Good morning, this is Nicolas. Today, we’re covering a call from the European Union for an emergency meeting of the Human Rights Council on Ethiopia.

We’re also following the first day of the Geneva talks on legislating autonomous weapons. And, sticking to Geneva, we learn about an initiative from the NGO Swiss Solidarity to strengthen the country’s sense of solidarity, which has been impacted by the pandemic.

14.12.2021

On our radar

The end of the first day of discussions at the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons’ (CCW) conference in the Palais des Nations, on 13 December 2021. (Credits: Farah Bogani).

🤖UN chief urges action on ‘killer robots’ as Geneva talks open. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the CCW conference on Monday by calling for new rules around the use of autonomous weapons. "I encourage the Review Conference to agree on an ambitious plan for the future to establish restrictions on the use of certain types of autonomous weapons," Guterres said. Countries have been negotiating for the past eight years to find such an agreement, and could move to another forum – either inside or outside the UN – if no deal is found by the end of the five-days talks.

Reuters (EN)

Here's what else is happening

💼EU calls for urgent Human Rights Council session on Ethiopia, one day after rebel forces regained control of a world heritage site.
Geneva Solutions (EN)
🦠Omicron can evade vaccine protection and poses ‘very high’ risk, but data on severity is limited, says WHO.
The Globe and Mail (EN)
🌡️‘2.4C is a death sentence’: Ugandan activist’s fight for the forgotten countries of the climate crisis.
The Guardian (EN)
🕊️Dozens of Nobel laureates call for reducing military spending, and create UN fund with some of the money.
Le Temps (FR)
🚫Burundi government says it will never allow in UN special rapporteur to investigate human rights abuses after 2015 national elections.
AP News (EN)
👩‍💻Members of Geneva-based NGO hack a US satellite – and win a prize.
Heidi.news (paywall) (FR)

Number of the day

Shopping trolleys are used to save a spot in the queue for a food donation in Geneva, on 5 November 2021. (KEYSTONE/Salvatore Di Nolfi).

🙏The pandemic is testing Switzerland’s sense of solidarity. The Swiss’s willingness to help others has not been left untouched by the social impacts of the sanitary crisis. According to a new survey from NGO Swiss Solidarity, 26 per cent of the Swiss people interviewed declared they had given less money to charity since the beginning of the pandemic. The NGO therefore launched a “week of solidarity”, with a range of events organised around the country this week to strengthen the social bonds affected by Covid.

Swiss Solidarity (EN)

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