ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23)

US digs heels in over China’s bid to host major ITU conference. Washington is sparring with Beijing over its bid to play host to a major United Nations conference increasingly serving as a global battleground for future communication technologies and control in outer space.

🎗️ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. As leading officials on the fight against HIV/AIDS meet on Tuesday and Wednesday this week for the UNAids programme coordinating board, much of their focus will be on the future of the organisation itself.

Financially shattered by USAid cuts which took particular care to identify anything related to reproductive health programmes, and pressed by UN80 reform requisites, the organisation will discuss a set of recommendations to restructure operations.

Core fight goes on. UNAids has said that the Aids pandemic could be ended by 2030 with enough political will. In 2023, 77 per cent of people living with Aids had access to treatment, while infections have been sharply reduced due to prevention programmes.

But UNAids chief Winnie Byanaima says that funding shortfalls could now lead to an additional 2,000 new daily HIV infections and six million deaths over the next four years.

Deathknell? The plan, which would kick off at the start of 2026, suggests more than halving its staff, reducing the number of offices and deprioritising programmes.

According to Devex, only 20 people, mostly senior staff, will be left to work in Geneva, with most other employees stationed in Bangkok, Bonn, Johannesburg and Nairobi.

But there’s more: Recommendations proposed by the secretariat include plans to “further reduce, consolidate and integrate within the UN” after 2027.

– By Paula Dupraz-Dobias

📌 25 June | Global Torture Index. The World Organisation Against Torture launches a tool developed by over 200 civil society groups, aimed at providing data-driven analysis on the global risk of torture.

📌 26 June | One museum, three perspectives. Pascal Hufschmid, director of the iconic museum, a social science researcher and a humanitarian share their views during a tour of exhibits.

For more events, visit the Genève Internationale website.

An aerial view of the United Nations and international agencies in Geneva, 23 June 2020. (Keystone/Valentin Flauraud)

Relief packages announced for international Geneva. Public authorities in Geneva and Bern have made decisions that may provide international Geneva with over CHF 300 million in relief as the multilateral hub bleeds out financially.