Good morning, this is Kasmira. As climate negotiations enter their final phase in Dubai, our reporter Paula Dobias-Dupraz speaks to country and civil society representatives on the ground.

Meanwhile in Geneva, as the Global Refugee Forum begins today, Iran's leader was forced to cancel his trip to avoid arrest. And Switzerland cuts its funding to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees.

Kasmira Jefford

13.12.2023

On our radar

Photo article

Civil society activists protesting in the official Blue Zone area at Cop28 in Dubai, 9 December 2023. (Geneva Solutions/Paula Dupraz-Dobias)

Climate talks at a crossroads in Dubai. As climate negotiators enter into the final phase of talks in Dubai, many countries and civil society representatives are hoping that this edition of the three-decades-long process will respond to scientific warnings and the growing needs of climate-hit countries. Geneva Solutions

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here's what else is happening

🛬 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cancels Geneva trip amid calls for his arrest. Three Iranian opponents living in Switzerland filed a petition with the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office calling for Raisi, who was due to speak at the Global Refugee Forum, to be investigated for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Swissinfo (EN)
💰 Swiss lower-house cuts all funding for Unrwa in 2024 budget. Switzerland contributes to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees with up to 20 million euros. The agency's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X he was "disheartened" by the move.
Le Temps (paywall) (FR)
🐟 A quarter of freshwater fish risk extinction. About a quarter of all freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction due to threats from climate change and pollution, according to the latest Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Reuters (EN)

Image of the day

Photo article

(Geneva Solutions/ Michelle Langrand)

Under a grey sky and the drizzle, some 30 humanitarian workers gathered on Monday before the UN headquarters at the Place des Nations to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. They’re among some 400 staffers to have signed up until now an open letter calling for a stop to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

“We see the horrors day by day, and we just had enough,” said one of the protesters, under the condition of anonymity, stressing there shouldn’t be double standards on how different conflicts and suffering are treated. The protesters, who participated in their personal capacity and not under any affiliation, plan to hold more protests in the future.

– Michelle Langrand

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