Hello, this is Michelle, bringing you the major news developments of the month from international Geneva. Like every September, the Human Rights Council has taken centre stage with a wide range of issues on the agenda. One of the burning questions is whether western diplomats will push for the creation of a probe body on Sudan as the fighting rages on.
We zoomed into the complexities of sanctions, looking at their humanitarian impacts in Niger and Venezuela. An award underscored the alarming number of migrants who have perished trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
The toxic impacts of the green transition were also subject to heated debates this month at a forum on minerals and at the Human Rights Council.
On the international justice front, we spoke to an expert about the historical failures of courts to deal with children, and Civitas Maxima director Alain Werner suggested an example of local justice in Africa deserving more attention. |
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Artisanal miners working at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi, 12 October 2022. Some 20,000 people work at Shabara, in shifts of 5,000 at a time. (Keystone/AFP/ Junior Kannah)
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Amir Khalil, a veterinarian with Four Paws International, feeds Kavaan, Pakistan's only Asian elephant, at the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad on 11 November 2020 before travelling to a sanctuary in Cambodia. (Keystone/AFP/Aamir Qureshi)
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Here’s what else happened this month
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Customers shop at Niamey's main market on August 8, 2023. (Keystone/AFP)
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🇨🇭Swiss diplomacy at a historic crossroads.
Troubled by ambiguous relations with the EU and weakened on the international stage, Switzerland would benefit from capitalising on other forms of diplomacy, writes diplomat Theodor Winkler in his latest book, reviewed by François Nordmann.
François Nordmann
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International justice corner
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🇨🇫Can Central African Republic set an example for justice on the continent?
These past weeks, there has been considerable movement on the international justice front in countries such as France and Switzerland. When victims of international crimes are unable to find justice in their own countries, some manage to find it elsewhere.
Either states, for the most part in Europe, pursue such cases through universal jurisdiction, or the International Criminal Court holds its own trials in the Hague. However, this raises the question as to whether justice for international crimes is ever served where the crimes were actually committed. On the African continent, precedents do exist.
- Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima
🌐Read September’s full war crimes round-up, in partnership with Geneva-based NGO Civitas Maxima, on Geneva Solutions
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Flags on Geneva's Pont du Mont Blanc during the AI for Good Global Summit 2023, held on 6-7 July 2023. (ITU Pictures)
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AI Diplomacy: what vision for the future of multilateralism?
From the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva to bustling embassies around the world, diplomats are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to implement foreign policy. However, the integration of AI into diplomacy also brings with it significant risks that could compromise the very essence of diplomatic practice, writes Dr Jérôme Duberry, managing director of the Tech Hub at the Geneva Graduate Institute and academic advisor of the Executive Degree in Diplomacy, Negotiation and Policy.
Geneva Solutions
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This section was produced for, and in partnership with, the Geneva Graduate Institute's Executive Programme. More information here.
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