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Inside Geneva – SWI swissinfo.ch — Government
Inside Geneva – SWI swissinfo.ch

A podcast from SWI swissinfo.ch, a multilingual international public service media company from Switzerland, where Imogen Foulkes puts big questions facing the world to the experts working to tackle them in Switzerland’s international city.

Copyright: © 2024 Inside Geneva

Latest Episodes:

Love for life in Gaza and COP29’s ethical dilemma in Azerbaijan Oct 29, 2024

On Inside Geneva this week we talk to the people behind a new book about life in Gaza, told through the words of those who live there.
“People are actually travelling in the middle of a war, in the middle of Gaza at midnight – the peak of the risk, if you like – to get somewhere where they can get a better internet so they can actually talk to us,” says Mahmoud Muna, editor of Daybreak in Gaza.
This book, edited by Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller with Juliette Touma and Jayyab Abusafia, is about history, culture, food, music and life.
“It’s not a football game. This is about our humanity and it’s about being able to sympathise with people wherever they are. This is not about taking sides. It’s about whether we’re human or not,” says Touma.
“This book does not give voice to the voiceless. The people of Gaza, like people everywhere, have voices. The point of this book is not to give a voice; the point of this book is to amplify the voices of the people who are not being listened to,” continues Teller.
In this episode, we also ask why human rights groups are uneasy about the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan.
“Dozens have been arrested in the months leading up to COP29, including 16 journalists, other society activists, and NGO leaders. There is still time for Azerbaijan to set the record straight, and they should release them. The UN should engage with Azerbaijan to ensure that it does so,” says Giorgi Gogia from Human Rights Watch.
Tales from life in Gaza, climate change, and human rights. Catch this and more in the latest episode of our Inside Geneva podcast.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Does it matter to the UN who’s in the White House? Oct 15, 2024

The presidential elections in the United States (US) are just a couple of weeks away. What will they mean for international affairs, for Ukraine, for the Middle East, for humanitarian work, for international law and for the United Nations (UN) in Geneva?

“When I was in the US, I definitely saw that there is no interest for anything called multilateralism or collaboration globally. Because it’s a matter of support – political, financial and moral support for international questions and for international Geneva. I think Europe is there, yes, but I don’t think Europe will be able to match the US,” says Swedish journalist Gunilla von Hall.

Does it even matter who wins? Or is the waning support for multilateralism part of a bigger problem?

“Is multilateralism a system that allows all countries to deal with each other in a civil and non-violent way where common interest prevails? Or is it the appearance of a system that allows the continued hegemony of the old powers after the Second World War?” says Tammam Aloudat head of the international medical aid charity Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) Netherlands.

“There are two words that are key here. One is the notion of polarisation, not only in the United States, but internationally. We see it in Geneva, we see it everywhere. The second is the word transactional. Everything seems to be transactional: ‘what’s in this for me?’ instead of someone coming in and saying: ‘for the common good'," adds analyst Daniel Warner.

Would the multilateral system even be better off without the US?

“I don't think we can afford to sit in an arena where our hope for multilateralism, which still is in the UN and its institutions, [means we are] sitting still, taking the constant bullying of the United States,” says Aloudat.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on our Inside Geneva podcast to discover how important the US still is these days.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Special episode: A year of war in the Middle East Oct 07, 2024

It’s been one year since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. Twelve months of violent conflict have followed, with tens of thousands dead. We look back at our coverage over the past year.
“What we have to deal with is the immense stupidity of the wars that currently are in place. And here we are having to deal with wars of a sort that were better found in the history books devoted to the 20th century and ought not to have a place in the 21st,” said Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, former United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.
How have the aid agencies coped?

“People tend to believe we can do things that we cannot do. We have no army. We have no weapons,” said Fabrizio Carboni, regional director for the Near and Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

How do they respond to critics who believe they should do more?

“If we could release them all we would do it as soon as possible. If we could visit them we would visit them. And at the same time it takes place in an environment which is Gaza,” added Carboni.

Why are we so quick to war, and so slow to peace?

“There’s a focus on the centrality of my pain, the pain my community feels and I feel, and I want the world to stand with me whoever I may be, and I demand it as a recognition of my suffering. But then the obvious question is, but how often do we, as individuals, side with others who are experiencing pain,” said al Hussein.

Join host Imogen Foulkes for this special episode of the Inside Geneva podcast.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Forty years of the convention against torture: are we honouring it? Oct 01, 2024

For 40 years, there has been an absolute ban on torture. But it still happens…

“Horrific things can happen to you. Nobody is there to help you. Nobody is there to document it, etc. And I think sometimes we speak about torture without putting ourselves in the shoes of what this is,” says Gerald Staberock from the World Organisation Against Torture.

On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, host Imogen Foulkes finds out how the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came about.

“The convention came in the 1980s, arising out of terrible situations in Latin America, the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina in particular. And of course, torture, enforced disappearances, and killings were used as a matter of course to suppress their populations and to suppress opposition,” explains Alice Edwards, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Today, some say torture might be justified in certain circumstances.

“We didn’t outlaw torture because it works or not. We didn’t outlaw slavery because it doesn’t work. We didn’t outlaw robbery because it doesn’t work, but because it is wrong,” says Staberock.

As of today, 174 states have ratified the convention…but are they honouring it?

“There is pushback, it’s definitely on the rise I would say because torture is also on the rise. Torture is universally condemned but widely practised,” continues Edwards.

How should we mark the 40th anniversary?

“So much more has to be done to really eradicate torture. We have to recognise that it is still a problem, and we have to recognise it as a problem. For a torturer, for individuals, for society. A society that tortures is a sick society,” says Staberock.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Can the UN's Summit for the Future tackle today’s toughest challenges? Sep 17, 2024

This month the United Nations (UN) will host the ‘Summit of the Future’ in New York. What's the point of this high-level event? Inside Geneva investigates.
“The UN is not an entity that does anything. I mean, we can all blame it, but what is the UN? It’s just the sum of its parts: the governments,” says Christiane Oelrich, journalist for the DPA German Press Agency.

Is the UN’s 1945 structure even fit for purpose?

“Historically the UN for many people is still associated with the West. And the question of including the global south still haunts the UN,” continues analyst Daniel Warner.

Does the UN have an answer to today’s brutal, intractable conflicts?

“Since World War Two there have been plenty of conflicts, but what we have seen in the last three or four or five years is the use of aggression and violence as an instrument of foreign policy. Yes, that’s right,” says Nick Cumming-Bruce, contributor for the New York Times.

Can more peaceful nations rescue the UN’s purpose?

“The fact that some countries follow the path of aggression doesn't mean that all the rest of the world has to talk about failure now,” adds Oelrich.

And is the summit a gamble for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres?

“We should tip a hat to Antonio Guterres for even trying to do this given all of the stuff that's going on,” says Imogen Foulkes, Inside Geneva presenter.

Join us on Inside Geneva to find out more about what we can expect from this summit.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Special episode: Can the WTO shape a fairer world economy? Sep 10, 2024

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum is underway in Geneva and its key theme is ‘re-globalisation’. Are we nervous of that word? Inside Geneva sat down with WTO officials to find out what it means.

“Trade has been a very powerful force for reducing between-country inequality. Since 1995, for example, since the foundation of the WTO, extreme poverty in the world has been reduced from 40% to 10%, because of growth in many countries that was also export-led,” says Ralph Ossa, WTO chief economist.

Many ordinary people think global trade makes them poorer. How can it benefit them?

“At the WTO, our members have gotten together and many of them have formed a working group on trade and gender to especially put the lens of women to trade policy and to see what more can be done so that they can take advantage of opportunities,” says Johanna Hill, WTO Deputy Director.

The WTO doesn’t tell countries how to run their industries, but it does hope they can learn from one another.

“Perhaps one member might say, ‘Well, you know, supporting women in my country has really been a tremendous success. Because now we see higher growth rates, lower poverty rates and so on. Why don't you give it a try yourself?’” says Ossa.

Can global trade help us face global challenges?

“Nobody questions the importance of regulating to protect the environment or to protect health - everybody agrees on that. It’s the how that might be the question,” says Hill.

Join host Imogen Foulkes for a trade special on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: Recognising and supporting survivors of sexual violence Sep 03, 2024

Conflict-related sexual violence has existed for as long as war itself – forever.

“It is a weapon of war. I would say it’s a weapon of mass destruction. It is really maximising harm,” says Esther Dingemans, Executive Director of the Global Survivors Fund.

In Inside Geneva’s final summer profile, we talk to a woman working to support survivors of sexual violence…from Sudan, to Ukraine, to Syria, or Chad.

“Young girls have been raped in front of their parents. Fathers are bound to chairs and forced to watch that. Or that an older – a woman in her 80s is raped in front of her son-in-law,” says Dingemans.

The 1949 Geneva Convention prohibits wartime rape and enforced prostitution. But even today there are few prosecutions. And what about the survivors?

“Survivors doubt themselves. Most victims of sexual violence will always question themselves. ‘Am I to blame?’” explains Dingemans.

The Global Survivors Fund works for reparation – not just money, but health care, counselling, and above all, recognition of the harm done.

“What is really important, particularly for survivors of sexual violence - which is often surrounded by so much shame and stigma - is that they are acknowledged, that harm has been done to them, and that it was not their fault,” concludes Dingemans.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: Afghan women’s struggle against Taliban oppression Aug 20, 2024

It’s three years since the Taliban took back control in Afghanistan. Inside Geneva talks to an Afghan human rights defender.

“I was scared and I could see it coming. Yes, I mean, I think for the women of Afghanistan, we knew that the Taliban taking over would mean a dark future for women,” says Fereshta Abbasi from Human Rights Watch.

In three years, women’s rights have been steadily, and brutally, repressed.

“No matter what we have done in the past three years, we haven’t been able to reverse a single decree of the Taliban that is restricting women’s rights,” continues Abbasi.

“In 2024, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where women do not have access to education beyond the sixth grade. Women do not have the right to most employment. Women do not have the right to freedom of movement. Women do not have the right to protest and assemble. So, I think we need to speak about it,” says Abbasi.

What can we do to support Afghan women?

“I think it’s very important to stand with them, to listen to them, and to amplify their voices. It’s very difficult to think of a better Afghanistan, a brighter future for women under Taliban rule. And I don’t want to think about that. I want to believe and hold my strength together, that this madness cannot last.”

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Special episode: World Humanitarian Day stories from crisis zones Aug 19, 2024

Join us for a special extra edition of Inside Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day, with testimonies from aid workers who have given their all – and who have often lost a great deal.

“So I had taken him to the airport together with our child, and, yes, it took me in fact many years to be able to use the same elevator in the airport where I last kissed him,” says Laura Dolci.

Dolci’s young husband Jean-Selim was killed, just weeks after the birth of their son, in the bombing of the UN’s headquarters in Baghdad in 2003.

Twenty years on, WHO cameraman Chris Black was sent to Gaza, to support, and document, medical care there.

“Something I really will never forget is a woman, with a young child, saying to me: ‘Are we safe here?’ And I wanted to say: ‘Yes, you're in the grounds of a hospital, under international humanitarian law this is a protected space, you should be safe here.’ But I couldn't say to her: ‘You're safe here,’” says Black.

More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

“People have told me oh you must be very brave for going to Gaza. And I don't think so. I think what's brave is the people who have been doing this work since early October and who go back every day to do it again and again and again,” continues Black.

“The aid worker, the humanitarian worker, the peacekeeper; ultimately it's a human being that decides to put its own being to the service of humanity,” says Dolci.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva for an inspiring listen.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: using sport to unite refugees and host communities Aug 06, 2024

In the fourth episode of our summer profile series on Inside Geneva, we talk to a Geneva career woman and a Geneva asylum-seeker about a project to unite communities through sport. Surely the world’s humanitarian capital is good at welcoming refugees and immigrants?

“We have all these international organisations working on various global challenges. But when you talk to people from Geneva, they don’t really know what’s happening in this bubble,” says Lena Menge, from the Geneva Graduate Institute and co-founder of Flag 21.

For asylum-seekers, arriving in a new country, even a safe one, can be hard.

“I was very lonely. It wasn’t easy. You feel lost and don’t really know what’s happening or where you are. It takes time to realise where you are and what you are supposed to do,” says Mahdie Alinejad, an asylum-seeker from Iran and a coach with Flag 21.

Flag 21 is a project that brings locals and asylum-seekers together – to run, swim, do yoga, and much more.

“Sport was actually a meaningful tool to include people in need, people that needed a community around them as well,” continues Menge.

The project benefits everyone.

“It’s not easy to have this confidence and grow in society as an immigrant. So this is a very good thing that they’re doing, giving opportunities to people who really need it, to find themselves, their space, their place and their confidence,” says Alinejad.

“They have such resilience and so much strength to share that you come away thinking ‘my God, my little problems are really nothing’,” concludes Menge.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva to listen to the full interview.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: unlocking treatment for neglected diseases Jul 23, 2024

On Inside Geneva, we bring you part three of our summer profile series. This week we talk to a doctor looking for treatments for some of the world’s most neglected diseases.
“Neglect means that there are diseases that affect an important proportion of humanity but for which no new drugs have been developed because there is no money in it. Because they affect very poor populations in remote rural areas,” explains Olaf Valverde, clinical project leader at Drugs for Neglected Diseases (DNDi).

Valverde is the clinical lead on a project looking for treatments for sleeping sickness.

“It’s a disease caused by a small parasite that almost always kills if untreated. During the first half of the 20th century there were huge epidemics. It not only destroyed communities but also caused the desertification of entire regions of Africa,” he adds.

Cases of sleeping sickness with no effective treatment had been rising again until DNDi began combing medical trials – some abandoned by big drug companies as not profitable – for other options. They found one promising lead and began testing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“The motivation, concentration and interest shown by our doctors in the DRC who were developing the clinical trial, were totally amazing. For them it was an opportunity to serve their people. And that was absolutely beautiful,” says Valverde.

The drug worked and sleeping sickness is on the way to being eradicated.

“I think this is what I always wanted to do; to do something that could be helpful to others. And this is what satisfies me. Just seeing that people have opportunities.”

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva to listen to the full interview.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: challenges in humanitarian aid with MSF’s Secretary General Jul 09, 2024

Here’s episode two of our summer profiles series on the Inside Geneva podcast. We talk to the head of one of the world’s leading humanitarian agencies. We start with his first assignment in Darfur, in western Sudan.

“As I was one day building the shelter I realised for the first time in many years I hadn't thought of what’s next? I wasn’t thinking everyday where do I go from here, what do I do, what’s my plan? I’d just been so absorbed in the work,” Chris Lockyear, Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) told host Imogen Foulkes.

We also discuss the current crisis in Gaza, where, amid terrible destruction, MSF is providing medical care.

"What are we [on] now 37,000 people killed? It’s astonishing. Neighbourhood after neighbourhood after neighbourhood which has been completely flattened,” continues Lockyear.

In Gaza, MSF staff have met children as young as five, who said they wished to die.

“They've been going through this for months and months and months, and the brutality of what is happening, what they’re living through, yes, people are saying that they would rather end it than continue. And that can't be a surprise to us.”

MSF has been outspoken when it believes international law has been violated:

“What does it mean elsewhere? How could this be translated into other countries? Into Sudan, into the future if we can operate as a world with such impunity? Where does that leave us?” says Lockyear.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on our Inside Geneva podcast to listen to the full interview.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Summer profiles: women defending other women around the world Jun 25, 2024

On Inside Geneva, we’re bringing you a series of summer profiles, from doctors in war zones to researchers into the diseases that affect the world’s poorest.

Today, we talk to international human rights lawyer Antonia Mulvey, who devotes herself to defending women.

“With many of those that we work with, who have been subjected to sexual violence, part of it is listening to them, hearing them, acknowledging what has happened,” Mulvey says.

From Somalia, to Sudan, or Lebanon, Mulvey and her colleagues offer support and advice, but the women affected are always in control.

“Some have the courage and bravery to step forward, and we represent them in legal cases. But they have to lead the way,” she adds.

Mulvey also hopes to inspire other women.

“Let’s step up, let’s work with women, let’s work with women’s groups, to take more cases, to keep challenging it, to keep pushing that door open,” Mulvey concludes.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Is international law dead? Jun 11, 2024

Geneva is the home of international law, the rules that are supposed to stop the worst violations in war. But does anyone respect it anymore?
Please watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Andrew Clapham, Professor of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute, says: “It’s quite blatant that when we like what the International Criminal Court is doing we will support it, but as soon as it steps out of line we will call it a ridiculous institution. So, it is a bit of a crossroads for international law.”

The Geneva Conventions are 75 years old – are young people even aware of them?

“We have the law, and at least my generation or younger generations tolerate much less those types of violations, and we are reporting more,” says Cristina Figueira Shah, international law student and co-President of the Human Rights, Conflict and Peace Initiative.

Are there any rules of war that work?

Laurent Gisel, Head of the Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit at the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), explains that “far fewer people know about the prohibition of blinding laser weapons than the mine ban treaty. Why? Because it has been prohibited before they were developed. And it was prohibited 50 years ago.”

Does indicting a political leader achieve more than headlines?

“Naming somebody as a potential war criminal has a huge effect because if the leader is named as a war criminal, like President Putin or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that means that assisting them to do what they are doing means that you are aiding and assisting, potentially, in a war crime,” says Clapham.

How can we encourage more respect?

“I think we should go back and understand all the reasons why we got to this point in the first place. How we wrote all the international treaties and understand from that what our generation can do to improve it,” says Shah.

“Violation of international humanitarian law creates even more hatred. And if you want to live in peace afterwards, it helps to respect international humanitarian law during the conflict,” says Gisel.

Join Imogen Foulkes for an Inside Geneva special from Geneva’s Graduate Institute where experts and audience ask: “Is international law dead”?

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Laws that changed our world and the people who fought for them May 28, 2024

In this week’s episode of our Inside Geneva podcast, we revisit our coverage of laws that changed the world.

Save the Date for a live recording

We’d like to invite you to a live recording session of our Inside Geneva podcast about the role of the Geneva Conventions and international law. Mark your calendars - June 5, 2024, from 12:30am to 13:30pm - at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Registration is required to secure your spot here. If you have any questions, please email us at event@swissinfo.ch.

From the Convention against Landmines:

"The very day that I entered the hospital for war victims, I realised that all these patients were without one or two legs," said Dr Alberto Cairo from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"Every day, just about, somebody was injured by a landmine, and they were rushed off to Khao-I-Dang hospital to have their legs amputated," said nurse Denise Coghlan, in Cambodia.

The convention was adopted in 1997.

Steve Goose, from Human Rights Watch, says: "This has been an extremely successful treaty, because it has saved so many lives, and so many limbs, and so many livelihoods."

But landmines still cause huge harm.

"Every morning when I get up in the morning I put on my artificial leg. That’s something that I will do every day for the rest of my life," said Stuart Hughes, a landmine survivor.

We have a convention against genocide, but is it enough?

Ken Roth, human rights expert, says: "People feel like, if you don’t call it genocide, then it’s not serious. And that’s a mistake."

"We have a genocide convention, and we don’t have a crimes against humanity convention, at least not yet," said Paola Gaeta, professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

And the Convention against Enforced Disappearances – a protection for families as well as the disappeared.

Cordula Droege, from the ICRC, says: "Victims of enforced disappearances are not only those who are disappeared but also those who suffer directly from it, such as the relatives."

"He was taken by armed men, and taken to a car, a red car without a plate number, and he disappeared," said Aileen Bacalso.

Olivier de Frouville, UN expert on enforced disappearances, adds: "That’s why we describe also for the relatives, who are victims of enforced disappearances, we describe it as torture, because this is real torture."

Inside Geneva hears from the people who campaigned to make our world safer, and asks, are we honouring their laws and their sacrifices?

Get in touch!

Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Is the world brave enough to agree on a pandemic treaty? May 14, 2024

Four years ago, our lives were upended by the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries locked down, millions became ill, millions died. And when the vaccine finally arrived, it was not fairly distributed. Rich countries bought too many, poor countries waited, with nothing.

“What we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic was collapse. Basically, a complete failure of international cooperation,” says Suerie Moon of Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre.

Surely we can do better? Countries are gathering in Geneva to try to hammer out a pandemic treaty. Do they have the vision? And the courage?

“There’s been so much lip service paid to equity, but when it actually comes to nailing down what that means, and how to avoid a repeat, it seems like governments are struggling,” says Kerry Cullinan, deputy editor of Health Policy Watch.

What about the vaccine manufacturers? Are they ready to share?
Thomas Cueni former head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers told us in 2023: “I’ve always been of the view that no treaty is better than a bad treaty. Have a good treaty, I think it would be great.”
David Reddy, the new director-general of IFPMA, adds that they “remain committed to providing the expertise and know-how of our companies to global efforts to prepare for and respond to future pandemics.”

Are we going to be better equipped for the next pandemic?

“I think it would be an insult to the seven million people plus who died during the pandemic for there not to be a historic agreement,” says Cullinan.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on our Inside Geneva podcast to learn more about this treaty.
This text was updated on May 16, 2024, to mention that Thomas Cueni is now the former head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. The interview mentioned in the podcast was recorded in 2023.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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New wars, new weapons and the Geneva Conventions Apr 30, 2024

In the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, new, autonomous weapons are being used. Our Inside Geneva podcast asks whether we’re losing the race to control them – and the artificial intelligence systems that run them.

“Autonomous weapons systems raise significant moral, ethical, and legal problems challenging human control over the use of force and handing over life-and-death decision-making to machines,” says Sai Bourothu, specialist in automated decision research with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

How can we be sure an autonomous weapon will do what we humans originally intended? Who’s in control?

Jean-Marc Rickli from the Geneva Centre for Security Policy adds: “AI and machine learning basically lead to a situation where the machine is able to learn. And so now, if you talk to specialists, to scientists, they will tell you that it's a black box, we don't understand, it's very difficult to backtrack.”

Our listeners asked if an autonomous weapon could show empathy? Could it differentiate between a fighter and a child? Last year, an experiment asked patients to rate chatbot doctors versus human doctors.

“Medical chatbots ranked much better in the quality. But they also asked them to rank empathy. And on the empathy dimension they also ranked better. If that is the case, then you opened up a Pandora’s box that will be completely transformative for disinformation,” explains Rickli.

Are we going to lose our humanity because we think machines are not only more reliable, but also kinder?

“I think it's going to be an incredibly immense task to code something such as empathy. I think almost as close to the question of whether machines can love,” says Bourothu.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast to learn more about this topic.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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The Rwandan genocide 30 years on: witnessing atrocities - and trying to stop them Apr 16, 2024

The world is marking 30 years since the Rwandan genocide. Inside Geneva talks to those who witnessed it.

“We came to one village where there were a few survivors and a man came to me with a list and said ‘look, the names have been crossed out one by one, entire families, they were killing everybody from those families,’” says Christopher Stokes, from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

Charles Petrie, former United Nations (UN) humanitarian coordinator, recalls: “She thought there was a good chance that the Interahamwe [militia] would find the kids, the children, and she said, ‘pray that they don’t hack them to death, pray that they shoot them’”.

Why was it not prevented?

“The paralysis of the UN system, the paralysis of all the major players to respond to what was pretty clearly a massive genocidal operation,” says Gareth Evans, former Australian foreign minister.

Senior diplomats worked to make the UN stronger in the face of atrocities.

“Instead of talking about the right to intervene, we talked about the responsibility to protect. There are some kinds of behaviour which are just inconceivably beyond the pale, whatever country we live in, and just do demand this response,” says Evans.

Has “responsibility to protect”, or R2P, worked?

“I don’t think there’s been significant progress. I would say actually that we went from perhaps a hope, an illusion that something would be done to actually not expecting anything at all now,” says Stokes.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Eyewitness in a Gaza hospital and defending human rights defenders Apr 02, 2024

In Inside Geneva this week we get an eyewitness account of a mission to supply Gaza’s hospitals.

Chris Black, World Health Organisation: ‘People have told me oh you must be very brave for going to Gaza. I don’t think so, I think what’s brave is the people who have been doing this work since early October, and who go back every day, to do it again and again and again.’

Aid agencies say nowhere is safe in Gaza

Chris Black, World Health Organisation: ‘A woman with her young child saying to me, are we safe here? And I wanted to say to her ‘You’re in the grounds a hospital, this is a protected space, you should be safe here’. But I couldn’t say to her ‘you’re safe here.’’

And we hear from human rights defenders who have come to Geneva, hoping for support.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, human rights defender, Belarus: ‘I really believe that the democratic, powerful world will its teeth and will show to dictators that they will not prevail. We are not asking you to fight instead of us, we are asking you to help us fight the dictators.’

Are democracies letting human rights defenders in autocratic states down?

Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production Assistant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

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Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Is AI a risk to democracy? Mar 19, 2024

In 2024, four billion of us can vote in elections. Can democracy survive artificial intelligence (AI)? Can the UN, or national governments, ensure the votes are fair?

“Propaganda has always been there since the Romans. Manipulation has always been there, or plain lies by not very ethical politicians have always been there. The problem now is that with the power of these technologies, the capacity for harm can be massive,” says Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social & Human Sciences & AI Ethics at UNESCO.

Analyst Daniel Warner continues: “I’m worried about who’s going to win. But I’m also worried about whether my vote will count, and I’m worried about all kinds of disinformation that we see out there now. More than I’ve ever seen before.”

Are deep fakes the biggest dangers? Or just not knowing what to believe?

“I think the problem is not going to be the content created, the problem is going to be the liar’s dividend. The thing that everything can be denied, and that anything can be questioned, and that people will not trust anything,” said Alberto Fernandez Gibaja, Head of Digitalisation and Democracy at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

Laws to regulate AI are lagging behind the technology. So how can voters protect themselves?
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assistant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What’s the future of UNRWA? The Struggle for Balance in Gaza's Aid Operations Mar 05, 2024

The UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, is the focus of major scrutiny after Israel claimed some UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7th attacks, and thousands more were members of Hamas, or supportive of it. Now one of two UN investigations has concluded that UNRWA does need to improve its measures to uphold the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality, but that Israel has offered no supporting evidence for its claims that many UNRWA staff support Hamas. Many people around the world hadn’t really heard of UNRWA before this scandal - so what is it exactly, why was it founded, and does it really need to continue? Imogen Foulkes takes a deep dive, talking to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, Israeli diplomat Nina Ben-Ami, Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch.

Inside Geneva looks at what’s at stake.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Reflecting on Ukraine's Struggle and Perseverance Two Years into the Russian Invasion Feb 20, 2024

The war in Ukraine is two years old. Inside Geneva discusses the latest military developments in Ukraine, the chances of peace and where the war will go from here.

“Isn’t there a limit when there are so many civilian deaths so you as a state have a responsibility to stop?” asks journalist Gunilla van Hall.

How will this war end? Ukraine, with the West’s support, is fighting a regime that poisons, imprisons, and kills its political opponents.

Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes says: “Putin's dream of getting the whole country, if that's what he wanted, doesn't seem that achievable, and yet Ukraine getting its entire country back doesn't seem achievable either.”

What chance is there of a peace agreement? Does the United Nations have any role to play?

