Robyn-Seth Purdie, our Government Relations Coordinator, blogs from Washington after meeting her counterparts at AI USA and attending an informal briefing at the UNHRC.

After my appearance before the Human Rights Committee, and several interviews, it was very hard to settle down to sleep. Finally nodded off in the wee large hours and it seemed like a matter of minutes before husband Michael, who's acting as unpaid secretary and bodyguard, woke me up with loud gnashing of teeth.

We slept through our alarm and missed our train to Washington. We also made ourselves unpopular by sleeping past checkout time at the hotel, so made a hasty departure and set off on foot for Penn Street station.

I met with a senior member of Amnesty International US to compare notes on working in government relations for AI in different hemispheres.

It was a palely sunny day and the St Patrick's day parade had brought many people out into the streets, quite a few sporting Irish green jumper or accessories. The odd green kilt appeared. Unlike Grand Central, which has to rank amongst the most beautiful and welcoming pieces of public architecture I've seen, Penn Station was not obviously well designed in any sense. At its heart was a circus where eager travelers scanned the electronic notice board for notice of the track and gate assigned to their train service. Ten minutes before scheduled departure time this would appear and a vast queue would materialise at the appointed gate. Quite a polite queue. No thought seemed to have been given to older people or the disabled in this arrangement. Even some younger people defied the no-sitting order.

We survived the Penn Station rush and found ourselves seats at the far end of the train. Coach class is quite comfortable. Price varies considerably with departure time - the market at work.

The city-scapes between New York and Washington provoke concern about the state of the American economy. There are literally acres and acres of derelict factories. The three and a half hour ride is almost entirely through sub-urban areas, with little in the way of nature reserves. Most of the housing seems mean - in size, in construction standards, and in the ostensible lack of space and amenity. In the older cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore there are very depressed areas with some of the most miserable looking terrace houses I've ever set eyes on - low, small and decaying, row upon row, street upon street, acre upon acre of mean streets.

If President Obama wanted a national project to mop up excess in the labour market, he could tax the owners of substandard housing, decaying factories, warehouses and junk yards full of rusting car bodies. He could use these funds to launch projects to build decent housing for the low income and unemployed; he could have the despoliated land returned to nature - to provide lungs for the cities and carbon sinks for the world at large. Perhaps the funds could launch a campaign to clean up the railway sidings, the creeks and the marshes outside the cities where foul looking water and garbage provide a sad contrast to the small patches of native vegetation - tightly packed forest of deciduous trees lovely, even bereft of their summer garb.

We arrived late in the afternoon at Washington's Union Station - another breathtaking public building with soaring interior spaces. Like most of the major public buildings in Washington it projects confidence, permanence, and idealism. Those who are used to Canberra will relate to the planned city feel of DC. And the frisson of politics - even in the queue, the overheard conversation is about personalities on the hill.

The cheap hotel room in Georgetown that I found on the internet turns out to be what you could call an Executive dungeon - it was entirely underground - a possibility never considered, and only reluctantly acknowledged as the search for a window proved fruitless, and the real reason why the lift felt like it was going down came home. We escaped from the executive suite in the dungeon to a small room with two windows at the earliest opportunity - unfortunately after yet another night of relentless accrual of sleep debt.

The next morning was the real reason for the visit here. I met with a senior member of Amnesty International US to compare notes on working in government relations for AI in different hemispheres. The organisation is very large in the US. When they hold their national conference weekend after next, more than 1000 staff will attend. In the Washington office they have over 40 interns, and a very large foreign policy team. I need to catch up with the research and policy team when I return to New York. But this has been a useful meeting - having once established face to face contact, closer working relationships are possible.

Tomorrow it's back to the UN to attend as an observer an informal briefing of the Human Rights Committee for Indigenous NGO representatives. Sami people from Sweden and Les Malezer, representing Indigenous Australians, will be briefing the Committee. Les has been very active in fighting for international recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples. It will be very interesting to see which Committee members attend and witness their exchanges with the NGO representatives.

Robyn Seth-Purdie
Government Relations Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia