Internship at UN-ESCAP

Dept. of International Law & Human Rights
Jinah Kwon

As I received an offering letter for a summer internship at the UN-ESCAP, I wondered what I would be able to experience and learn from my 2-monthes internship in Bangkok. While I had looked for an opportunity to work in Asian culture, I had a high expectation for the time in Bangkok and it did not take a long time for me to realize that such expectation was well-satisfied through the time in Bangkok.

     Working in the Transportation Division, my major task had been searching for road safety states of 33 ESCAP member countries. The purpose of the work was to come up with available data from ESCAP member countries and ultimately contribute to assessing the existing Road Safety Indicators from the UN-ESCAP. In doing the work, I had two presentations-introductory presentation and final presentation- about the work in front of members of the division according to the division’s tradition. In the process, not only was I able to learn about the way of communicating with people from diverse culture, but also how the international government makes policies toward its member countries.

Further, the general atmosphere of the United Nations gave me a good sense of what it is like to work in international organizations. Receiving internal email with the headlines of UN member countries, I was able to grasp what is going around the world and could further the knowledge through talks with people from diverse countries. Meeting new people from various UN organizations was one of the exiting parts of working in the UN-ESCAP. As the UN building complex in Bangkok is the 3^rd largest complex owned by the United Nations, I was able to see how different UN organizations work for the common good. Having a strong desire to gain a live knowledge about various UN organizations in more detail, I had actively engaged in meeting and learning from many different people through various means. Through such time, I was able to learn about the system of the UN and tasks of various UN organizations.

 Overall, it was a very good experience to apply my knowledge from text books into practice and get a better understanding of international problems and an insight into the workings of the United Nations.