“With this particular cast of characters, it's not going to happen. With Putin on the one side and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and his entourage. They’re committed to victory whatever that is,” says Jussi Hanhimäki, professor of international history at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Is the West’s support for Ukraine waning? What could that mean for international stability?

“Russia is basically independent as far as acting in this war, whereas Ukraine is dependent. And I think of the question of Western fatigue and the radar now is on the Middle East,” concludes analyst Daniel Warner.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast for the answers.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Humanitarian and business alliances: Reflecting on Earthquake Rescue Efforts in Turkey and Syria Feb 06, 2024

It’s one year since devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. Inside Geneva talks to search and rescue teams who were there:

Filip Kirazov, from Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID) says: “Every member of SARAID is a volunteer. So no one gets paid for any of the work we do. Our sole aim is to minimize human suffering, due to the impact of natural or manmade disasters.”

And to local business leaders who had tried to prepare for such a disaster.

“We were expecting a big earthquake in Istanbul, and we were calculating the number of people that were going to lose their lives, and the number of economic losses. The role of businesses there was to be prepared before, and help the economic recovery afterwards,” says Erhan Arslan, Turkonfed (Turkisn Enterprise and Business Confederation).

Can humanitarian organisations and business work together to respond? The United Nations (UN) have an initiative that tries to do just that.

Florian Rhiza Nery, Connecting Business Initiative says: “We often times see the challenges that come from the differences, between the business community, the private sector, and humanitarian organisations, not just the UN.”

Can it work? Humanitarians and entrepreneurs don’t always think the same way…

“When I hear about private public partnerships, I always say about in terms of the private ‘what’s in it for them?’ And the question of a private company being totally neutral or altruistic, I still have my doubts,” concludes Daniel Warner, political analyst.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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A look into South Africa’s genocide case against Israel Jan 23, 2024

The International Court of Justice (the United Nations’ top court) is considering charges of genocide against Israel. The case was brought by South Africa.
Adila Hassim, the lawyer for South Africa, says: “Palestinians are subjected to relentless bombing. They are killed in their homes, in places where they seek shelter, in hospitals, in schools, in mosques, in churches and as they try to find food and water for their families."
Israel is defending itself with vigour.
“What Israel seeks by operating in Gaza is not to destroy people but to protect people, its people. In these circumstances there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the accusation against Israel of genocide,” says Tal Becker, a lawyer for Israel.
Inside Geneva asks if this is really a case for the UN’s top court.
Margaret Satterthwaite, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers: “This is a case about asserting humanity, and in fact asserting law over war. The purpose of the UN is to prevent disputes from turning into armed conflict. […] And the ICJ is there to help resolve disputes and to prevent war.”
Can that really work? Or will this high-profile case simply distract from other human rights violations?
“People feel like if you don't call it genocide then it's not serious and that's a mistake. Crimes against humanity are incredibly severe,” says Ken Roth of the Harvard Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy.
The ICJ’s final verdict will take years. There is no right of appeal, and member states are obliged to comply. But the ICJ has no power to enforce.
“There's not a UN police force running around making sure that states comply with their international law obligations,” concludes Satterthwaite.
Join host Imogen Foulkes on our Inside Geneva podcast to learn more about the case.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Israel, Gaza and the challenge to humanitarianism Jan 09, 2024

The bitter conflict in Gaza has polarised opinions. Aid agencies are caught in the middle.

Fabrizio Carboni, Regional Director of the Near and Middle East division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): “People tend to believe we can do things that actually we can’t. I mean we have no army, we have no weapons.”

Some say the ICRC hasn’t done enough to help Israeli hostages.

“If we could release them all we would do it as soon as possible. If we could visit them we would visit them. And at the same time it takes place in an environment which is Gaza,” says Carboni.
Other aid agencies have described their shock at the destruction in Gaza.

James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF said: “The level of bombardments, and the deprivation of food and water and medicines, that’s made that situation as desperate as I’ve ever seen.”

This has fuelled anger on the ground.
“I could objectively see that many attacks were indiscriminate, and safe zones had nothing to do with legal or moral safety. Those things created anger,” continues Elder.

How can aid agencies persuade the warring parties that the only side they take is humanity?

“I care about the families of the people who are taken hostages. I care about the civilians in Israel who regularly have to go in the basement, and I also care about the Palestinians. One does not exclude the other. We're not doing accounting,” concludes Carboni.

Listen to the latest episode of our Inside Geneva podcast and join host Imogen Foulkes to find out more about the situation in Gaza.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Narratives from the frontlines of human suffering Dec 26, 2023

In the last Inside Geneva of 2023, UN correspondents look back at the year..and what a year it’s been.

Emma Farge, Reuters: ‘This year has felt like lurching from one catastrophe to another.’
Earthquakes, climate change, or war –the UN is always expected to step in.
Nick Cumming-Bruce, contributor, New York Times: ‘This is a multilateral system that is absolutely falling apart under the strain of all the extreme events it’s having to deal with.’

Aid agencies have struggled to cope.

Imogen Foulkes, host, Inside Geneva: ‘You feel like they’re being squeezed and squeezed and squeezed between the warring parties, and the Security Council which will just never agree.’

And now, war, again, in the middle east.

Dorian Burkhalter, Swissinfo: ‘The UN has never lost that many humanitarian workers, and just seeing their helplessness you can really tell that they’ve lost their protection, and they’re totally desperate.’

Emma Farge: ‘It’s been personal for everyone, and it;s been difficult for journalists to navigate this information war and to really navigate it with your composure.’

What will 2024 bring?

Nick Cumming-Bruce: ‘We still have potentially months of conflict, and we then have the whole issue of post conflict. Well, 2024 is really going to be where we see where the rubber hits the road on that one.’

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Beyond declarations: UN voices reflect on 75 years of human rights advocacy Dec 12, 2023

The world is marking an important anniversary: the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
After the Second World War, this was supposed to be our "never again" moment. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights promises us the right to live, to freedom of expression, the right not to be tortured, to equality regardless of gender, race or religion.
So how’s that working out?
Throughout 2023 SWI swissinfo.ch has been talking to the men and women who have led the United Nations' human rights work. In this edition of Inside Geneva, we highlight those exclusive interviews.
Please have a look at this video interview of Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Why does protecting human rights matter more than ever?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Baptism of fire for UN's new human rights chief Nov 28, 2023

This week Inside Geneva sits down for the last in our series of exclusive interviews with UN human rights commissioners.

Volker Türk has a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that he was given at school more than 40 years ago. Growing up in his native Austria, he focused his mind on human rights.

"In light of the history of my own country, Holocaust, its own atrocities committed by Austrians during the Second World War, it was very formative for me to actually really say OK what has to happen in this world so that we come to this never again attitude," he told host Imogen Foulkes.

Today, there are 55 conflicts worldwide – not the best atmosphere to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the universal declaration. But Volker Türk has a compelling analogy of why it is still important.

"We actually have traffic regulations, and they exist because otherwise people would get killed. That's the same on the human rights front, and that's why the Universal Declaration of human rights is so important. Yes there are people who are violating traffic regulations, as there are people who violate human rights law, sometimes egregiously, as we see now. It doesn't mean that this takes away the fundamental centrality of the norms."

He also believes that if warring parties could really see the suffering they cause each other, peace might be easier to achieve.

"I was at the border to Gaza in Rafah, on north Sinai. I met Palestinian children, who had injuries that I have rarely seen in my life. Spine injuries, some of them couldn't even talk, because they were in such deep trauma and shock. I also met families of hostages, Israeli hostages and I saw their pain, and I can see that there is immense suffering out there and that suffering is created from humans to humans."

Is there anything to celebrate on this 75th anniversary? Perhaps not, but we can learn.

"We cannot afford just to stay in the present. We need to learn from our crisis today to make it better in the future, and I hope that if there's one single message that comes across: that the centrality of human rights has to be much more pronounced than ever before."

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva to listen to the full episode.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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The UN, Peace Week and the Middle East Nov 14, 2023

Geneva recently hosted the Peace Week annual forum. Inside Geneva asks what’s the point, especially when there seems to be so much conflict still going on.

“What we have to deal with is the immense stupidity of the wars that currently are in place. And here we are having to deal with wars of a sort that were better found in the history books devoted to the 20th century and ought not to have a place in the 21st,” says Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, former United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.

The UN is supposed to be able to prevent, and end conflict. How is it doing?

Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group: “I think the UN high command on the one hand, and the Israelis on the other hand, have just decided that in rhetorical terms their relationship cannot be saved. And they are laying into each other in very firm language.”

What about individual governments, including Switzerland’s?

“Now is simply not the time to be further suffocating the human rights community in Israel and Palestine. The presence of armed conflict makes human rights defenders work more, not less, important. This is the exact wrong moment to stop supporting civil society,” says Erin Kilbride, a researcherat Human Rights Watch.

Are politics getting in the way of humanity?

“There are two problems here: the first is the difference between humanitarian and political. And in a situation of war, which we’re in now, it’s very difficult to make that distinction,” adds Daniel Warner, a political analyst.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast to listen to the full interviews.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Michelle Bachelet's personal fight for human rights Oct 31, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week: part six of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Michelle Bachelet, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2018 to 2022. She was a young woman during Chile’s military dictatorship, and experienced human rights violations first hand.

“You needed to be as strong as possible, and not to fail and not to... how could I say confess things that could harm other people.”

When democracy returned to Chile, Bachelet served as her country’s president twice. Valuable experience, she believes, for later, persuading world leaders to respect human rights.

“I could put myself in the shoes of that person who was making those decisions, and tried to think which could be the arguments that would convince them to respect human rights. That it's not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing.”

She came under huge pressure for a much delayed but hard-hitting report on human rights in China.

“I used to tell them look if you ask me not to publish this then tomorrow, another big country will call me and say don’t publish this. And then another big country will come so then the only thing I can do is to go back home. Because I have to do my job. So there was lots of pressure, lots of criticism.”

Now, she feels the world has failed civilians in Gaza.

“You have people there that need a humanitarian corridor, so they can get food, medicines, water, electricity and I feel that the international community has been slow to respond. Slow and weak.”

And what about the Universal Declaration at 75?

“The Universal Declaration is still valid. Because it gives sort of a minimal, I would say, standard of how we can live together.”

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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How the Israeli-Palestinian war challenges humanitarian aid Oct 24, 2023

The current conflict in the Middle East is the most violent in decades. An Inside Geneva special asks what the rules of law allow, and what they forbid.

Marco Sassòli, Professor of International Law at the University of Geneva, says: “the massacre Hamas committed among those festival visitors are clear violations of international humanitarian law. [...] The entire northern Gaza Strip is not a military objective. So, an attack is a specific act of violence against one target, and the entire northern Gaza Strip is not possibly a target.”

What are the challenges for aid workers?

“We need to ensure safety of civilians and safety of health workers, humanitarian workers on the ground. Our colleagues from the Palestine Red Crescent were telling us, yes we have no food, yes we have no water, yes we have none of these. But we don’t even know if we’ll be alive tomorrow,” says Benoit Carpentier from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Can anything prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza?

“We’ve heard about 20 or 30 trucks only being allowed in, which obviously for a population of 2 million people is a drop in the ocean,” says Carpentier.

Do we expect too much of humanitarian law?

“We shouldn’t misunderstand humanitarian law, for instance humanitarian law does not prohibit Hamas to attack Israel, and does not prohibit Israel to attack Hamas fighters, military objectives and so on in the Gaza Strip, and other cities. And humanitarian law was never meant as saying wars are wonderful. No, wars are terrible, but they are much less terrible if the parties make an effort to comply with humanitarian law,” concludes Sassòli.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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The future of human rights in Russia Oct 17, 2023

It’s more than a year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war shows no sign of ending, and Moscow is cracking down on all opposition.
This week, Inside Geneva asks how we can support human rights inside Russia.

"Since the full scale invasion of Ukraine had been launched in February of last year, the regime has brought back the entire arsenal of Soviet style repressive techniques, used to eradicate all dissent within the country, and scare people into silence," says Evgenia Kara-Murza, Russian human rights defender.

Supporting dissent in Russia is important for all of us.

Host Imogen Foulkes also talkes to Mariana Katzarova, UN special rapporteur for Russia. She said: "I do care what kind of Russia will be there next to our borders of Europe and of Eastern Europe. Whether it will be a black hole where people will be disappearing, being tortured. being arbitrarily detained."

"I have a message for the international community: please see us as your partners. We want a different Russia, a Russia based on the rule of law and respect for human rights. That is our goal," concludes Evgenia Kara-Murza.

But how far away is that goal? How long will it take to reach it?

Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at Human Rights Watch says: "It takes a lot of effort to suppress the truth, to destroy and muzzle every possible critic, and to circulate absurd propaganda the way the Russian government does. It takes a lot of energy. Time is against the oppressors like Vladimir Putin, like Xi Jinping, and others. They will not last, but that doesn't mean that we're not in store for a rough ride."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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The journey of Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein: the sixth UN Human Rights Commissioner Oct 03, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week: part five of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Imogen Foulkes talks to Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2014 to 2018.
He became the first Asian, Muslim and Arab to hold the position. But did he plan a career in human rights from an early age?

"No, I was far too immature and delinquent to be thinking lofty ideas and profound thoughts," he said.

But two years in the former Yugoslavia during the conflict there focused his mind.

"The senselessness of it all, there’s nothing that can justify killing, or destruction like that. Nothing at all," he thinks.

When he took the job as UN human rights commissioner, he became famous for his tough approach.

"I knew from my experience in the former Yugoslavia, that if the UN secretariat believed, I think mistakenly, that it’s in the friends business, it produces catastrophic results. The UN is not there to become friendly with the member states."

He spoke out wherever he saw injustice or abuse, from Myanmar, to Libya, or ISIS, and even world leaders.

