GLOBAL AFFAIRS
Why it matters The planet has entered a state of emergency with an unprecedented risk of damage to humanity and the environment. Global warming and the collapse of biodiversity are having fatal consequences on an exponential scale. The increasing number of extreme...
A world with zero waste where all used packaging can easily be returned for recycling – this is the vision that stimulated a team of the Geneva impACTs initiative to develop a concept for supply and consumption chain transparency. Their idea is in sharp contrast with...
Premier maire suisse d’origine africaine, Laurent Jimaja, élu en 2015 à la tête d’une commune du Canton de Genève, se définit comme « un citoyen du monde qui a eu la chance de naître en Afrique ». Passionné depuis sa plus tendre enfance par l’environnement, c’est sous...
Social mobilisation is nothing new. It is enough to remember the mobilisation achieved by Mahatma Gandhi based on non-violent methods and Satyagraha (passive political resistance), or by Nelson Mandela, who mentioned “Unite! Mobilize! Fight on! Between the anvil of...
Quels sont les critères à l’origine de l’aggravation de la faim et de la pauvreté ? Ils sont multiples mais les répercussions de la pandémie de COVID-19 a eu des effets désastreux : quelque 250 millions de personnes de plus ont basculé dans l’insécurité alimentaire...
When COVID-19 struck the world in early 2020, few cities were prepared to withstand the shockwaves it was going to impose on urban systems. In the offices and boardrooms of decision-makers, the number of hospital beds, intensive care units, or the time taken for...
A world on the brink 2020 was a bad year for many reasons, but especially for Earth’s climate. 2021 may turn out to be an even worse one. Germany, Haiti, China and Greece, among many others, all suffered at the hands of the destructive rage of our rapidly warming...
What does the International Day of the Girl Child mean for Malala Fund and how do you celebrate it? Young women and girls are passionate and eager to contribute to a better future. Some are advocating for curriculum reform and inventing climate solutions, while other...
From the time, when in 1919 the first Secretary General, Sir Eric Drummond started working out of a small London office with a staff of only three, until the handover of the League of Nation’s assets to the United Nations, by Sean Leister in Geneva on 18 April 1946,...
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
The phrase jumps out of the text of a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 23 December, 1989. The resolution proclaimed the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), beginning on 1 January 1990, and declared the second Wednesday of...
My co-authors and I reached the same conclusion in our book entitled The Future of Diplomacy After Covid-19 : Multilateralism and the Global Pandemic, released by Routledge in May 2021. Each in our own chapter, my fellow co-authors -- Hana Alhashimi, Andres Fiallo,...
You are the first Director of the IMF who comes from an emerging economy. How has this experience influenced your understanding and action on the challenges of developing countries? If there is one clear lesson from my experiences, it is the importance of building a...
D’où vient votre vocation pour la défense des droits humains ? Elle est le fruit d’un ensemble d’éléments. Il y a l’éducation que j’ai reçue. Très engagée dans les questions de justice sociale et dans le combat moral, ma famille a toujours eu le sens de ce qui est...
Over-consumption, ravaging of natural resources, mindless materialism….and waste. Even if you don’t agree with me that our society – at least in the developed world – is characterized by the first three scourges on this list, you’ll probably concur that waste is just...
The International Week of Deaf People (IWDP) is an initiative of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), an international NGO with members in 130 countries. Launched in 1958, IWDP is hosted by deaf communities around the globe in the last full week of September....
World Barber’s Day is held every year on 16th of September. It is a global initiative that shines a light on a humble yet powerful business, the barbershop. For one day a year, with the help of UNICEF, barbers unite with a common goal to donate their earnings to...
In his novel “The World of Yesterday”, the Austrian author Stefan Zweig, described the freedom of movement that prevailed during the “Belle Epoque” (1871-1914). Back then, travelers could roam the world unhindered, provided they had sufficient means to support...
What does Geneva Macro Labs do exactly? Geneva Macro Labs aspires at making sustainability a reality. Convinced that now is the time to bring our combined knowledge and understanding to tackle global challenges, we offer a new, innovative way of leveraging the...
The notions behind public service, as we know it today, appeared with the creation and evolution of nation states in Europe, although it went to develop across the world. In France, for instance, it went from the concept of the common good to common utility and...
