Nathalie Chuard, Dcaf director at the organisation's offices in Geneva, 28 November 2025. (Geneva Solutions/Michelle Langrand)

Why weapons alone won’t secure lasting peace. Amid soaring military spending and intensifying conflicts, Nathalie Chuard, the head of the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, warns that countries, from Europe to the Middle East, cannot militarise their way to stability and must invest in human security.

💥LANDMINE TALKS. Delegates and royals kick off today the latest gathering of the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines – aka the Ottawa convention – as they aim for a mine-free world by 2025.

But the aspirational deadline is still off target: at least 14 countries, including Angola, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, are expected to request extensions.

BRB. On Tuesday, countries will discuss Ukraine’s notification to the UN this summer to suspend its commitments under the 1997 treaty until the end of the war.

Civil society organisations have warned of the dangerous precedent it sets for a country at war, noting that while the treaty fails to mention suspensions, it states that mine use is prohibited under any circumstances.

Bye-bye. Other countries bordering Russia, including Finland, Poland and the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have withdrawn from the convention or said they would do so, citing concerns over possible aggression from Moscow. They will have a chance to defend their decision on Tuesday.

Read more: New use of landmines is posing threat to 25-year ban treaty

🙏SEEKING FUNDS FOR REFUGEES. As asylum seekers face ever-narrowing options for international protection, after the Trump administration’s recent announcement to “permanently pause” migration from “third world countries” last week, the UN Refugee Agency will hold out its offering plate tomorrow at its annual pledging conference in Geneva.

The session comes at the end of a tough year for the UNHCR, with roughly 5,000 jobs cut, rising numbers of people forced to flee their homes and a reduced budget for 2026.

Those hoping to take over the struggling agency next year will likely be watching closely – the conference will offer an early glimpse of just how challenging the job will be.

Read our coverage on the race: Who can steer the UN refugee agency through tough years ahead?

🦎SAVING WILDLIFE. Environmental protection officials are meeting in Uzbekistan for the second and final week of the conference on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) to discuss how to curb the illegal trade of threatened species.

The transactions, estimated to be the fourth largest criminal trade after drug trafficking, people smuggling and counterfeit, are reported to impact nearly a fifth of the Earth’s land animals. In recent years, social media has further enabled the ability to connect illegal traders with online buyers.

– Paula Dupraz-Dobias