By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor
Geneva, Switzerland, despite a
population of 200,000 (in a canton with a population of almost 500,000) has
high rankings in several categories by which cities worldwide are measured. It
is ranked third in the quality of life category; ranked 15th as an
international financial center; seventh in the “most expensive city” category; is
the most compact metropolis in the world; contains the oldest international
school in the world and College Calvin, the oldest secondary public school in
the world, and hosts the highest number of international organizations in the
world. For judges, court officers, lawyers, and rule of law officials, a visit
to Geneva provides inspiration and appreciation for global activities of the
international law community.
Geneva is also one of the oldest
cities in the world. Its history dates to Roman times; it is mentioned in
Caesar’s Commentaries. It was captured by Roman armies in 121 B.C.E. It
is perhaps best known for the role in played in the Protestant Reformation of
the 16th Century. John Calvin, one of the fathers of the
Reformation, became the spiritual leader of it and made it his home.
Consequently it became a hotbed of Protestantism when that movement was in its
infancy. Other Protestant leaders also made Geneva the base for their religious
activities, including John Knox and Theodore Basel, both of whom appear on the
Reformation Wall monument in the city.
Culturally 82 buildings in the city
are listed as Swiss Heritage Sites of national significance. These include
churches, libraries, hotels, palaces, museums and theatres as well as
government and international organization headquarters. Geneva hosts the
Geneva Festival each summer. The Museum of the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent is worth a visit, as is the Palace of Nations, located in the building which at one time housed the offices of the League of Nations.
The United Nations organizations that
have their headquarters in Geneva are:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR)
World Health Organization (WHO)
International Labour Organization (ILO)
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO)
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Geneva is also the headquarters of the International Red Cross, which maintains a museum and visitor center in the city.
Another site, near Geneva worth visiting is CERN
(European Organization for Nuclear Research) which is the home of the Hadron
Collider, which was used in the search for, and the discovery of, the Higgs
Boson, allegedly the last of the particles in an atom. This particle was the
basis of a Nobel Prize in Physics for the predictor of this particle, Professor
Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh.
Not only does Geneva play host to
many international organizations, it serves as the international or European
headquarters for many major corporations, including Japan
Tobacco International, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Vitol, Novartis,
Mercuria Energy, Caterpillar, Dupont, and Cargill. It has long been a
center of watchmaking.
The city provides extensive public
transportation for the visitor, including bus, trolley bus, and tram.