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

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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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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

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

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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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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

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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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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

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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.

Get in touch!

• Email us at [email protected]
• 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

Send us Fan Mail

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.

Get in touch!

• Email us at [email protected]
• 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

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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.

Get in touch!

• Email us at [email protected]
• 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

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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.

Get in touch!

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• 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

Send us Fan Mail

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.

Get in touch!

• Email us at [email protected]
• 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