"Someone asked me, possibly you, asked me about Donald Trump, and I said ‘yes, I think he’s dangerous.' And that became the headline out of the press conference," he said.

Today, his commitment to universal human rights remains firm.

"What we’re aiming at is to create a better human being. That’s what we’re trying to do with the human rights agenda, to improve ourselves and our conduct. To speak out and use non-violent means to protest conditions which are fundamentally unjust and unfair, and who can argue with that?"
Listen to the full episode to find out more about Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein's life and career.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Inside Geneva's 100th episode: the war in Syria, killer robots and justice in Myanmar Sep 19, 2023

Inside Geneva is marking its 100th podcast episode this week. In this episode host Imogen Foulkes looks back at some of the podcast highlights.

This episode starts with an assessment of how humanitarians coped with the war in Syria.

Jan Egeland, former head of the United Nations humanitarian taskforce for Syria says: "Syria was a real setback where these besiegements, the bombing of hospitals, the bombing of schools, the bombing of bread lines, it was horrific."
Inside Geneva also looks at the lively debate about whether humanitarian aid needs to be decolonised.

"If we were to think of aid as a form of reparation, as a form of social justice for historical and continuing harm," says Lata Narayanaswamy, from the University of Leeds.

And it delves into the complex discussions over ‘killer robots’.

Mary Wareham, from the Human Rights Watch adds: "Do you hold the commander responsible who activated the weapons system? There's what we call an accountability gap when it comes to killer robots."

And we ask whether human rights investigations can really bring accountability.

Chris Sidoti, from the UN Independent Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, told Imogen Foulkes: "I still know that the Myanmar butchers who are responsible for what happened may never individually be brought to justice. But I certainly live in hope that one day they will."
Help us celebrate our 100th podcast – and let us know what topics you’d like to hear more about.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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From Apartheid to the UN: Navi Pillay's experience as Human Rights Commissioner Sep 05, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week: part four of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Navi Pillay, she served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2008 to 2014, she started life in racially segregated South Africa.

"We grew up under apartheid and we’re realised there’s something very unfair here. Our teachers were afraid to talk about…you know they would teach us democracy in Greece, but not why don’t we have democracy in South Africa."

She became the first woman of colour to have her own legal practice in South Africa.

"It was so lonely, and so scary. I had very little choice, because I went looking for jobs after I’d qualified, at law firms, they were mainly white law firms, and they would say ‘we can’t – you’re a black person, so we can’t have our white secretaries taking instructions from you.’’

She served on the international tribunal for the Rwandan genocide – but hesitated when Ban Ki Moon asked her to become UN Human Rights Commissioner.

"You have to respond to a call that’s made to you, a trust that people place in you. So if you ask me what moved me from where I wanted to go to this, it was the secretary general saying ‘we need you now’.’

Today, she believes the universal declaration on human rights is as relevant as ever – as long as we use it.

"No state has distanced itself from that treaty. So I see hope in that and I feel these are the tools that civil society has. You have the law, now push for implementation."
Join Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast to find out more.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Humanitarian Heroes: Personal Tales of Tragedy, Triumph and the Search for the Missing Aug 22, 2023

August marks two important days in the humanitarian calendar

First, the International day of the disappeared.

Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC: ‘I look at my kids, I look at my family, and I say ‘imagine now there is a frontline between us and my son, my brother, my mother, my father, are captured and I can't see them for a year, two, three, four.’’

Inside Geneva hears how the ICRC reunites those divided by conflict, and visits the Red Cross Central Tracing Agency.

Anastasia Kushleyko, Central Tracing Agency: ‘I’m calling from the ICRC, I’m calling from Geneva: As of last week he was a POW, he was safe and well. It's always always people are so grateful and mothers, you know especially mothers.’

Second, the UN marks World Humanitarian Day on August 30. 20 years after the Baghdad bombing which killed 22 UN staff, Inside Geneva talks to an aid worker deeply affected by that day.

Laura Dolci, UN Human Rights: ‘So I had taken him to the airport, together with our child, and the yes it took me in fact many years to be able to use the same elevator in the airport where I last kissed him.’

Laura Dolci, UN Human Rights: ‘The aid worker, the humanitarian worker, the peacekeeper; ultimately it's a human being that decides to put its own being also to the service of humanity.’

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Championing Human Rights: The Story of Louise Arbor Aug 08, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week: part three of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Host Imogen Foulkes talks to Louise Arbour, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. She arrived in Geneva with a formidable track record.

As a prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, she had indicted Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes. In Rwanda, she secured convictions of rape as crimes against humanity.

"The work I did both with the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda were if anything a vindication for me of the significance of law, of the rule of law, as an organising principle in modern society," explains Arbour.

Leading the UN’s human rights work was a new challenge.

"These were very challenging times. 2004, you know, this was in the backyard of 9/11. It was, a new, dangerous, unknown world was starting to unfold with a lot of uncertainties, including on the human rights front."

New strategies were needed.

"When you arrive in the role of high commissioner for human rights, I think that’s part of the dilemma; how do you use your voice? Because I think to be the megaphone for the denunciation of injustices at some point becomes counterproductive, because it just illuminates how impotent the system is. It’s like you scream in the wilderness," she said.

That’s why this dedicated lawyer still tells us to follow the laws, treaties, and conventions we have.

"If you came from another planet and you just looked at the human rights framework; the universal declaration of human rights, all the treaties, the conventions, the work of the treaty bodies, you’d think you’d arrived in heaven. So why is it not the case?"

Join Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva podcast to find out more.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Governing artificial intelligence: Ethics, Risks and Possibilities Jul 25, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week we take a deep dive into the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. Should the United Nations (UN) help to regulate it? Could it even do that? Across the UN there are different views.

Tomas Lamanauskas, deputy secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says that "the technology in itself has a huge potential to help us resolve a lot of challenges of today, from climate change, to helping education to, helping in the health sector. It’s just that the question is that as with every technology, this technology has risks."

"There are real problems with its ability to accelerate disinformation, and enhance bias. We also have to look at those longer term consequences, in areas like lethal weapons and things where there really are real important, almost existential risks to some of these technologies," adds Peggy Hicks from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

But what about the tech industry?

Lila Ibrahim, chief operation officer at Google DeepMind says that "from the very start of DeepMind, since 2010, we've been working on AI and thinking about how do we build this responsibly? It's not something we just tag on at the end of all the research we've been doing."

Is goodwill from the tech giants enough?

"The malicious use of AI systems for terrorists, criminal, or state purposes could cause horrific levels of death and destruction, widespread trauma, and deep psychological damage on an unimaginable scale," concludes Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva

Join host Imogen Foulkes for a new episode of the Inside Geneva podcast and gear up for a journey into the world of AI to discover how we can responsibly leverage its power for a better tomorrow.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Human rights and those who defend them: Mary Robinson Jul 11, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week: part two of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Mary Robinson, the second person to serve as UN Human Rights Commissioner. Even as a schoolgirl in Ireland, she was already passionate about human rights.

‘I was a bit of a bookworm, and I found a book with a photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt holding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That iconic photo.’

She became a campaigning lawyer, and then Ireland’s first female president, but still wanted to do more.

‘There was this office of High Commissioner which I was aware of. In fact, I'd seen some of its work in Rwanda, which had been very difficult work. All my knowledgeable friends said ‘you know Mary I wouldn't take that job’.’

Her time as Human Rights Commissioner was challenging.

‘I remember feeling to myself, I'm going to get on top of this somehow. This job is impossible, everything is very very difficult, it's extremely hard work but somehow I’m going to get on top of it. And it got better.’

‘Some governments were critical…’

‘Over and over again, I kept saying to myself ‘I represent the first three words of the charter of the United Nations: we the peoples. That's what I represent. Not the states.’

Today, her commitment is undimmed..

‘Human rights is the answer. We need to understand that everyone has these core human rights, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That this is who we are.’

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What now for women in Afghanistan? Jun 27, 2023

On Inside Geneva this week, host Imogen Foulkes asks if the United Nations (UN) should still work in Afghanistan, now the Taliban are banning women from work, and girls from secondary school?

Karima Bennoune, professor of International Law: ‘Anyone who believed in something called Taliban 2.0, had never actually spoken to an Afghan woman human rights defender. Because the Afghan women human rights defenders, they knew what was going to happen. They did their best without a loud microphone to tell governments, to tell international organisations, what was going to happen.’

Is the UN becoming complicit in what some call gender apartheid?

Fiona Frazer, UN human rights, Kabul: Despite the fact that it does seem, every month, or three months or so on a new decree comes out that pushes women further back into their homes, we have to keep being here. That's what women and girls tell us: they want us to be here. They feel the need to have the UN be here, to be present, and to keep going back.

It’s now almost two years since the Taliban seized power again. What do Afghan women think?

Fereshta Abbasi, Human Rights Watch: If there is a resistance in Afghanistan, it’s definitely coming from the women of Afghanistan. That 12-year-old girl who's still attending an underground school in Helmand is the resistance of Afghanistan. The Taliban will never be able to erase their minds and erase the knowledge that they have already gained.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Universal human rights at 75: who defends them? Jun 13, 2023

This week Inside Geneva starts a new series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Born out of the terrible cruelty of World War II, millions hoped the declaration would prevent atrocities.

"This Universal Declaration of human rights may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere," said Eleanor Roosevelt.

But there was no UN human rights chief until the cold war ended in the 1990s.

José Ayala Lasso, first UN human rights commissioner says: "Yes, it is an impossible mission to try to guarantee the effectiveness of all human rights: social economic and political cultural, even the right to development of the whole people of the world."

UN member states still differ on what the universal declaration even means.

José Ayala Lasso continues: "If you see human rights through the lens of communism, probably you see them in a different manner when you see them through the eyes of democratic governments. I do not think that we should be permissive in order to accept violations. But we should try to understand the reasons of the other: why the regime, the totalitarian regimes act in a way. Why?"

But some principles are non-negotiable.

"The basic principle is the human being. Human beings are to be respected, they are equal in dignity and in rights as the declaration says in the first article. We should believe, we should not lose our faith in the capacity of human beings to act correctly," concludes José Ayala Lasso.
Join Imogen Foulkes for an in-depth interview with the first ever UN human rights chief.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What became of the pandemic treaty? May 30, 2023

Inside Geneva was at the World Health Assembly over the last week, finding out what lessons are being learned from Covid-19 now that the WHO says the global health emergency is over – even if the pandemic isn’t.

Suerie Moon, co-director, Global Health Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute said: "Every single country is vulnerable to pandemics. Every single country can have its economy, its society fundamentally undermined by a pandemic. We know this."

Member states are supposed to be working on a pandemic treaty – so we cope with the next one better. Fair access to medicines is a key issue.

Barbara Stocking, chair of panel for a global public health convention added: "On medicines and so on, I think this is the most difficult issue to be handling. I hope most countries are signed up to the view that there should be equity. I don’t think the developing countries will sign up to any treaty, when they don’t see that there are plans to get much nearer to equity."

Can medicine producers be persuaded to be generous?

Thomas Cueni, Director General, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA) said: "You cannot coerce know-how sharing, because either you’re willing to share your wisdom with me or you’re not. IP waivers, which means ignoring patents, would actually be a huge barrier."

Transparency and rapid information sharing are on the agenda too:

Imogen Foulkes, Inside Geneva host asked: "We still don’t know exactly how and where and from what Covid-19 came. Will we find that out do you think? Is investigation still going on?"

Maria van Kerkhove, World Health Organisation concluded: "We’re certainly going to do everything we can to figure out how this pandemic began. And it does depend on collaboration, scientific collaboration, collaboration from member states, sharing of information, sharing data, and we need more collaboration from China, we’ve been very vocal about that.’

Listen and subscribe to the podcast to find out more.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Sudan’s tragedy May 15, 2023

The Sudan conflict began over a month ago, and the consequences for the population are getting more and more serious.
In this episode we take a long hard look at the conflict in Sudan, and what the UN and humanitarian agencies here in Geneva – the ones whose very purpose is to either prevent such conflicts happening, or at the very least help ease the suffering – can actually do.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have been operating in Sudan for decades and Vittorio Oppizzi, the project coordinator in Sudan, says that this conflict "adds on a situation that was already critical."
Another member of MSF, Melat Haile, says that "it's the poor, the innocent, the medical people who will suffer from this." She explains that in 2022 alone, they conducted more than half a million medical consultations, "and now the need is going to be much more."
Then what can be done about this situation? Paula Gaviria, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, thinks that "the first responsibility we have as a nation is to stop violence, suffering and targeting the civil population."
Listen to this episode to find out more about the conflict in Sudan and why Mohamed Osman, from Human Rights Watch, said they had already warned about this dangerous situation escalating.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

ICRC reunites families, Swiss neutrality and weapons exports May 02, 2023

This week, Inside Geneva goes behind the scenes with the ICRC’s prisoner exchange in Yemen.

Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC: "I look at my kids, I look at my family, and I say ‘imagine now there is a frontline between us, and my son, my brother, my mother, my father are captured and I can't see them for a year, or two, three, four".

Can the move help bring peace to Yemen?

Daniel Warner, analyst: "Confidence building is the most important thing in all negotiations, and in any kind of situation, such as prisoner exchange, but in any development of finding peace".

And we look at Switzerland’s tricky position over Ukraine, neutrality, and the arms trade.

Keith Krause, Geneva Graduate Institute: "German officials have expressed their dismay that Switzerland would not allow re-export of munitions that Germany had bought several years ago, so Switzerland finds itself in a very delicate position".

Daniel Warner, analyst: "A Russian diplomat said that Switzerland is no longer considered a neutral country. When you think of the summits: Reagan Gorbachev, Biden Putin, it's difficult to imagine in the future Geneva or Switzerland will be a centre for negotiations".

