Study Trip Report to the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna - 27 May 2022

On 27 May 2022, after a long Covid-19 related “dry spell”, LLM students finally had the opportunity to head out for a study trip again and visited the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna.

The morning program included three presentations by officers from UNCITRAL, UNOOSA, and UNODC. During their interesting and comprehensive presentations, Alexander Kunzelmann, LLM alumni Yukiko Okumura, and Dr. Badr El-Banna managed to provide us with valuable insights into their work and recent projects of their respective organisation. After each presentation, we had a chance to raise questions that the presenters patiently answered.

After lunch break, the nuclear law designated afternoon program started with a presentation by the CTBTO, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. Although the CTBT still has not entered into force, it was fascinating to see the impact the organization nonetheless has on the worldwide banning of nuclear testing. The afternoon was concluded with a presentation on the development and current work of the IAEA, both from the perspective of the legal department and the press office.

Last but not least, we were given a tour through the UN premises where we learned more about the building and the locations of the different organisations. Our tour also led us to one of the impressive conference rooms of the UN. While looking at it from above, the perspective of the interpreters, we imagine most of us might have already dreamed about sitting down there ourselves as our careers progress.

Zorana Djordjevic & Viktoria Mair