(Credit: Chappatte for Geneva Solutions)

Improving the world: a misguided belief. International Geneva is a 20th century construction, motivated by the wars that defined that era. But can it serve the 21st century?, asks writer and journalist Joëlle Kuntz in the opening article of our special edition.

Geneva: the capital of solutions? Solutions should really only refer to ideas that have been tried and proven to work. International Geneva is great at formulating and launching ideas – but how many turn into veritable, viable solutions? This is something that is difficult to track and that we at Geneva Solutions want to investigate, as we explain in this our leader.

"On the one hand, International Geneva as a concept is a kind of mixture between reality and wishful thinking. On the other, International Geneva for the future is what we have at the present, this incredible ecosystem of many, many actors – but turbocharged.”

Michael Møller, former UN director general of the UN Office in Geneva and Chairman, GESDA Diplomacy Forum

Delegates gather in the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room, best known as Room XX, for the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European UN headquarters in Geneva, 13 June, 2022. (Credit: Keystone/Valentin Flauraud)

Is the Human Rights Council headed for a reckoning? After Russia got thrown out of the Human Rights Council, it's China’s turn on the hot seat. Can the 16-year-old UN body survive the pressure or is it doomed to meet the same fate of its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights? Marc Limon, executive director of Universal Rights Group and a seasoned observer of the Geneva-based body, breaks it down for us.

Opinion: 'In the future, we’ll still need a rules-based international order' Much has been said and written in recent years and months about the crisis of multilateralism. Meanwhile, for a country like Switzerland, there is no desirable alternative to a rules-based international order, where norms and accountability prevail over power and privilege, writes Jürg Lauber, permanent representative to the UN and other organisations in Geneva.

Inside, you'll find the special print edition of Geneva Solutions, marking two years of reporting on International Geneva. Our articles will also soon be available to read in French on Le Temps website.