Looking Back on the Geneva Human Rights Conference

Over the Christmas break in December 2014, three students – Khaleel Hooda, Saad Ladhani and Raghuveer Vyas – represented the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa at an international human rights conference in Geneva, Switzerland. They were accompanied by one of our teachers, Mr. Habel Amolo. Here are their various reflections on the trip and their experiences.

As a new member to MUN [Model United Nations], I was ecstatic when I was given the opportunity to go on such a spectacular trip. Upon our arrival in Geneva, my colleagues and I were warmly welcomed by our friendly host, Miss Nicola Fury. Miss Nicola was an interesting woman, with very inspirational ideas and believed in action rather than words. Her assistant, Erin was a friendly person who guided us through the city. 

We spent six days in Geneva, and each one was a new adventure to explore. On the second day during our stay, we visited a seminar prepared by one of Miss Nicola’s colleagues as a result of a program she had been a part of. It was known as the Just Innovate program. During the program, college students were to brainstorm ideas which were to enable sustainable development of a society in any part of the world. Most of the groups focused on the development required to be made on the African continent. The winners had received a cash prize to carry out and make their project a reality.

A day before the human rights conference, which was our main purpose of the trip, we had visited the International School of Geneva. There we made a number of friends and learnt quite a lot from them. It turns out that their drama club is presenting Footloose as well during the next upcoming months!

Overall the trip was very exciting. I learnt a lot from my encounters with the people and the students from the International School of Geneva.

By Khaleel Hooda

While in Geneva, we attended the Future of Human Rights Forum at the CICG of Geneva (Centre International de Conférences Genève), which is the hub for conferences in the city. The conference was held on International Human Rights day, which was the 10th of December. Generally, the conference is used as a platform for individuals to discuss problems and solutions that will ensure the protection of Human Rights in the future. This applied very well to our Model United Nations portion of the trip, as we were able to get ideas on how to solve several human rights issues with newfound innovative solutions.

I would say that the conference’s major forms of solutions came in two broad themes – education and media. Education was seen as the solution to many, as Colin Archer’s Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) focuses on spreading awareness on how governments spend too much on their military rather than citizens. Delia Mamon’s project called Grains of Peace focuses on educating the youth to promote peace and neutrality, not violence.

Aside from this, the youthful generation like us came forward with plenty of new ways to promote human rights with social media. Just Innovate was an application created to better facilitate the process of victims reporting human rights violations. Connor Sately created a beautiful social network called Govfaces which aims to connect politicians directly to citizens.

More importantly, Saad, Khaleel and I presented on Mombasa’s security issues – particularly youth radicalization and how terrorist groups were exploiting governmental inefficiency and religion of the youth of Mombasa in order to radicalize them. This experience was very much a great thing, as a member of an African human rights team actually requested our presentation so he may showcase it. I feel that we accomplished our goal of raising awareness on this issue on an international scale.

All in all, this conference was not only a mind opener for me (as it made me realize the scale and range of human rights issues in the world), but it was also a sense of inspiration – as so many young individuals came up with solutions that our generation is comfortable with, and it makes me feel as though our generation has a great advantage and ability to promote human rights. It was an experience that made the Geneva trip worth the while and preparation, and I will retain what I learnt from that conference for a long time to come.

By Raghuveer Vyas

The Geneva trip was an exhilarating experience for me. From the cold weather, to the Turkish restaurant, to dissecting a heart in biology, to the enlightening conference, it was an all rounded experience and indeed, I have learned a lot from it.

At first we were all worried about how the weather would treat us because none of us have really been in such weather for a long time. We packed as many warm clothes as we could. Our strategy was to layer up as many clothes as possible to stay warm. Luckily though, we enjoyed the weather.

The first few days of the trip we spent on touring around the city itself. We were also invited by Ms. Nicola Fury to lunch and recorded a video for the launch of a new website for the NGO she works for, which is Earth Focus. Most of the people we met and who worked in those fields were very driven and had very strong opinions about global issues. We had many fruitful discussions about our opinions on global issues such as the Boko Haram, the economic crisis, the situation in Mombasa, corruption and also the future of Africa. I met many different people with many different backgrounds who had many different ambitions in life. Because of the interactions and the networking sessions during the conference, I am now in touch with numerous people and organisations that are keen on helping Africa.

Apart from the conference, we went to the International School of Geneva where they also do the IB program. We shared similar opinions about the curriculum, which was mostly that it’s hard. I also noticed that the people here are very committed and have great work ethics. They had their Personal Project exhibition too, and it was pretty impressive. All in all, I had an amazing experience in Geneva, and I wish I’ll be able to go again and make a difference.

by Saad Ladhani

The 2014 trip to Geneva was an amazing experience for the students and me. Travelling with Saad Ladhani, Khaleel Hooda and Raghuveer Vyas was a great experience since it gave me an opportunity to know these students more and bond with them. I had a perceived picture of being fully wrapped in heavy clothing and staying in the cold while in Geneva. Indeed it was cold with temperatures between 3-4 degrees.

While there, we visited a mini-conference from Graduate Institute whereby we saw great ideas being shared in a competitive platform from international backgrounds. We had several creative and innovative ideas on sustainability and development being raised from research conducted in Kenya, Botswana, Sudan, Ghana, USA and others. Winning institutions were handsomely rewarded. We also visited the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) which showcased lots of people who underwent torture or injustices based on war crimes. We also visited our host Nicola who was very welcoming and guided us throughout our stay.

The following day, we visited the mountains in France. Driving through to France from Switzerland was a great experience. We enjoyed our time in France and reached a mountain top where we had a real encounter with snow. I came to learn that snow can only be created at temperatures between 1-3 degrees. It was cold; however our students still engaged in a snow fight.

One of the great places we visited was the International School of Geneva (Campus Des Nations), which was a very great experience for me. Coincidentally on the same day, the school was celebrating their Personal Project Exhibition. As the Personal Project Coordinator at AKA, Mombasa, I was delighted to see how they conducted their own exhibition. I also had classroom observations for two classes (English and biology) which were well run. Our students showed great participation in these classes, especially the biology one which had a practical lesson about the heart and its dissection. I also had the privilege to visit the school’s library which was well organised. We exchanged ideas with the head librarian and eventually created a great collaboration. After the school visit, we ended up our day by visiting the United Nations (UN) Offices in Geneva which was awesome and played host to plenty of international conferences.

In between the busy schedules, a great delicacy for me was the Istanbul pizza from a Turkish restaurant in Geneva which kept pushing and driving my mind to keep wanting more and more. I also got to know the Swiss cheese delicacies and the lovely chocolates. Our journey back to Mombasa from Geneva was good with stopovers in Istanbul and Kilimanjaro.

By Habel Amolo

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