Inside Geneva

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Aid Access Dilemmas Apr 04, 2023

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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
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Zhang

Books to make you think Mar 21, 2023

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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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Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

How to hold China to account Mar 07, 2023

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

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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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Earthquakes, aid and politics Feb 14, 2023

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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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Challenges for the new UN Human Rights chief Feb 07, 2023

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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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Cyber Wars Jan 24, 2023

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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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Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Afghanistan: aid without women Jan 10, 2023

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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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Aid agencies reflect on 2022 Dec 27, 2022

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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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UN correspondents look back Dec 13, 2022

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

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