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Good morning, this is Michelle and today we speak with newly re-elected IFRC president Francesco Rocca about the challenges humanitarians face as the war in Ukraine and its ripple effects push millions of people into hardship, and crises all over the world have to compete for attention.

Plus, the pleas of an Egyptian feminist in Geneva for the Human Rights Council fall on deaf ears and a BBC documentary reveals the stories of whistleblowers pushed aside for raising the alarm on the UN’s wrongdoings.

photo journaliste

Michelle Langrand

22.06.2022


On our radar


Photo article

IFRC president Francesco Rocca was re-elected on Sunday. (Credit: courtesy IFRC)

‘Local actors know best’. Francesco Rocca was re-elected on Sunday as president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), kicking off the humanitarian organisation’s General Assembly in Geneva. We spoke to the former lawyer who took on the Italian mafia in the 1990s about the challenges the 14 million-strong organisation faces amid worsening conflicts, a looming climate threat and increasingly polarised geopolitics.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

‘The international community isn’t listening’. Even though Mozn Hassan was given only one minute and 30 seconds for her oral statement, she was determined to make this moment on the international stage count. The Egyptian feminist spoke before the Human Rights Council along with other civil society members, following the presentation of a report by the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here’s what else is happening


Science and diplomacy reads by GESDA


Photo article

(Credit: Northrop Grumman)

Repair, recycle, reuse. Three words that will apply to space soon! Up to now, launching anything in space was almost a definite action. There was no way to intervene on the launched item, with maybe the famous exception of the Hubble Space Telescope, which got a facelift through several missions led by the now defunct Space Shuttle. And of course, SpaceX is reusing the first stage of its rockets… but after having brought them back to Earth.

Here we are talking about repairing a satellite right in space, with a robotic intervention vehicle, capable of refurbishing many orbiting spacecraft on a single flight. That is the project that the American firm Northrop Grumman is developing.

More generally, space agencies are also looking into manufacturing stuff right in space, and of course also repairing them up there, as this very detailed article in Quartz explains (read below). It might be tailored to the space-geeks. But for the non-nerds, just watching the adaptive video (with or without AR) provided by Northrop Grumman is interesting, or at least makes a boring topic – recycling – definitely fascinating.

- Olivier Dessibourg

The US has a national strategy to put factories in space. It wants more of the expensive hardware in space rather than back on Earth.

Quarz (EN)

Can democracy include a world beyond humans? A truly planetary politics would extend decision making to animals, ecosystems and potentially AI.

Wired (EN)

Gene genies: inside the revolutionary biotech that can edit DNA inside living humans.

Forbes (EN)

Pulling steaks from thin air meat. Meat made from recycled CO2 is on its way, but will it taste good?

NEO.LIFE (EN)

How can we prevent AI from being racist, sexist and offensive? Artificial intelligence exhibits human biases and prejudices because they created it.

New Scientist (EN)

How to be a techno-optimist. Technology is inherently neither good nor bad. But when coupled with human virtue, good will prevail.

BigThink (EN)

Flying the low-carbon skies on sustainable aviation fuel.

Chemical & Engineering News (EN)

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This selection is proposed by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator GESDA, working on anticipating cutting-edge science and technological advances to develop innovative and inclusive solutions for the benefit of the planet and its inhabitants.


GS news is a new media project covering the world of international cooperation and development. Don’t hesitate to forward our newsletter!

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