genevasolutions.news

With two months to go before António Guterres steps down, none of the six remaining candidates has won over the Security Council’s permanent members. The late entrants fuel fears that the next secretary-general will simply do the bidding of the great powers.

For nearly two years, restaurants, hotels, and other parts of the local economy have grappled with the effects of international Geneva job and budget cuts, particularly around the Nations quarter. Two publicly backed studies are now seeking to quantify the losses. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/IT

As Russian missile and drone strikes intensify, Ukrainian relief organisations in Geneva last week for aid talks say funding cuts have hindered commitments within the aid sector to empower local actors. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/Dh

With tens of thousands of people killed and millions forcibly displaced in Sudan’s protracted civil war, can renewed talks in Geneva between the UN and regional and international actors to coordinate mediation efforts bring the country closer to peace?

OPINION At UN talks in Vienna this week, Brazil is pushing for a new protocol to clamp down on widespread environmental crimes, including from illegal mining, that EU states would be wise to back, write Human Rights Watch's Juliane Kippenberg and César Muñoz.

As the scramble for critical minerals gathers pace, experts warn against repeating past mistakes, when extraction left countries and communities without the development gains they might otherwise have expected.

As thousands of finance leaders gather in Thailand for IMF and World Bank meetings, the Egyptian economist warns that tackling today’s biggest development challenges will require looking beyond the existing international financial system to more localised solutions.

In his first address to the UN Refugee Agency’s executive committee since taking the helm as high commissioner in January, Barham Salih warned there were limits to how far the organisation could cut its operations before having far-reaching consequences for refugees.

The Cop31 climate conference is just a month away. Yet, surprisingly, after a year of intensifying disasters and a historic legal precedent, the drumroll ahead of the session in Antalya has been fainter, with climate action coming from beyond the UN climate cycle.

UN staff representatives say visa refusals are rising as contracts become shorter and less secure. But French immigration lawyers point instead to tougher migration controls and a visa system that is poorly adapted to non-EU workers and their families.

OPINION The Council of Europe is the only regional human rights system yet to explicitly recognise the right to a healthy environment in a binding treaty. With climate and environmental crises worsening, it’s time to act. — Francesca Mingrone & Sébastien Duyck ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/IK

As civil society faces AI-powered cyberthreats, NGOs are asking donors to help the sector prepare. Geneva-based cyber expert Stéphane Duguin warns that that window is rapidly closing. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/bX

As Ebola continues to spread in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the burning question at recent UN pandemic preparedness meetings at the UN General Assembly was: Is the world willing and able to pay for readiness?

Since stepping down from his role as head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency earlier this year, Philippe Lazzarini has published a candid account of his tenure, denouncing disinformation campaigns and western hypocrisy over Gaza. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/Qp

As Geneva’s annual sustainable finance summit prepares to open its doors on Tuesday, its co-founder, Swiss banker Patrick Odier, argues that sustainability must remain a long-term priority despite global conflicts, energy and security threats diverting political attention.

Almost two years after Trump’s axing of aid, compounded by other donor cuts, Swiss authorities say the impact on the workforce in international Geneva is less than feared. But staff describe a grim job market and increasingly precarious contracts. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/co

With just three months remaining before António Guterres’ term ends, Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan has again topped a fourth informal straw poll at the Security Council, ahead of Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, with Argentina’s Rafael Grossi slightly behind. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/oc

OPINION Same-sex intimacy bans in most countries are a colonial legacy. Yet a UN draft resolution on decriminalisation omits that history, risking the false idea that LGBTIQ rights are a western imposition, write Outright International’s Venus Aves and André du Plessis.

A tide of anti-gay laws and rhetoric is sweeping across regions, putting already stigmatised communities at greater risk, UN LGBT rights expert Graeme Reid tells Geneva Solutions in an interview. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/t6

The proliferation of mammoth, resource-intensive data centres needed to power the artificial intelligence frenzy is putting grids under strain and provoking resistance from communities. The UN’s regional group for Europe wants countries to plan ahead.

Three candidates vying for the top job pitched their plans on Wednesday to haul the ailing UN labour agency out of crisis-mode. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/5i

As New York buzzes with UNGA week diplomacy, a looming leadership race and questions about an ongoing reform process underlie uncertainties about the future of the global organisation, with Geneva also at risk. ➡️ https://l.genevasolutions.news/zJ

OPINION The “fog of war”, “special operation”, a ministry of “war” replacing the ministry of “defense”: words speak volumes – and their absence too, writes international law professor Andrew Clapham, who asks why “pacifism” is no longer discussed.

Reporting to the Human Rights Council this week on the Kremlin’s widening crackdown on Russian critics overseas, Maria Katzarova urged states to create a binding international instrument to put a stop to authoritarian governments reaching across borders. 

OPINION. Competition for scarce resources, widening inequalities, mounting demographic pressures – with tech weapons increasingly accessible, the world is growing ever more dangerous, writes Keith Krause, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding director. ➡️https://l.genevasolutions.news/k5