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Ukraine, war crimes and Putin Apr 18, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been indicted for war crimes. This week, Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes asks whether international law can really bring justice.
“The real crime of crimes in this story is the decision to go to war. Every other crime – the deportation of children, the crimes against humanity, the war crimes – is a consequence of the decision to go to war,” says Philippe Sands, lawyer and author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity (2016).
Will we ever see Russia’s leader in court?
“People are very impatient to say: ‘Why hasn’t Putin been put in jail? How can this war continue?’ It will take time, hopefully something will happen, but we all have our doubts,” says analyst Daniel Warner.
What does the focus on Ukraine mean for accountability in countries such as Ethiopia or Myanmar, where war crimes are alleged too?
“The response to Russia’s aggression against the people of Ukraine stands out: in investigation of human rights violations, the delivery of justice and accountability. It could serve as a model, and it could help the world imagine a new international order,” says Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

Aid Access Dilemmas Apr 04, 2023

In this episode of Inside Geneva we take a long hard look at how aid is delivered, and why it is often obstructed. Did UN aid agencies fail Syria after the earthquake?

Marco Sassoli from Geneva University speaking to Inside Geneva says: "The UN being a club it represents its members, and therefore it considers that it cannot do anything on the territory of a member state without the consent of the member state."

But are there ways to get aid in immediately?

Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council says he is "a fundamentalist on the need to go straight to the victims, the people in need cross border cross line, cross mountain, cross desert, the shortest route."

But with armed groups on the ground, how do aid workers persuade them to let them in?

Thaer Allaw, from the Center for Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation explains this difficulty: "We think that we have a good cause, and we think that those humanitarian principles are universal. And then when you hit the reality they are not."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

Books to make you think Mar 21, 2023

This week Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes talks to authors who have written about humanitarian topics.
What is it like to track down human rights violators?
“Each day in court, seeing Hissène Habré I would pump my fist: ‘my God, we got him.’ But you never knew, and I have to say when they started reading the verdict it was such joy, but it was also a relief. I mean I felt like after 16 years, this weight had been lifted off me. I could finally recover my life,” says Reed Brody, author of To Catch a Dictator (2022).
What are the dilemmas facing journalists covering humanitarian crises? Why should one particular crisis have more attention?
“The more coverage of Ukraine, or the recent earthquake in Syria and Turkey; the more coverage a crisis gets the more likely audiences are to be aware of it, to care about it, and to donate to it,” says Martin Scott, author of Humanitarian Journalists (2022).
What is the dark reality of fortress Europe’s migration policy?
“Suddenly you’re in direct communication with a person who is telling you they’ve been locked up indefinitely, they’re being tortured, they’re seeing people raped or seeing people die as a result of European Union migration policy. And that’s the moment when you go: ‘wait a second, something has gone desperately wrong,’” says Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned (2022).

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How to hold China to account Mar 07, 2023

The UN Human Rights Council is set to discuss Ukraine, Ethiopia, Iran, and more. Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes asks: what about China?
“If there’s no pressure coming from the international community, if there’s no scrutiny over China, if there’s nothing happening, China is basically going to take it as a sign that they’ve got the green light to continue their abuses,” says Zumretay Arkin, spokesperson at the World Uyghur Congress.
Last year a UN report suggested China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. UN member states voted – narrowly – not to debate that report.
“Of course, there’s a geopolitical understanding of what’s happening, but we have to get back to the essence of human rights, and we have to get back to the essence also of the treaties that this system was created to uphold,” says Raphaël Viana David, China and Latin America advocate at the International Service for Human Rights.
This week on the Inside Geneva podcast: human rights activists say what they think should happen now.
“The fact that we came so tantalisingly close to having a resolution on China adopted at the council has actually shattered a really important taboo about the ability to take on China and any state, no matter how powerful,” says Hilary Power, UN Geneva director at Human Rights Watch.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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How to make peace? The first anniversary of war in Ukraine. Feb 23, 2023

One year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined by conflict resolution experts to discuss what the prospects for peace are, and how it can be won.
“The fact that we’re talking about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, the fact that we’re talking about the possibility of the United States and China going to war over Taiwan; it’s frightening,” says Katia Papagianni, director of Policy and Mediation Support at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
“There is a concept that has been floating around in academia for many years called a hurting stalemate, when the two parties decide that enough is enough. And we are clearly not at this hurting stalemate,” says Keith Krause, director of the Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID).
What does a lasting peace look like?
“Peace is beyond the absence of violence. It’s really about access to justice, economic opportunities, security, and pluralism,” says Hiba Qasas, executive director of the Principles for Peace Initiative.
“Sustainable peace needs to include the youth, it needs to inform the youth, and it needs to educate the youth; so inclusion, information, and education,” says Shefali Kaur Nandhra, a graduate student in sustainable development at IHEID.
Are there good examples from the past?
“There are, of course, some success stories. I think the Colombian process, we have a lot to learn from that, and not just because it was locally driven,” says Krause.
“As someone who grew up in conflict, my concern is not only about the battlefield, but also about all the insidious impacts that come after the guns have been silenced,” says Qasas.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

Earthquakes, aid and politics Feb 14, 2023

After two devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria, Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes looks at the challenges aid agencies face when compassion and humanity run up against the obstacles of geopolitics.
In Syria, the disaster comes on top of 12 years of conflict.
“My teams ask me, the people ask me, our partners ask me: why is this happening to us? They just came out of a bitter conflict that’s been taking place for years,” says Wael Darwish of Caritas Switzerland in Syria.
The conflict in Syria is ongoing. How will aid get to everyone in need?
“As a humanitarian of course, frustration is part of my work. We always face these situations where people’s needs are not necessarily the priority,” says Miren Bengoa of Swiss Solidarity.
Humanitarian agencies are rushing to help. Will they be able to do their job?
“We stick to being independent, impartial, neutral, but there is a lot of politics involved, unfortunately,” says James McDowell of Medair.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Challenges for the new UN Human Rights chief Feb 07, 2023

This week on the Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes has an in-depth conversation with Volker Türk, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“I have had a lifelong commitment to the human rights cause,” says Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, about what attracted him to a job some call the UN’s toughest.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75 in 2023. Where do we stand?
“We’re losing the essence of what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was and was meant to be in response to cataclysmic events during the Second World War,” Türk says. “In so many situations around the world there is once again this contempt for the other, the contempt for the human being, the contempt for human dignity,” he adds.
A UN report points to grave rights violations committed by China against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. What can the UN Human Rights Office do about it?
“It’s a very important report that was issued. It has raised very serious, very pressing human rights concerns, and it is my duty to follow up on them with the Chinese authorities,” Türk says.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Cyber Wars Jan 24, 2023

The war in Ukraine is almost a year old. Inside Geneva asks what role cyberwarfare has played.
Christian-Marc Lifländer, head of NATO Cyber Defence Section: "Cyberspace has been central to the war in Ukraine. It has been used to shape the battle space. Cyberattacks were used to lay the ground for the invasion."
Its influence has been stealthy…
Charlotte Lindsey, CyberPeace Institute: "Everybody was expecting when cyber was used in warfare that there would be some cataclysmic, major humanitarian impact of the use of cyber."
But worrying…
Max Smeets, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich: "In the case of Russia, what we have seen are very specific efforts to make sure that some of the key parts of the Ukrainian internet will be connected to the Russian internet, that then provides them with new ways of ownership, control and monitoring."
And far reaching…
Charlotte Lindsey, CyberPeace Institute: "What has come out clearly from the conflict in Ukraine and Russia is just the scale and extent of cyber operations which are happening way beyond the boundaries of those countries and are affecting many others."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Afghanistan: aid without women Jan 10, 2023

The Taliban have banned women from working for aid agencies. This week on the Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes asks humanitarians what this means for Afghanistan’s future.
“How can women be able to receive healthcare when there are no women doctors?” asks Adam Combs of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
Afghan women and girls are banned from secondary school and university too.
“If there is no woman attending school, and then university, who will be tomorrow’s doctors, tomorrow’s midwives, nurses?” asks Filipe Ribeiro of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
28 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian aid, 6 million are close to famine. Why is the focus on restricting what women do?
“These are acts committed for the purpose of establishing dominance and systematic oppression by men over women in all aspects of public life as well as private life,” says Pooja Patel of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Aid agencies reflect on 2022 Dec 27, 2022

The year has seen huge humanitarian challenges: war in Ukraine, looming famine in Somalia, protracted crises in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. This week on the Inside Geneva podcast, aid agencies reflect on the year.
“One of the things we see is that wars are not ending, they’re lasting, they’re enduring,” says Jason Straziuso, spokesperson at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“There is no health without peace, so the only solution is peace, in these countries,” says Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson at the World Health Organization (WHO).
“It just seems that we are in a situation of crises after crises,” says analyst Daniel Warner.
How hard is it for aid workers to keep going?
“It is frustrating to go back to a place and talk again about a place year after year and things are not getting better,” says Jasarevic.
Is the work of humanitarian organisations even sustainable?
“Humanitarians can’t substitute for the state. We can’t step in for the medical system, we can’t step in for the water system. We do in fact do that kind of work, but eventually the state has to take over because this is not a job in the long term for humanitarians,” says Straziuso.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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UN correspondents look back Dec 13, 2022

2022 has been a momentous year: the war in Ukraine, unprecedented droughts and floods, new disease outbreaks. This week on the Inside Geneva podcast, journalists reflect on the past year.
“It was quite shocking waking up in the morning to that news. I remember the UN Refugee Agency already on the first day was saying 100,000 people had been displaced,” says Nina Larson of Agence France-Presse (AFP).
There is a new war in Europe. What does it mean for the UN and multilateralism?
“The UN was here to prevent new wars from happening. I think we can clearly say this part of the UN failed,” says Dorian Burkhalter of SWI swissinfo.ch.
“I think there’s a big challenge on the Geneva Conventions and many other multilateral organisations,” says Christiane Oelrich of Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75 next year. Will 2023 see an ideological battle over it?
“There’s a reason they call UN Human Rights Commissioner the toughest job at the UN. You can’t do nice things like bring food to hungry people,” says Imogen Foulkes, host of the Inside Geneva podcast.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What is the nuclear threat? Nov 29, 2022

Nuclear weapons have only been used twice. Now Russia has hinted they could be used again. In this podcast episode, Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes asks experts how big the threat is.
“This is the reality of nuclear deterrence: that there is a nuclear armed country that can hold the rest of the world hostage,” says Alicia Sanders-Zakre of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Have we forgotten how devastating these weapons are?
“Blast, high-velocity projectile, trauma, burns, including bodies just melting into the ground,” says Ruth Mitchell of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
What happens if a small tactical nuclear weapon is used?
“There is no small nuclear weapon. All nuclear weapons have devastating, lasting, generational humanitarian consequences,” says Sanders-Zakre.
What are the chances of a nuclear-free world now?
“The abolition of nuclear weapons seems to be much more difficult and problematic than the fact of just saying: ‘it’s against human rights, it’s against humanitarian law’,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Q&A on migration, asylum and refugees Nov 15, 2022

This week on the Inside Geneva podcast, we answer questions from our listeners about migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
Our listeners asked us the following questions: What’s the difference between asylum seekers, stateless populations, and undocumented migrants? How does third country resettlement work? Does the United Nations Refugee Agency, or the International Organization for Migration, have the power to prosecute countries if they violate their obligations to UN conventions?
Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined by experts to provide answers on a topic that is often controversial.
“Refugees are forced to leave their countries because of war, conflict and human rights violations. Basically, their lives are in danger,” says Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
“Most people don’t want to leave. They leave because they feel like there’s no other option but to leave,” says Paul Dillon, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“You just can’t push back people at borders if they’re seeking international protection. They need to be afforded that right to seek asylum,” says Mantoo.
“The conversation is toxic, divisive, and dangerous. Those conversations are not really fact-based, they’re emotive,” says Dillon.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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COP27, climate change and health Nov 01, 2022

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is due to start this Sunday in Egypt. Evidence shows too little is done against climate change. What does this mean for our health?

In this podcast episode, host Imogen Foulkes is joined by health and climate experts.

“A 1 degree or 0.5 degree [Celsius] increase has an exponential direct impact on the number of cases of cholera or the number of people dying from heatwaves,” says Ninni Ikkala Nyman of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“Climate change is bad for our health. This is not some distant future threat that’s going to happen to poor people, or farmers, or only in developing countries, or that’s only an economic issue,” says Lachlan McIver of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

How committed are we to net-zero climate objectives?

“I was looking at the immediate energy crisis, and some of the countries are solving the problem of having less oil and gas from Russia, by starting using coal again,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

The COP27 climate conference is taking place in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6-18.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Helping Ukraine: lessons and challenges Oct 18, 2022

In this podcast episode, host Imogen Foulkes together with Swiss Solidarity ask: what are the challenges of delivering aid to Ukraine?

“In the early days, it just looked like, five or six days, and Ukraine will be taken,” says Zuzana Brezinova, Ukraine country director at Swiss Church Aid HEKS.

How do neutral, impartial humanitarian organisations really work in a war zone?

“Because we’re a neutral organisation we cannot sign memorandums of understanding with military organisations,” says Damon Elsworth, senior global emergency response team officer at Medair.

What happens to the millions of Swiss francs donated, especially when donors expect quick results?

“People who have been donating, they call our office, they want to know what happened,” says Tasha Rumley, head of humanitarian aid at Swiss Solidarity.

And after that first rush of solidarity, is the support really there for the long haul?

“As we all know I think, this conflict will not be over by the end of the year,” says Andrea Schmid, emergency aid expert at the Swiss Red Cross.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Defending human rights in Russia Oct 04, 2022

Russia is diplomatically isolated. In this podcast episode, host Imogen Foulkes asks: what about Russian human rights defenders?

