Inside Geneva

Send us a textPodcast 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 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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textMay 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 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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textEvidence 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 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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textIn 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! 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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textThe 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 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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textPodcast 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.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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textPodcast 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.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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textIn 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.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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textHenry 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.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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us a textMillions 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.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 FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang