Send us a text 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 ...
May 30, 2023•37 min
Send us a text 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 proje...
May 15, 2023•30 min
Send us a text 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 situat...
May 02, 2023•40 min
Send us a text 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 Crim...
Apr 18, 2023•38 min
Send us a text 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 Norw...
Apr 04, 2023•32 min
Send us a text 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...
Mar 21, 2023•42 min
Send us a text 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 ...
Mar 07, 2023•28 min
Send us a text 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 Hu...
Feb 23, 2023•44 min
Send us a text 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 Sy...
Feb 14, 2023•31 min
Send us a text 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 Hum...
Feb 07, 2023•25 min
Send us a text 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, majo...
Jan 24, 2023•30 min
Send us a text 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,...
Jan 10, 2023•27 min
Send us a text 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,”...
Dec 27, 2022•36 min
Send us a text 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? “T...
Dec 13, 2022•32 min
Send us a text 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 proje...
Nov 29, 2022•36 min
Send us a text 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 convent...
Nov 15, 2022•39 min
Send us a text 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...
Nov 01, 2022•32 min
Send us a text 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...
Oct 18, 2022•45 min
Send us a text 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...
Oct 04, 2022•30 min
Send us a text 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...
Sep 20, 2022•29 min
Send us a text 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...
Sep 06, 2022•32 min
Send us a text 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. “W...
Aug 23, 2022•36 min
Send us a text 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...
Aug 09, 2022•36 min
Send us a text 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 ...
Jul 26, 2022•32 min
Send us a text 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 commis...
Jul 12, 2022•26 min
Send us a text 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 D...
Jun 28, 2022•33 min
Send us a text 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 wh...
Jun 14, 2022•32 min
Send us a text 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 th...
May 31, 2022•34 min
Send us a text 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 ...
May 17, 2022•35 min
Send us a text 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 Borde...
May 03, 2022•35 min
