Good morning, Kasmira. The World Health Assembly finally wrapped up on Tuesday evening, with member states giving the green light to a global action plan on climate change and health that had courted much drama and delayed the closing of the annual gathering by several hours.

A controversial US-backed group distributing aid in Gaza has been overrun by thousands of Palestinians seeking aid. And, a look at whether the Pandemic Treaty signed by counties last week can be called a victory for multilateralism.

Kasmira Jefford

28.05.2025

On our radar

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The entrance of the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, 1 May, 2025. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

WHO climate change and health plan approved after Saudi-led effort to shelve it fails. Countries on Tuesday approved an action plan to strengthen the World Health Organization’s work on climate change and health after hours of high-stakes, high-drama political attempts by a cluster of oil-rich member states to shelve the plan failed.

Health Policy Watch via Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here’s what else is happening

🥣Crowds overrun US-backed group's new aid distribution site in Gaza. The Geneva-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses armed US security contractors, began distributing aid on Monday but was soon overrun, with videos showing thousands of Palestinians storming its compound.
BBC (EN)
🫱🏼‍🫲🏽Pandemics and climate change – can multilateralism still work? Can the Pandemic treaty signed last week be called a milestone, and why can’t world leaders come together on existential challenges like climate change? InsideGeneva puts these questions to experts on this week’s show.
Swissinfo (EN)
❌EU rejects Russia's request for talks on carbon border tariff, WTO document shows. The bloc cited Russia’s “war of aggression” against Ukraine as the reason for turning down the request for consultations over its carbon border levy, submitted earlier this month.
Reuters (EN)
👓Former UN relief chief says world body's reforms lack vision. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, Martin Griffiths, the former United Nations emergency relief coordinator, said the current quest for savings was centred on cuts and not on a vision for reform.
Devex (EN)
⚖️Special tribunal to try the crime of aggression against Ukraine – a first after Nuremberg. The creation of a special international court for prosecuting Russian leaders for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine harks back to the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals after the Second World War.
Le Temps🔐 (FR)

International Geneva moves

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Roland Chauville to take the helm at the Centre for Civil and Political Rights. The Geneva-based NGO, focused on the protection of civil and political rights, was founded in 2008 by international human rights lawyer and judge Patrick Mutzenberg, who is stepping down to pursue a career in politics after being elected to Carouge’s administrative council. Chauville, a human rights expert who founded the NGO UPR Info at the same time as Mutzenberg’s CCPR in 2008 – often working closely together – will take over next week.

Since leaving UPR Info in 2017, Chauville has had a varied career as a documentary producer, partnerships manager at Oxfam Great Britain, and the founder of a charitable giving platform SwissDonations, which he’ll continue to oversee. The post represents a return to his roots in advocating for human rights. “I’m really pleased to be returning to the field of human rights after a number of years – especially at a critical time when human rights are under attack – and look forward to fighting alongside civil society and other NGOs for this human rights architecture that we took for granted,” he told Geneva Solutions.

From our partners

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🔹Matthias Sander, journalist covering international affairs, NZZ

This lunchtime webinar is organised by the Executive Diploma in Diplomacy, Negotiation and Policy at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

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