Scatterbrainy

In case you haven't heard, I have a  new office. Instead of sharing with my lovely Austrian girls,
I am on my own in this huge space that overlooks the Danube and the Vienna skyline.
As you can tell from all the papers scattered around I am extremely busy and important........
Well,
at least I am busy.



yes, I have a phone.
.............................


The lasts three days have been like living in a surreal world, but an invaluable experience.
We had an EGM, meaning Expert Group Meeting to establish the Model law for Smuggling of Migrants (SOM). Expert group meeting for the UN means inviting high official experts from the whole world, in this case being judges, prosecutors, lawyers, human right advocates and police inspectors. 
The goal was to agree on the UN Model Law that will later be given to all countries that wish to implement it in their legal systems in order to protect the rights of smuggled migrants.

My role in this meeting was as a note-taker. Now this may seem as less than pressing, but let me tell you what this entails. There were 30 participants in this meeting and they were all from different parts of the world, some from common law systems, others from civil law. Some from Asian cultures, others from the EC, which made for quite a lively and interesting debate. Since my task was to write down Everything that was said, who said it and specify each and everyone's proposals; i had my hands full.
3 days of discussion resulted in 60 computer written pages of comments, proposals and argumentation.
But more importantly it resulted in an extensive and new knowledge about SOM and a growing interest for jurisprudence and international law.  Never before have I felt like what I am doing have an effect on the world as I did during these days.

But, consequently, I have had absolutely no time for my own home-exam that is sitting here waiting for me.
There is no need to wonder what this weekend will be spent doing.
Globalization of the nation state.