The Assembly Hall during the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s first session at headquarters in Geneva, 19 June 2006. (Keystone/AP Photo/Nicholas Ratzenboeck)

20 years on, UN Human Rights Council wrestles with old dilemmas. In 2006, the Human Rights Council was created to fix the failures of its predecessor. Its first president tells of the clever – at times sneaky – diplomacy it took to get it off the ground and why it still struggles with the same problems.

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

People set up camps in front of buildings destroyed by the late June earthquakes in Caraballeda, Venezuela, 17 July 2026. (Keystone(EPA/Miguel Gutierrez)

🇻🇪IOM’S QUAKE APPEAL. Having kept a low public profile since the return of Trump to office, the International Organization from Migration – led by Biden-nominee Amy Pope – attended yesterday’s briefing to promote its $98 million appeal to assist recovery efforts in earthquake-struck Venezuela.

Wanted. Maria Moita, the IOM’s humanitarian response and recovery director, said the funding would help 850,000 people with a combination of “life-saving” assistance – the type that the White House appears to favour after dismantling USAid – and early recovery and longer-term solutions.

Having encouraged US firms to invest heavily in the energy and mining sectors, the US has so far committed nearly $400 m in quake relief, albeit a fraction of the $37 billion in infrastructure damage, according to the UN.

Deportee deaths. The earthquakes killed at least 5,278 people – including many of the more than 140 Venezuelans that had returned on deportation flight from the US before being housed at a hotel, which collapsed in the disaster.

When pressed by journalists on whether the IOM’s involvement in assisting any deportees – or self-deportees as Washington calls them – reintegrate in Venezuela, Moita insisted that IOM "has in the past asssisted not in deportations but people that have returned voluntarily." IOM’s spokesperson added that the agency “was not involved in that tragic situation” regarding the deaths of the deported Venezuelans.

Earlier deal. Following a third-country deportation deal between the US and the Central African Republic that included the removal of Iranian activists and asylum seekers, the IOM said it would provide “post-arrival humanitarian assistance” to the deportees. (PassBlue)

🚚MOVE CONFIRMED. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed its move to Palais Wilson, following last week’s ARD media reports it taking over the now empty premises.

Matthew Saltmarsh, the organisation’s spokesperson, said the move, which should be “relatively soon”, will provide significant savings –- “around 50 per cent” –- on rent, after donor cuts forced it to slash its budget by 30 per cent in 2025.

— Paula Dupraz-Dobias