“Right now, in Russia there are few means left to defend human rights, and to address human rights violations. It’s really hard,” says Violetta Fitsner, a Russian human rights defender.

In Geneva, Russia has been expelled from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

“Excluding Russia from various organisations: Council of Europe, Human Rights Council. Are you isolating them from all concepts like universal human rights?” asks analyst Daniel Warner.

There are now moves at the HRC to appoint a UN special rapporteur on Russia.

“We want to ensure that the Russian human rights community feels part of the universal human rights movement,” says Gerald Staberock, secretary general of the World Organisation Against Torture.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What is the ITU and why does it matter? Sep 20, 2022

In this episode, host Imogen Foulkes explores the most important UN agency most of us have never heard of.
Malcolm Johnson, deputy secretary general, ITU: ‘Telephony, radio and tv broadcasting , satellite communications, the internet, they wouldn’t have developed.’
So what has the International Telecommunications Union ever done for us?
Fiona Alexander, IT expert: ‘If you’re a beneficiary of any modern day communications network, you have benefitted from something that the ITU has done.’
And why are Russia and the United States competing to lead it?
Simon Manley, UK ambassador to the UN in Geneva: ‘We want to see an internet that is open, that is peaceful, that is secure, that enables the sharing of knowledge, the sharing of ideas.’
Can different countries really unite around best standards for the internet? And can they work together to bridge the digital divide?
Fiona Alexander, IT expert: ‘Every member state has a different perspective on what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate online.’

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Day of the Disappeared Sep 06, 2022

For more than 150 years the ICRC has been re-uniting those separated by war and natural disaster. Inside Geneva visits the Central Tracing Agency.
Florence Anselmo, Head of the Central Tracing Agency: "People going missing, families getting separated, families not knowing what has happened to their loved ones."
Now it’s busy letting Russian and Ukrainian families know what has happened to their sons.
Anastasia Kushleyko, CTA: "I’m calling from the ICRC, I’m calling from Geneva and this is the Central Tracing Agency. As of last week he was safe and well. He’s healthy."
The tracing agency keeps its records forever.
Jelena Milosevic Lepotic: "A grandchild of someone who was in the second world war, you would be able to find information on your grandfather: when he was captured, where he was held, and what happened to him."
Because families will always need to know.
Florence Anselmo: "Families do not stop searching. The need to know crosses generations. If parents do not have answers their children will look for answers and their grandchildren will look for answers."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Syria: the forgotten crisis Aug 23, 2022

While the spotlight is on Ukraine, the UN says humanitarian needs in Syria are greater than ever.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian experts.

“The World Food Programme had to reduce by 13% their food rations because of funding,” says Sanjana Quazi, head of office at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Turkey.

The UN budget for Syria is underfunded and further devalued by rising food and fuel prices.

“What we’re seeing is a trend towards negative coping mechanisms. Early marriage, child labour, and what’s really alarming is increased attempted suicide rates,” says Tanya Evans, country director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Syria.

Has the world forgotten about Syria?

“If I read the English newspapers, it’s all about Ukraine. How can we put what’s happening in Syria back on the radar?” asks analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Women, peace and security Aug 09, 2022

From war to food insecurity and climate change; would the world be a better, safer place if women took more decisions?

Inside Geneva podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by women peace and security experts.

“Participation of women in peace and security, obviously must go beyond an ‘add-women-and-stir’ approach,” says Julia Hofstetter, president of Women in International Security, Switzerland.

How well are women represented in security discussions?

“Thirty per cent of the delegates negotiating arms control and disarmament are women, so 70% are men,” saysRenata H. Dalaqua, head of the Gender and Disarmament Programme of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

Is increasing numbers enough?

“The world needs not only participation of women but also the feminist analysis on peace,” says Maria Butler, executive director of the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What do rights groups want from the UN? Jul 26, 2022

By the end of this month, the UN will have a new human rights chief. It’s sometimes called the UN’s toughest job. Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes talks exclusively to the leaders of the world’s top human rights groups, and asks them how they see the job.
Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch: "The High Commissioner has no aid budget, they have no army, they have no way to influence anybody, other than through their public reporting and their public voice."
What’s the legacy of outgoing commissioner Michelle Bachelet?
Agnes Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International: "She stood up to the United States on the issue of systemic racism, as she should have."
What about the controversial trip to China?
Ken Roth: "If you look at for example Madam Bachelet’s utter failure during her recent trip to Beijing, the blame really beings with Guterres."
What are the challenges for the new commissioner?
Agnes Callamard: "If you cannot stand up to China, you may as well stop doing human rights work."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What does it take to lead the UN human rights office? Jul 12, 2022

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will leave office at the end of August. The hunt is on for the world’s new human rights leader.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes asks former United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein what it is like to do the job.

“Most of my time I was writing to governments, talking to them, calling them, but I had no hesitation of going public when I felt we needed to go public,” says Zeid.
Does he have any advice for a new commissioner?

“Navi Pillay (former high commissioner) said the worst mistake you can make is to privilege any country. Don’t privilege any particular group or country,” he recalls.
And how risky is calling countries to account?
“Rather than you worry about how they may react to your statements, they ought to be worrying about what you might be saying about them,” answers Zeid.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Drought and food insecurity Jun 28, 2022

Millions of people are going hungry due to severe droughts in the Sahel and in East Africa. The Inside Geneva podcast looks at how the international community should help, now and in the future.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by climate and humanitarian experts.

“Two boys, twins, they’re one year old. They’re severely malnourished, the children and the mother. And she walked 160 kilometres to reach an area where there is some food distribution,” says Rania Dagash, deputy regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa at UNICEF.

Four consecutive rainy seasons have failed in the Horn of Africa. Climate experts say the next one could fail too.

“We have observed decreases in rainfall over the last few years. We see a decreasing amount of rainfall from 2 to 7% per decade,” says Bob Stefanski, chief of the Agricultural Meteorology Division at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The war in Ukraine has disrupted supply chains and sent the prices of food commodities up. Millions on the African continent, which relies heavily on imports, are on the brink of famine.

“Could we imagine countries and regions actually fighting over access to water as water becomes more and more precious?” asks analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Refugee policy: the good, the bad and the ugly Jun 14, 2022

Europe has shown a big welcome to refugees from Ukraine. The Inside Geneva podcast asks whether this generosity will be extended to others.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by refugee policy experts.

“The Ukraine crisis has really humanised the refugee issue, people have been able to see women, children, men in extremely difficult circumstances,” says Jeff Crisp, an expert on refugee policy with the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre.

“As someone who understands the horrors of war very well, I was so happy to see countries in Europe opening their borders to Ukrainian refugees. But the question is: what was happening before that?” asks refugee and activist Nhial Deng.

According to the UN, 100 million people worldwide are currently forcibly displaced. Are we really honouring the 1951 Refugee Convention, which outlines the rights of refugees and the obligations of states to protect them?

“We do need to continue education and commitment to these principles, because we never know when they’re going to be needed,” says Gillian Triggs, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the UN Refugee Agency.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Neutrality, NATO and the new world order May 31, 2022

This week on Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes discusses NATO, neutrality, and the new world order.
Is neutrality even possible in response to the invasion of Ukraine?

Sara Hellmüller, Geneva Graduate Institute: "The law of neutrality is very clear, so the law of neutrality applies to the military domain and says that a country is not allowed to participate in an armed conflict either directly or indirectly."

Neutral Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. What does that mean for their neutral status?

Daniel Warner, analyst: "Neutrality changes over time, it’s not written in stone. Not only does it have legal and political but it also has moral implications."

And does strict neutrality have any benefits at all?

Jean-Marc Rickli, Geneva Centre for Security Policy: "There will come a time when negotiations will have to take place, and neutral states are very well positioned to basically offer mediation possibility to rebuild bridges."

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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World Health Assembly: lessons learned from the pandemic? May 17, 2022

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by global health experts.

“We should look at why zoonotic events happen, and maybe start banning wildlife trading. A new pandemic treaty should address the way we grow food and breed animals,” says Nicoletta Dentico, head of the global health programme at the Society for International Development (SID). Zoonotic diseases involve germs spreading between animals and humans.

How can we prevent another devastating pandemic? How do we make sure vaccines and treatments are shared fairly?

“That the TRIPS waiver discussion on vaccines is still ongoing, I personally consider as a mix of mind-boggling and insane,” says Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

There are lots of opinions, but little agreement.

“Charity is not going to be good enough, calls for solidarity are not going to be good enough. Calls to listen to science and do the right thing are not going to be good enough. We must have many more binding rules that governments really follow because they think it’s in their own best interests to do it,” says Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre (GHC) at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Press freedom: more important than ever? May 03, 2022

May 3rd is Press Freedom Day, but around the world, journalists are being harassed, oppressed, even attacked. This Inside Geneve podcast looks how at what more can be done to better journalists.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this by episode by journalists and NGOs that defend press freedom.

“We need to work on ending the culture of impunity that governments seem to enjoy when it comes to targeting and harassing journalists,” says Clayton Weimers, Reporters without Borders USA.

What are the threats journalists have to face?

“Journalism under digital siege. Surveillance, harassment, particularly against women journalists,” says Guilherme Canela, Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists, UNESCO.

And which journalists are most affected ?

“Media has been undermined within so-called liberal democracies. Let’s not forget that almost as many journalists have been killed in Mexico this year as in Ukraine,” says Nick Cumming-Bruce, New York Times contributor based in Geneva.

How can journalists protect their profession, and themselves?

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

For more insights and discussions from Switzerland’s international city, subscribe to ‘Inside Geneva’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And subscribe to our newsletter to get all the International Geneva news and views from Imogen Foulkes in your inbox.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Ukraine: can sanctions or war crimes investigations stop the war? Apr 19, 2022

Evidence of atrocities in Ukraine has been met with accusations of war crimes and tougher sanctions against Russia. The Inside Geneva podcast looks at what this means.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by human rights and sanctions experts.

“Putin has made Russia a pariah, we have to deal with that at this moment. There are no humanitarian or human rights laws being respected by the Russian government now,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

Can sanctions deter Russia in Ukraine?

“What is the objective? Is it punitive economic pain? How does that translate to some kind of political gain?” asks Erica Moret, senior researcher and sanctions specialist at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

And what might Russia’s future look like now?

“Politically, socially, who knows what Russia will be like in a year, two years, or five years’ time,” says Hugh Williamson, Europe director of NGO Human Rights Watch.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How Ukraine affects other humanitarian crises Apr 05, 2022

In a few short weeks, a quarter of Ukraine’s population has been displaced. The Inside Geneva podcast asks what this means for other refugee crises.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian experts.
“We will respond wherever there are humanitarian needs, regardless of where they are, and we urge that this compassion really be extended to all people who’ve been forced to flee,” says Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
UN emergency appeals for humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Yemen are underfunded.
“There is a huge outpouring for Ukraine, for the refugees, for the food, medical supplies, but that must mean that in other places in the world, they’re not getting what they should be getting,” says analyst Daniel Warner.
Food prices are rising and aid agencies face difficult decisions.
“We do not want to find ourselves in a situation in which we need to decide whether to feed a hungry child or a starving child. Both of them need to be assisted,” says Annalisa Conte, director of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Geneva Global Office.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

What to expect from the UN Human Rights Office’s visit to China? Mar 22, 2022

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit China, but can she get an accurate picture of the situation?

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by experts on China and human rights.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of having interned over a million Uyghurs in so-called “re-education camps” in Xinjiang.

“Michelle Bachelet will be the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set foot in China in 17 years,” says Sophie Richardson, China director at NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Will it be safe for witnesses and victims of rights abuses to talk to her?

“China has been cited by the Secretary General himself as engaging in a pattern of reprisals against those who engaged with the UN previously,” says Phil Lynch, director of NGO International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).

Is there a risk of Michelle Bachelet’s visit being instrumentalised by Chinese authorities?

“Given that we cannot expect her to carry out any serious investigation of the reality of human rights in China, what is it that she’s actually going for?” asks Nick Cumming-Bruce, a New York Times contributor in Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

War in Ukraine Mar 08, 2022

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by international history and human rights experts.

“If Russia tries to occupy all of Ukraine, that’s going to end up in a total disaster, and an ongoing civil conflict for years on end. If they divide the country, that’s just going to breed new conflict,” says Jussi Hanhimäki, professor of international history and politics at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID).

Can human rights be protected?

“If this moves to some form of occupation, we will certainly see torture, disappearances, arbitrary arrests,” says Gerald Staberock, secretary general of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

Can the United Nations do anything to help?

“The Human Rights Council in Geneva will do an inquiry. The International Criminal Court will investigate alleged war crimes, so I think the UN is reacting the best it can,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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What does the Human Rights Council mean to victims of atrocities? Feb 22, 2022

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by human rights defenders and investigators.

Human rights advocates bring their testimonies of atrocities to the UN – often at great risk to themselves – because it often is their last and only hope.

“I survived, I was able to finally leave the country, but if I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have ended up in jail, or tortured in prison,” says Khin Ohmar, a human rights defender from Myanmar.

“The feeling is always there, that sense of risk. We’ve had journalists, trade union leaders, human rights defenders, currently in prison,” says Feliciano Reyna, a human rights advocate from Venezuela.

“My only son was murdered by Dallas policemen, he was only 25 years old, he was unarmed, and shot seven times,” says Collette Flanagan, founder and CEO of Mothers Against Police Brutality.

UN investigators collect evidence that national or international courts can use to convict rights offenders. They too, have to face disturbing situations.

“I still know that the Myanmar butchers who are responsible for what happened may never individually be brought to justice,” says Chris Sidoti, an international human rights consultant.

