Posted 5:10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, 2017
Alumna with Danish government witnesses complexity of world conflicts.
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Alumna Pernille Mortensen, ’02, is a diplomat for the Danish government. The UWL international student from Denmark graduated from the Copenhagen Business School in 2006.[/caption]
Pernille Mortenson, '02.[/caption]
Mortensen’s involvement in Syrian conflict is only one aspect of her work today. On a daily basis, Mortensen helps the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ulla Tørnæs, create and implement sound development policy to benefit people worldwide.
She ensures that the minister is well-equipped to exercise her role. “My job is to ensure a smooth function of the office of the Minister, and while not always easy, it is always exciting,” she says.
Being a small country, Denmark places great emphasis on multilateral cooperation and partnerships such as the United Nations, says Mortensen. Attending U.N. meetings is an integral part of her work. But she has also realized the limits of such a body, particularly in terms of complex conflicts involving multiple countries like the situation in Syria.
During a U.N. Security Council meeting Dec. 13, after thousands of civilians were impacted by the Syrian governments recapturing the city of Aleppo, Mortensen heard strong words from people around the world. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power fiercely condemned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies. Yet other major world powers are in support of the Syrian government.
“The prospect of the major actors coming together to work toward a common set of solutions seems far-fetched. This does not mean that I don't believe in the UN as such,” explains Mortensen. “But it does demonstrate that the UN can only achieve so much and that it comes down to the will of the member states to take responsibility.”
Mortensen says her time at UWL helped her gain an international outlook and understanding of the complexity of global issues.
“I still carry with me examples of complex cases that we discussed during UWL classes and I can draw on these when approaching complex issues in my current work,” she says.
She remembers one case from an international marketing course where students discussed whether companies could justify paying bribes to get contracts in countries where that is standard practice.
“We had a lengthy discussion about that, and these reflections and dilemmas come up regularly,” she notes. “Denmark has a no tolerance policy on corruption in our development aid. The same goes for our business, but how do you balance that against the need to penetrate markets and generate business if other countries' companies don't comply by the same rules?”
Stephen Brokaw, UWL professor of marketing, says he hears back from many students, who, like Mortensen, take class lessons with them into their careers. The College of Business Administration has a teaching-first mentality, and the students who join those classes want to be there.
“I would like to think that all our programs/majors have ‘memorable lessons’ in them, and that those lessons will be remembered long after students leave,” he says. “And it is always nice to see that they do.”
Mortensen has held several positions within Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a focus on fragile states, managing large scale development programs, private sector development, as well as a wide range of foreign policy issues. She has been posted to Danish embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Alumna Pernille Mortensen, ’02, is a diplomat for the Danish government. The UWL international student from Denmark graduated from the Copenhagen Business School in 2006.[/caption]
Alumna with Danish government witnesses complexity of world conflicts
Pernille Mortensen is working for a better world. The 2002 graduate is a diplomat with the Danish government, a job that requires close attention to some of the world’s most complex and heartbreaking situations. Mortensen, a private secretary to the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, has visited Jordan and Lebanon, countries neighboring Syria. She has spoken to people who have been affected by the country’s civil war that’s grown increasingly violent since it began in 2011. She heard the personal accounts from Syrian refugees applying for asylum in Denmark as a member of the Danish Refugee Board, the final body that decides on asylum cases in Denmark. “You listen to people's personal stories of hardship and you get to have a very definitive say in that person’s future. That is humbling,” she says. “But it is also heartbreaking hearing personal accounts from people who have experienced the war in Syria firsthand — who have been traumatized, lost family members, lost limbs and lost their home and belongings knowing that the Syria they knew will never be again.” One case Mortensen recalls most vividly was a Syrian father and mother with five children. The parents were presenting the case before the board on their 20th wedding anniversary. Throughout the interview, the man was crying while his wife sat next to him holding his hand at times. He was suffering from PTSD, had lost the use of one of his hands and had permanently damaged his leg. The family had lost almost all their relatives in the war. “The father was heartbroken, not only because of what he had experienced during the war, but because he had not been able to provide a safe haven for his family in Denmark,” recalls Mortensen. “We ended up giving them asylum, and I have only rarely experienced such unconditional happiness and gratitude.” That was a good day, she adds. She has also met many who’ve survived horrible circumstances like a young African woman who was traded as cheap labor and young Somali men who escaped Al Shabaab, a jihadist terrorist group based in East Africa. In many cases the board has had to deny people asylum because grounds under the Danish Refugee Act are not present, she says. “But these people still have very difficult life conditions, so of course, that is not easy to do. But that's the job,” says Mortensen. A U.N. connection and more [caption id="attachment_6139" align="alignright" width="197"] Pernille Mortenson, '02.[/caption]
Mortensen’s involvement in Syrian conflict is only one aspect of her work today. On a daily basis, Mortensen helps the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ulla Tørnæs, create and implement sound development policy to benefit people worldwide.
She ensures that the minister is well-equipped to exercise her role. “My job is to ensure a smooth function of the office of the Minister, and while not always easy, it is always exciting,” she says.
Being a small country, Denmark places great emphasis on multilateral cooperation and partnerships such as the United Nations, says Mortensen. Attending U.N. meetings is an integral part of her work. But she has also realized the limits of such a body, particularly in terms of complex conflicts involving multiple countries like the situation in Syria.
During a U.N. Security Council meeting Dec. 13, after thousands of civilians were impacted by the Syrian governments recapturing the city of Aleppo, Mortensen heard strong words from people around the world. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power fiercely condemned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies. Yet other major world powers are in support of the Syrian government.
“The prospect of the major actors coming together to work toward a common set of solutions seems far-fetched. This does not mean that I don't believe in the UN as such,” explains Mortensen. “But it does demonstrate that the UN can only achieve so much and that it comes down to the will of the member states to take responsibility.”
Mortensen says her time at UWL helped her gain an international outlook and understanding of the complexity of global issues.
“I still carry with me examples of complex cases that we discussed during UWL classes and I can draw on these when approaching complex issues in my current work,” she says.
She remembers one case from an international marketing course where students discussed whether companies could justify paying bribes to get contracts in countries where that is standard practice.
“We had a lengthy discussion about that, and these reflections and dilemmas come up regularly,” she notes. “Denmark has a no tolerance policy on corruption in our development aid. The same goes for our business, but how do you balance that against the need to penetrate markets and generate business if other countries' companies don't comply by the same rules?”
Stephen Brokaw, UWL professor of marketing, says he hears back from many students, who, like Mortensen, take class lessons with them into their careers. The College of Business Administration has a teaching-first mentality, and the students who join those classes want to be there.
“I would like to think that all our programs/majors have ‘memorable lessons’ in them, and that those lessons will be remembered long after students leave,” he says. “And it is always nice to see that they do.”
Mortensen has held several positions within Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a focus on fragile states, managing large scale development programs, private sector development, as well as a wide range of foreign policy issues. She has been posted to Danish embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.