Nearly a dozen members of the World Jewish Congress’ flagship leadership program, the Jewish Diplomatic Corps, took part in the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s 31st session in late March.
The Jewish Diplomats (JDs) – which included Aurélie Casahoursat (Switzerland), Soizic Pierson (Switzerland), Tom Alexandron (UK), Andrei Schwartz (Romania), Eugene Balin (Germany), Oscar Ferreira (Switzerland), Gilles Allali (Switzerland), Alana Baranov (South Africa) and Arsen Ostrovsky (Israel) - joined the session under the leadership of Lauren Rose and Arielle Godin-Weinstein of the WJC’s Geneva office.
The JDs delivered statements on priority issues for the WJC, including human rights in Iran, minority rights, discrimination and antisemitism, violent extremism and the de-legitimization of Israel during item 7. These statements can be viewed in the videos below.
In addition, the JDs attended many side-events and had the opportunity to meet with diplomats and representatives of NGOs including Mr. David Chikvaidze, Chief of Cabinet of the Director General’s Office of the United Nations in Geneva, Noam Cappon, legal adviser at the Israel MFA, representatives of Romania, South Africa, Germany, China, Israel, to name a few. They also attended a high-level reception where they had an opportunity to interact with ambassadors to the UN, including of the United States of America and Austria.
The JDs also attended the inauguration of an exhibit promoting Israel organized by the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN and WIZO Switzerland. The JDs participated in a pro-Israel demonstration where the key-note was given by Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid. The JDs met with Mr. Mohamad Barmou, President of the Syrian National Assembly who was in Geneva to denounce, during a press conference, the human rights violations being committed in Syria.
Lauren Rose
Alana Baranov
Eugen Balin
Arsen Ostrovsky
