News from Geneva: Dead in a Studio and Forgotten for 28 Months

Michel Christen enjoying his family

A social crime ? Yesterday evening, RTS1 (Radio télévision suisse romande) showed a documentary revealing new details about the death of Michel Christen. On 12 May 2005, this 53-year-old man, reduce to a skeleton, was discovered 28 months after his death, in his studio in the center of the city of Geneva. His ex-wife and daughter live in the same city. “The forgotten dead” are not so rare. The Press Officer of the Vaudois cantonal police, Jean-Christophe Sauterel, says, “We discover one a month on average persons in their homes several days or several weeks after their death”. It is not possible to find the original article by Thierry Mertenat, reporting on this tragic incident, which appeared in the Tribune de Genève on 6 June 2005. The documentary in French is available for viewing on the RTS1 site until 23 January 2013. 

This is perhaps an indication of the passivity of Geneva : its inhabitants, its social services … This is one major reason why advocates can barely make a dent in awareness regarding vital issues concerning society, health, and the environment. Nor does one advocacy group join forces with another to enhance power. In the case of Mr. Christen, administrative services were slow to react and did not co-ordinate with one another. Although he had been treated at the cantonal hospital (HUG) for a serious illness, no one ever enquired when he failed to show for a follow-up appointment. The post piled up in his mailbox, social services continued to pay his allowances, then cut them off, enquiries were made to neighbors, the bad smell coming from the flat in the days following his death was attributed to a dead rat. His café “friends” never considered he might have died … people said he was in hospital, away. And where were his ex-wife and daughter who also lived in the same city? People commented that Mr. Christen “wanted to erase his life”. I don’t think so. Such a desire is also a call for help. A lady committed suicide in the flat next to mine in Geneva. A social service worker discovered her body, perhaps a day or two later. We live in a very cold society in the city of Geneva. We are all guilty of allowing this tragic incident to happen.

News from Geneva: The United Nations Orchestra Gives Its First Performance in Victoria Hall

The newly-formed United Nations Orchestra of Geneva gave its first performance in Victoria Hall, Geneva, on 16 March 2012 to a full audience of UN employees and dignitaries from Belgium, Sierra Leone and Switzerland.  Many of the 45 musicians work every day at the United Nations and other international organizations. 

“Since music is a universal language, what could be better than an orchestra to create a multicultural bridge and to strengthen links within international Geneva? Who better than the staff of international organizations themselves, many of whom are talented amateur musicians, to constitute an orchestra representing their institutions and the ideals they promote?”