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Hello, this is Michelle, bringing you a recap of what’s been a heavy month for the world, Geneva included. It comes as no surprise that historic levels of violence in 75 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis have raised major implications for one of the cradles of humanitarian action.
On the operational front, Geneva-based organisations and their partners have been scrambling to respond to spiralling needs in a choked Gaza while their staff on the ground grapple with their own risks and losses. Zooming out, experts are called to dust off the decades-old Geneva Conventions and remind everyone how they apply to the attacks by Hamas and Israel’s retaliation.
What is new, however, is the polarised climate they have to navigate, in which the act of defending humanitarian principles is met with accusations of complacency, as a member of this expert community pointed out. However difficult it may be, it will be crucial for the international justice system to stand firm behind those agreed rules of combat if new and old crimes committed in this war are ever to see their day in court.
Meanwhile, Geneva actors have also been occupied with upcoming key discussions on climate in Dubai in a month, namely on finance, as well as plans for new initiatives further down the line on quantum technology.
A month-long Human Rights Council also spilt into October, with some bids for news initiatives, including on Sudan and rural workers, succeeded, while others failed. |
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Interiors at Cern's newly opened Science Gateway (Geneva Solutions/Maurizio Arseni)
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Kirsten Schuijt, director general of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the organisation's headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. (Geneva Solutions/Michelle Langrand)
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Here’s what else happened this month
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⚖️International justice faces daunting challenges on Gaza.
As the war in Gaza escalates and the number of civilian casualties increases by the day, those of us who work in the field of international criminal justice can only wonder if, where, and when the war crimes that are being and have been committed will ever be prosecuted.
In view of the explosive political nature of the situation, it seems likely that any country where a legal case were to be initiated by a national court under the principle of universal jurisdiction would face immense political pressure, write Civitas Maxima’s Alain Werner and Leah Sade Olasehinde.
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