“Is this possible? How can human beings do such horrible things to other human beings,” says Ilaria Ciarla, a UN human rights officer on the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.

“The idea that somebody has listened to your story, and you have taken your case to the United Nations is incredibly important,” says Andrew Clapham, a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Cyber-attacks: what are the risks for aid agencies? Feb 08, 2022

In January the ICRC was hacked, compromising the data of half a million vulnerable people. But how vulnerable are aid agencies themselves to cyber-attacks?

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by cybersecurity and humanitarian experts.

“It’s an attack on people who are already living in the anxiety of being separated from their family members and their loved ones. It’s an attack on their dignity, it’s an attack on their privacy,” says Massimo Marelli, head of data protection at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The ICRC has had to take its Restoring Family Links website offline. Who would attack an aid agency, and why?

“We have at least four attacks per week on healthcare. These attacks are high gain, low risk because there is a huge rate of impunity,” says Stéphane Duguin, CEO of the CyberPeace Institute.

How can humanitarian agencies protect themselves?

“The ICRC is not any humanitarian organisation, they are the guardians of the Geneva Conventions, so an attack on them is something special,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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War and humanitarian aid in the 21st century Jan 25, 2022

Henry Dunant witnessed the horrors of the battle of Solferino in 1859. This gave birth to his vision for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the first Geneva Convention. But how relevant is his vision in the 21st century?

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian and international law experts.

“Outer space, cyberspace and information space. Warfare is dramatically spreading across three new surfaces,” says Hugo Slim, a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Solferino 21, a book on the changing face of war and humanitarian work.

“The whole concept of humanitarianism, which was very religious at the time, has got to change, because the world has evolved since then,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

Do the laws of war still work?

“Instead of bringing help because of compassion, I think we should recognise that the victims of war have rights,” says Paola Gaeta, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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What does 2022 hold for Afghanistan? Jan 11, 2022

Millions of Afghans have not been paid for months as foreign aid – which used to fund 75% of Afghanistan’s public spending – was frozen following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian aid workers.
“You see girls being essentially sold, girls as young as six, seven, eight. You see children being sold into labour. Already, I’ve seen more malnourished children in the past three, four months than I’ve ever seen in Afghanistan,” says Vicki Aken, Afghanistan country director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
“Can the international community hold 39 million people hostage to the fact that they do not want to recognise the authorities that are now in place in Kabul and in Afghanistan,” asks Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
With the United Nations warning of famine, the ICRC has started paying healthcare workers directly. But can humanitarian aid alone support an entire country?
“No matter how much aid we deliver, we cannot have a country entirely dependent on the goods we bring into the country. It’s just impossible to deliver at that scale,” says Aken.
“If we want to save Afghanistan and the Afghan population, it is not just by giving money to humanitarian organisations,” adds Stillhart.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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2021: a crisis upon a crisis for humanitarian agencies Dec 28, 2021

It’s been a tough year: Covid as well as crises in Afghanistan and in Myanmar, to name but three.
"You see the kind of populist rhetoric, and the xenophobia and racism and so on infecting what were supposedly advanced democracies," Rupert Colville of UN Human Rights tells host Imogen Foulkes.
Despite the grim events of the past year, Geneva-based aid agencies do have hopes for a better year ahead.
"I hope we can see a bit more empathy and compassion from the rest of the world," says Shabio Mantoo of the UN Refugee Agency.
They're joined in the show by regular political analyst, Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

What happened in ‘International Geneva’ in 2021? Dec 14, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic, a Biden-Putin face-to-face summit and record humanitarian crises: Geneva-based journalists reflect on a busy year and offer a glimpse into the future.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by fellow Geneva-based correspondents who work for international news outlets.

Covid-19 dominated the news for the second year in a row. As the world prepares to enter “Year Three” of the pandemic, the future remains uncertain.

“There is no real perspective on when this is going to end. We had this kind of summer of hope, and then Omicron [variant] comes along and we have this question: where are we going to be in 12 months’ time,” asks Nick Cumming-Bruce, a contributor to The New York Times.

All eyes were on Geneva in June when US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in the Swiss city for a historic summit.

Questions still remain, however, about whether the US has delivered on its promised return to multilateralism.

“I didn’t see the loud and clear voice of the USA defending human rights at the Human Rights Council. They were there, but kind of shy,” says Gabriela Sotomayor, a correspondent for the Mexican magazine Proceso.

In the meantime, humanitarian needs in crisis-affected countries reached record highs this year.

“Geneva’s aid agencies are doing the best they can in these crises – perpetual crises,” says analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Do we need a pandemic treaty? Nov 30, 2021

Covid-19 has dominated our lives for almost two years. Vaccines have been developed in record time, yet nearly half the world’s population has not received a single dose. What has gone wrong?

Imogen Foulkes is joined in this podcast episode by global health and policy experts.

“How do you solve this in the longer term? You don’t want to be in this situation when this happens again. This could happen next month, if the wrong variant comes out,” says Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the director-general at the World Health Organization (WHO).

The new Omicron Covid variant now threatens to undo earlier progress. Do we need a global pandemic treaty?

“We have not managed to ensure equitable access. We have left decisions to narrow national interests and to commercial decision-making,” says Michelle Childs, head of policy and advocacy at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). “We need to be optimistic. We must be optimistic. It’s in everyone’s interest to get out of this pandemic,” says Federica Zamatto, a medical coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Do we need to decolonize aid? Nov 16, 2021

Decolonization has become a buzzword of late, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the toppling of statues of figures tied to a nation's colonial past.
Humanitarian work is also being more closely scrutinized. What does it tell us about our colonial history?
Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by policy experts and aid workers.
"If we were to think of aid as a form of reparation, as a form of social justice for historical and continuing harm," says Lata Narayanaswamy of the Politics of Global Development faculty at Leeds University.
"Headquarters trusted me to come out and within 72 hours produce a document that will decide the expenditure of several million dollars. But never asked any of the people who have been day in, day out in that hospital," adds Tammam Aloudat of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Marketing: Xin Zhang

COP26: Why the climate crisis is also a humanitarian crisis Nov 02, 2021

The increase in extreme weather events worldwide is evidence that climate change is already impacting our lives. The hardest hit of the global population are people in developing countries. Host Imogen Foulkes puts the spotlight in this episode on what humanitarian agencies are expecting from leaders at COP26, the UN Climate Change conference taking place in Glasgow.
"Ninety per cent of the world's refugees originate from countries that are on the front lines of the climate emergency. There is a linkage," says Andrew Harper, special adviser on climate action with the United Nations Refugee Agency.
"We are collectively driving towards a cliff. There are many people who have already lost their lives at the bottom of that cliff in countries that are already two or three degrees warmer," says Gernot Laganda of the World Food Programme.
"The fact that Switzerland did not pass a law about CO2 indicates that it's the developed countries that have been more difficult to convince," says political analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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The SDGs: Can we solve all of the world's problems? Oct 21, 2021

In 2015 the world set itself 17 very ambitious targets: the Sustainable Development Goals. To end hunger, eradicate poverty, ensure health and education for all.
But are the SDGs over ambitious? And who decides who is meeting them, and who is backsliding? These are just two of the questions that host Imogen Foulkes puts to:
Martin Gutmann, Editor of a multi-author research project on the history of the SDGs, and lecture at the Lucerne University of Applied Arts. Claire Somerville, Lecturer and Executive Director of the Gender Centre at the Graduate Institute Geneva. Frederic Perron-Welch, a Junior Visiting Fellow in International Law at the Graduate Institute, and Mukta Dhere, Alumna and Project Coordinator of the Advancing Development Goals Contest at the institute.
"If nothing else, the SDGs have given us a common vocabulary, and a common framework, and I think that is very powerful in its own right," says Gutmann.
"They are ambitious and clearly unachievable in terms of the framing of the wording in the targets. I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem," adds Somerville.
"If everyone is in the tent now, because the SDGs are universal, is everyone being held to the same standards?" asks Perron-Welch.
Dhere adds a note of optimism: "We all have this incessant desire to make this world a better place, and I think the SDGs are exactly the tools that we need to do that."
This episode was recorded on October 19 in front of a live audience at the Graduate Institute Geneva. The institute is a partner of SWI swissinfo.ch and the Inside Geneva podcast.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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How to prevent a cold war in science Oct 11, 2021

Diplomats and scientists often live in different worlds and don’t have open access to each other’s community.
A new foundation known as the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) hopes to bring the two sides together. It took a first step by holding its first summit in the Swiss city from October 7-9.
Host Imogen Foulkes went to the event and spoke to Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, former Nestlé CEO, and chairman of GESDA, as well as Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
"Perhaps GESDA is an honest broker between science and politics.If you look at the declaration of world leaders, you will hear that some of them clearly state that they want their country to be the technology leader worldwide. And the next step is that if two countries want to be the world development leaders in technology and science, there's a certain confrontation," says Brabeck.
"I think we must really do more and become more collaborative in all fields of society. The challenges are daunting - societal challenges, planetary challenges, technological challenges - so working together is a must. Science and technology should become tools to reduce the inequities across the world," explains Gianotti.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Extinction: old work habits and hierarchies? Oct 05, 2021

Covid 19 has changed the way we work. But has it changed how we value work?

Host Imogen Foulkes asks if our old workplace habits and hierarchies are about to become extinct. She speaks to Chidi King, head of gender diversity and inclusion at the International Labour Organisation.
"Re-examining what we deem as a true value of a job has to be one of the outcomes of this pandemic," says King.

Cedric Dupont, Professor of International Relations at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, believes "teleworking is challenging the very mode of hierarchy" we are used to, while analyst Daniel Warner wonders who will want "to go back to the office and who would prefer to stay home?"

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Killer robots: should algorithms decide who lives or dies? Sep 21, 2021

In Geneva, complex negotiations are underway to decide if a treaty is needed to control, or even ban, lethal autonomous weapons – or killer robots. Imogen Foulkes talks to experts, lawyers, and campaigners.
"It’s about the risk of leaving life and death decisions to a machine process. An algorithm shouldn’t decide who lives or dies," says Neil Davison, Senior Policy Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"Do you hold the commander responsible, who activated the weapons system?" asks Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch.
"What if a weapon is used and developed without meaningful human control, what are the consequences of it? How do you ascribe responsibility?" ponders Paola Gaeta, an international law expert at Geneva's Graduate Institute.
"If we don’t have a treaty within two years we will be too late. Technology is progressing at a much faster pace than diplomacy is doing, and I fear the worst," warns Frank Slijper of Pax, a Dutch peace organization.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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How 9/11 has eroded our human rights Sep 07, 2021

How have our attitudes to human rights changed since 9/11? What about our laws?
Imogen Foulkes is joined by Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, and Gerald Staberock, Secretary-General of the World Organisation Against Torture.
Has it become harder to defend human rights?
Fionnuala Ni Aolain: The criminalisation of lawful acts: speech, assembly, political participation, those are all defined, by multiple governments, as terrorism.
Gerald Staberock: 9/11 was like an earthquake to human rights. The house and the façade still look good, legally speaking we still have an absolute prohibition on torture. The façade is there, but the cracks in the houses are there.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Afghanistan: aid agencies are staying Aug 24, 2021

The troops have left Afghanistan but aid agencies say they’re staying. How will that work, with the Taliban back in control?
Join host Imogen Foulkes and regular analyst Daniel Warner who are joined by Marie Lequin of Geneva Call, an NGO that works to protect civilians caught up in armed conflicts, Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and Irwin Loy, Asia Editor of The New Humanitarian, a non-profit newsroom that reports from conflict and crisis-hit areas.
"The Taliban has had a game plan, they know how aid agencies operate, they know that they need a certain level of aid to continue," says Loy. Listen in to hear more.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
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Chocolate, gold, human rights: what’s the Swiss Connection? Aug 10, 2021

In this episode Imogen Foulkes is joined by Susan Misicka, host of sister podcast The Swiss Connection. We take a deep dive into what one country – Switzerland – is doing to honour the United Nations principles on business respecting human rights. How much child labour is used to produce Swiss chocolate? Why is so much gold refined in Switzerland? And what happens to that gold before it ends up on your finger?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Afghanistan: The forever war? Jul 27, 2021

Some call the war in Afghanistan "the forever war". But now the US and NATO are leaving. The conflict is escalating. Inside Geneva tries to figure out what the future might look like.
In this episode, host Imogen Foulkes talks to Firouzeh Mitchell, acting head of mission in Afghanistan for Geneva Call; Forozan Rasooli, Deputy Director of Equality for Peace and Democracy; and Vicki Aken, Afghanistan Country Director, International Rescue Committee.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Human rights: Holding businesses to account Jul 13, 2021

Ten years ago, the United Nations adopted a landmark set of guiding principles on business and human rights.

"Those who have been harmed by business activity have a right to seek effective remedy through effective process." (Lene Wendland, Chief, Business and Human Rights Section, UN Human Rights Office)

But how can we make sure guiding principles are followed?

"The UN cannot regulate things at an international level that states already haven’t agreed to regulate at a national level." (Arvind Ganesan, director, Business and Human Rights Division, Human Rights Watch)

So how do we really ensure big businesses take responsibility for their actions?

