New York – 19 October 2023 – Today a delegation from Howard University traveled from Washington, DC, to United Nations Headquarters in New York for meetings with United Nations officials and to learn about the Organization’s history, work and values.
The trip, organized by the United Nations Information Center in Washington, DC (UNIC Washington), together with the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), was in line with UNIC Washington’s goal to increase its outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States.
The visit began with the United Nations’ official Black history tour. Papa Dembele, a tour guide from Senegal, explained the overall structure of the United Nations, while also sharing details about: Ralph Bunche, the preeminent United Nations official who became the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950; the in 2020 by Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva; and the process of decolonization in Africa. The tour included a visit to the Ark of Return, the United Nations’ Permanent Memorial to Honor the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The visiting undergraduate students also met with the United Nations Secretariat’s second-highest official, Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. The Deputy Secretary-General conversed with the delegation about the Sustainable Development Goals, the important role of youth in achieving them, and her own experiences as a Nigerian national at the United Nations.
While at United Nations Headquarters, the students were briefed by David Bongwele, who leads the Eastern Africa and Indian Ocean Team in the Departments of and Peace Operations. A national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Bongwele explained what political affairs officers do to prevent conflict and ensure that senior United Nations officials are fully informed about political developments in the field. They also heard from Jayashri Wyatt, a Canadian national and Chief of the Department of Global Communications’ Education Outreach Section, about the United Nations Academic Impact initiative, and Omyma David, a national of Antigua and Barbuda who manages both the United Nations’ Model 缅北禁地Programme and its Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery.
Throughout their visit, the delegation was accompanied by UNIC Washington Deputy Director Brenden Varma and UNA-USA Senior Director for Partnerships and Special Initiatives Troy Wolfe. Part of the Howard University delegation included students from its Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center.
This visit was part of a series of engagements between the United Nations and Howard University in 2023. On 8 February, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, visited the Bunche Center in Washington, DC, to give a talk about international diplomacy. Following that, on 18 September, Brenden Varma and Troy Wolfe jointly briefed Bunche Center students on Howard’s campus, including on UNA-USA’s , a scholarship that provides financial support for American undergraduates who secure unpaid internships with the United Nations.
