A protester wears a facemask picturing deposed leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi. (EPA / Kimimasa Mayama)

❗ Myanmar debate dominates Human Rights Council opening session. The UN’s top human rights body kicked off its 47th session in Geneva last week with a tense debate over Myanmar, which hasn’t been represented at the body since the 1 February military coup. This came days after the UN general assembly passed a rare resolution condemning the coup and calling for an arms embargo amid growing pressure from the international community.

🇺🇳 A shy council. For years rights groups have been calling for the Human Rights Council to appoint a special rapporteur to look at the human rights implications of climate change. While the proposal has gained backing by dozens of countries in the last years, many member states are opposed to increasing scrutiny on their governments. A draft resolution determining how the council will address the climate issue for the following year is expected to be submitted by 2 July.

Geneva’s International Environment House a few days before its inauguration in 1999. (Keystone/Martial Trezzini)

🌱 International Geneva, a hub for environmental governance? International Geneva has played a key role in shaping global policy for the environment but has yet to emerge as the world’s environmental hub. A scattered framework and little space for civil society to interact with instruments might be to blame. However, as rights groups find other multilateral spaces in Geneva to make their voices heard, Geneva could gain more prominence in environmental matters in the coming years.

🤝 Repurposing trade policy for the 21st century. “What we have to do over the next decade is to fight, with the same rules and the same will, against inequality and to have a bigger voice for developing countries but also to realise that development is in motion." UNCTAD's acting secretary general Isabelle Durant talks to Geneva Solutions on repurposing the UN's trade and development body for the 21st century. Geneva Solutions

⚕️💪Ending the pandemic needs political courage. The seventy-fourth session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which ended on 1 June, had an ambitious agenda. Still, there were over 30 resolutions adopted ranging on health topics from eye care to diabetes. Speaking to professor Suerie Moon of the Graduate Institute's Global Health Centre, she tells Geneva Solutions what she would like to see happen in the post-WHA era.

Biden and Putin praise ‘constructive’ summit but disputes remain. The two leaders said the Geneva summit talks were “positive” and “constructive” and made some progress towards repairing diplomatic relations, but failed to find common ground on a number of issues that divide the countries.

Geneva: a decades-long tradition of top-level meetings. The Biden-Putin summit in Geneva echoed the city's long tradition of hosting top-level meetings. We looked back at a timeline of historic top-level events held in Geneva since the end of the Second World War.

🎥 Exclusive Dialogue with Jean Todt - "A man committed to action". On June 8, Geneva Solutions' editor-in-chief Kasmira Jefford had the privilege to moderate a discussion with Jean Todt, president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and UN Secretary-General's special envoy for Road Safety during an event organised by the Club Diplomatique de Genève.