Join host Imogen Foulkes to find out who really holds big business to account: the shareholders? The consumers? The workers? Or all of us?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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War crimes: Holding perpetrators to account Jun 29, 2021

How do we bring war criminals to justice? Who can bring prosecutions? The country where the crimes took place? The International Criminal Court? Or anyone?
In this week's episode, Imogen Foulkes talks to Philip Grant, executive director of Trial International, Gerald Staberock, secretary-general of the World Organisation against Torture, and swissinfo.ch journalist, Julia Crawford.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Biden-Putin: The Geneva summit expectations Jun 14, 2021

Geneva is welcoming two of the most powerful men in the world: US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. What do they hope to gain? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes talks to former US ambassador to Finland Charles Adams, Professor of International Relations Jussi Hanhimaki, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Education: Making it a priority in humanitarian emergencies Jun 01, 2021

Education is fundamental to the life of every child. Not being in school puts children at immediate risk and it ruins their futures. So why does education seem to come a poor second during humanitarian crises? In this episode of Inside Geneva host Imogen Foulkes talks to experts on education in emergencies, including Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Julienne Vipond, head of the Unicef-led education cluster in Sudan, and Manuel Bessler, head of Swiss Humanitarian Aid. They discuss a brand new global hub for education here in Geneva, and Imogen asks whether the Covid 19 pandemic – and the school closures in wealthy countries – have reminded us just how important education is.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Finding common ground to battle future pandemics May 18, 2021

The 194 members of the World Health Organisation will meet for the annual World Health Assembly from May 24. The body decides global health policy. What could be more important in this pandemic year? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes looks at the challenges that lie ahead. Her guests are Suerie Moon of Geneva’s Global Health Centre, Maria Guevara of Medecins sans Frontieres and Thomas Cueni of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Defending the Disappeared May 04, 2021

Not knowing the fate of a loved one causes unimaginable heartbreak and anxiety for families. People go missing in wars and natural disasters, but they are also forcibly disappeared. What can families do? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes looks at the United Nations Convention on Enforced Disappearances. How does it work? Does it help prevent disappearances? And why are so many countries reluctant to ratify it?
Imogen is joined by Cordula Droege of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Olivier de Frouville of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, and Aileen Bacalso, President of the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Is the United Nations' top job for men only? Apr 20, 2021

The United Nations is 75 years old – but there has never been a woman Secretary General. Now Antonio Guterres is standing for a second term, so it will likely be another five years before a woman candidate can have a chance at the UN’s top job. Why is it taking so long? Does Guterres’ record even merit a second term? And why are some senior UN positions traditionally reserved for certain countries? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes talks to Heather Barr, co-director of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, Geneva journalist Nick Cumming-Bruce, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Genocide: why we apply the term sparingly Apr 06, 2021

It is regarded as the worst of all crimes, but what constitutes genocide? How does it differ from crimes against humanity? How are the atrocities of 1970’s Cambodia different from 1990’s Rwanda? What about Myanmar, or Xinjiang in China? Why have so few people ever been convicted of genocide? And why do human rights groups themselves use the term so carefully? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes puts those questions to Paola Gaeta, Professor of International Law at Geneva’s Graduate Institute, Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Syria, a decade of war Mar 23, 2021

The war in Syria began 10 years ago this month. Throughout that decade, Geneva has been at the heart of diplomatic efforts towards peace, and at the heart of the humanitarian operation. Were chances for peace missed? Did we expect too much from the aid agencies? Host Imogen Foulkes is joined by Fabrizio Carboni of the ICRC, Jan Egeland, former head of the UN’s humanitarian taskforce for Syria, and Ayman Gharaibeh, of the UN Refugee Agency.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Is Facebook a danger to democracy? Mar 09, 2021

Billions of us use social media – but how much control do we have over how it uses us? Big tech giant Facebook could block news content for its users in Australia without asking anyone. Authoritarian regimes use social media to promote their sometimes violent policies. Has the information sharing we once thought so liberating become a danger to democracy and to human rights? In this episode host Imogen Foulkes explores these questions with Shalini Randeria of Geneva’s Graduate Institute, Scott Campbell of UN Human Rights, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Are nuclear weapons really banned? Feb 23, 2021

In January nuclear weapons were banned by international treaty. But the treaty doesn’t apply to any of the nuclear powers, since none of them signed it. So are nukes really banned? In this episode, Imogen Foulkes talks to Cordula Droege, Chief Legal Officer of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Beatrice Fihn of the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons, and Elaine Whyte Gomez, the ambassador from Costa Rica, who steered the treaty through the United Nations.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Covid 19: When hindsight is 20/20 Feb 09, 2021

It’s a year since Covid 19 went global, and we all headed into lockdown. In this episode Imogen Foulkes revisits some eerily prescient interviews we did with health experts Vinh Kim Nguyen of MSF and Margaret Harris of the WHO one year ago – and brings us up to date talking to Suerie Moon of Geneva’s Global Health Centre. We ask: what did we think then, what do we know now, and what have we learned?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How strong is US's renewed global commitment? Jan 26, 2021

In this episode Imogen Foulkes is joined by journalists Gunilla von Hall and Tom Miles, and analyst Daniel Warner, to look at what 2021 might hold. Is the United States’ recommitment to the World Health Organisation a good sign for international Geneva? What about the future of the WHO itself? And how does our own future, our ‘new normal’ look, one year into the pandemic?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Reporting the pandemic, one year on Jan 12, 2021

Reporting a public health crisis is a huge responsibility. How do journalists tackle it? Whose message is the right one? Governments? Frontline doctors? Epidemiologists? Or all of them?
In this episode, host Imogen Foulkes is joined by swissinfo.ch correspondents Jessica Pluess-Davis and Julia Crawford – and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

The global treaty that has saved thousands of lives Dec 29, 2020

Simply known as the Ottawa Treaty, the global convention banning antipersonnel landmines has saved thousands of lives. In the first of a series on landmark treaties, Imogen Foulkes talks to survivors, doctors, and campaigners about how they achieved their goal - and what still needs to be done.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Is humanitarian aid broken? Dec 15, 2020

In a year where crises seem to be everywhere, how will help get to those who need it? And are we even approaching humanitarian aid in the right way? A discussion with guests Rein Paulsen of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Julie Billaud of Geneva's Graduate Institute, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

What does a new US president mean for international Geneva? Dec 01, 2020

Jussi Hanhimaki of Geneva’s Graduate Institute, Peggy Hicks of the UN’s Human Rights Office and analyst Daniel Warner join host Imogen Foulkes for an in-depth discussion about what the next four years might hold for Geneva, the US, and the world.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Africa and Covid-19: What can be learned? Nov 17, 2020

Why does Africa have so few coronavirus cases compared to Western Europe and North America? What are countries on the African continent doing right, and is the West prepared to learn from them? A discussion from Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Special episode: The future of the United Nations Nov 03, 2020

The United Nations: fit for another 75 years, or extinct in 5? Host Imogen Foulkes joins guests Mallika Goel, Mohamed-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou and Daniel Warner for a special live edition of Inside Geneva to mark 75 years of the UN.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Who holds aid agencies accountable? Oct 27, 2020

How do we know aid agencies and their workers are really delivering on what they promise? Host Imogen Foulkes discusses aid agency accountability with Tanya Wood of CHS Alliance, Charles-Antoine Hofmann of Unicef, and analyst Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Coping with coronavirus as winter looms Oct 13, 2020

Pandemic Fatigue: we’ve all got it. How are we going to cope this winter? Imogen Foulkes talks to global health expert Ilona Kickbusch, and members of the Swiss government’s Covid-19 taskforce for perspective.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Aid agencies face racism accusations Oct 05, 2020

Geneva-based humanitarian aid agencies are soul searching as they stand accused of institutional racism. What's behind the accusations, and how are they being addressed?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Unalienable rights, unpacked Aug 29, 2020

In this episode we discuss the much-heralded intervention by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo into the human rights debate, with his report on what he calls "unalienable rights". But what is this, exactly, especially now that the US has left the United Nations Human Rights Council?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Can Covid-19 'vaccine multilateralism' work? Jul 24, 2020

Where are we in the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine, and who will have access to it? A discussion with pharmaceutical manufacturers and those behind international collaborations meant to ensure that everyone can get the vaccine, if and when it's here.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

World trade at a crossroads Jul 09, 2020

Every country has to trade: to sell goods, and to import others that aren’t produced at home. But who makes the rules around trade? A look at the role of the World Trade Organization as chooses a new leader amid challenging times. Host Imogen Foulkes joins former WTO official Peter Ungphakorn, former Reuters correspondent and trade journalist Tom Miles, and analyst Daniel Warner, to look at what the WTO can do, and what it can’t.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Why can’t we unite in the face of a global health crisis? Jun 30, 2020

In this episode, we speak with Ilona Kickbusch of the Graduate Institute, Maria Guevara of Medecins sans Frontieres and Daniel Warner about the challenge of bringing a multilateral approach to health, about the US threat to leave the World Health Organization, and about who might fill the gap left by the US.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

In charge at the UN in trying times Jun 16, 2020

With questions swirling about the role of the United Nations and its agencies in today’s world, what’s it like to be in charge of one? We speak with former UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Raad Al Hussein, who provides an honest look at the challenges facing the UN system and what needs to change.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

What’s the point of multilateralism? The UN at 75 May 26, 2020

As the collective memory of the Second World War fades, how much do we know about the international laws and conventions designed to protect civilians during health crises and prohibit atrocities? Do we still think those laws are worthwhile, or is “my country first” a more appealing policy?And where does that leave multilateralism? A look at the highs, and the lows, of the UN over the last 75 years.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Pandemics and power Apr 28, 2020

Under the coronavirus pandemic, the relationship between leader and citizen has changed. World leaders have more power - in some cases, much more. Host Imogen Foulkes unpacks the implications with Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch and Meg Davis of Geneva's Graduate Institute.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Coronavirus: global scenarios and impact Apr 09, 2020

What does the coronavirus pandemic mean for us, our society, our economy and our future? A discussion with Dr Margaret Harris of the World Health Organization and Professor Vinh-Kim Nguyen of the Centre on Global Health at Geneva’s Graduate Institute.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

A decade of war in Syria Mar 27, 2020

We take a look at the ongoing conflict in Syria. Shouldn’t it be over by now? Could humanitarian groups be doing more? Host Imogen Foulkes is joined by Jan Egeland, who served for several years as chair of the UN’s humanitarian task force for Syria, and Fabrizio Carboni, now the ICRC’s director of operations for the Middle East.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

The United Nations and China Mar 22, 2020

In this episode of Inside Geneva we take a look at the shifting influences in the United Nations – especially with regard to China. As the United States slowly withdraws from the multilateral system and focuses on its ‘America First’ policy, China appears to be filling the political vacuum. Host Imogen Foulkes is joined by analyst Daniel Warner, China watcher Meg Davis from the Graduate Institute, and Sarah Brooks from the International Service for Human Rights.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

What should we be doing about human rights violations? Mar 07, 2020

Host Imogen Foulkes welcomes Hilary Power of Amnesty International, Gerold Staberock of the World Organisation against Torture, and Nick Cumming-Bruce of the New York Times. Together they analyse UN Secretary General Guterres's statement to the Human Rights Council and take a closer look at the human rights situation worldwide.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How to deal with coronavirus? Feb 11, 2020

With the coronavirus epidemic claiming thousands of lives, global health officials are increasing their efforts to contain its spread – as well as any rumours about the disease. Imogen Foulkes talks to two health experts at the Graduate Institute Geneva, Gian Luca Burci and Suerie Moon, as well as political scientist Daniel Warner.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Why humanitarian groups go to Davos Jan 22, 2020

For 50 years the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been a venue for the world’s political and business leaders, but increasingly, the big humanitarian aid agencies go to Davos, too. We talk to humanitarian leaders to find out why Davos is important for them.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

What kind of year will it be for the UN? Jan 12, 2020

From US tensions with Iran to wildfires in Australia, 2020 got off to an intense and challenging start for the world. How will the United Nations handle these and other issues coming up this year? And what does the future hold for the international organization? As part of our Inside Geneva series, host Imogen Foulkes joins UN representative Véronique Neiss as well as New York Times journalist Nick Cumming-Bruce and analyst Daniel Warner for a look at the year ahead.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Humanitarians and counter-terror laws Dec 17, 2019

To do their work, humanitarian organisations must talk with everyone in the field, including groups that have been labelled terrorists. How do they do it? Correspondent Imogen Foulkes and analyst Daniel Warner discuss the challenges of counterterrorism legislation and its effect on humanitarian work with Tristan Ferrero, an ICRC senior legal advisor, and Duncan Mclean, a MSF researcher.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How to cope with killer robots Nov 21, 2019

Most people in Switzerland would support a ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems - for example, drones that can shoot people. Correspondent Imogen Foulkes and analyst Daniel Warner discuss the legal and ethical aspects of killer robots with Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch and Frank Slijper of Pax for Peace.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Potential and pitfalls for Syrian peace talks Oct 31, 2019

A group of 150 people arrived in Geneva to try to work out the next steps for Syria, where war has raged for nearly a decade. Can these talks in Switzerland lead to peace in Syria? Host Imogen Foulkes and analyst Daniel Warner joined representatives from peacebuilding institutions in Geneva to discuss the ins and outs of the gathering. Who was – or wasn’t – invited to the Syria Constitutional Committee? What does that mean for a possible deal? And can there be lasting peace in Syria without justice for the atrocities committed during the war?

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

How the Human Rights Council works Oct 06, 2019

You’ve probably heard of the Human Rights Council, the UN body that’s responsible for protecting human rights all over the world. But what does it do, exactly? And who are the people who flock to Geneva every time the Council, is in session? Insider views from Bob Last, the Deputy Head of the UK Mission Political Team, John Fisher, the Geneva Director of Human Rights Watch, and analyst Daniel Warner of the Graduate Institute Geneva.

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Populist rhetoric and humanitarian work Sep 07, 2019

How do humanitarian groups cope when politicians launch verbal attacks on refugees? swissinfo.ch correspondent Imogen Foulkes discusses that question with people who deal with it every day in Geneva: Liz Throssell of the UN Refugee Agency, Matt Cochrane of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and analyst Daniel Warner of the Graduate Institute Geneva.

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For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

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