diplomacy.
In the summer of 2021, I was deeply enmeshed in the world of Headquarters. As Director of Communications and Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, it was my job to tell the press and public what was going on in the Organization’s most democratic body. My focus was on resolutions, declarations and high-level meetings. I was surrounded by words—but not seeing first-hand if or how those words were actually improving people’s lives.
Abu Khair M Jamil Alam
United Nations staff member Brenden Varma in Kirkuk following meetings with electoral authorities and civil society, 25 August 2021
Deployed to a divided country
Around that time, I happened to stumble across a movie about Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a United Nations hero who lost his life following a shocking attack in Iraq in 2003. I had joined the Organization shortly before that attack and never forgot the impact that it had on my colleagues and me. The United Nations was suddenly a target. The field seemed like a much scarier place at the time.
But nearly two decades later, I didn’t feel fear when I watched the film; I…
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