L'oeil de la Genève Internationale

On 28 June, Switzerland for UNHCR invites you to the conference "Art and forced displacement" in the framework of the exhibition "Deflagrations more than a century of children's drawings in wars and mass crimes" at the International Museum of the Reformation. The participants will address art as a vehicle for awareness-raising, reparation, and inclusion in the context of forced displacement. The above images were taken on 20 June 2023, World Refugee Day, during the Inside Out photo booth project by JR organized by Switzerland for UNHCR and the Hospice général at the Rigot collective accommodation center, a facility for refugees and asylum seekers opposite UNHCR headquarters.

From 21 to 23 June, OCHA holds this year's ECOSOC Humanitarian Segment Humanitarian (HAS) under the theme "Strengthening humanitarian assistance at a time of unprecedented global humanitarian needs: driving transformation and solutions to address the urgent challenges of rising food insecurity and the risk of famine, protection risks, and climate change." This image shows a family coping with seasonal flooding by building this wooden structure to climb on and stay dry when the water runs deep. It was taken in the Gaibandha District, Bangladesh, by Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen in 2010. 

Thursday 15 June, Geneva for Human Rights: Global Training & Policy Studies organizes an expert seminar to mark the launch of the study "The Protection Roles of Human Rights NGOs" since the creation of the United Nations and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This wide-ranging study also addresses how NGOs are responding to future challenges such as artificial intelligence, robots in armed conflict, digital threats and the protection of human rights in outer space." The photograph above symbolizes "the challenges of childhood." It was taken in Mozambique by Cristina de Middel in collaboration with Bruno Morais in 2017 and is part of the series "Excessocenus." 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is holding its 111th International Labour Conference from 5 to 16 June, the largest gathering dedicated to the world of work. In this impetuous, 12 June will mark World Day Against Child Labour under the theme "Social Justice for All. End Child Labour!" Stating that: « The abolition of child labour is a cornerstone of the aspiration for social justice, through which every worker can claim freely and on the basis of equality of opportunity and treatment their fair share of the wealth that they have helped to generate. » Magnum photographer Emin Ozmen pictured Erich, 11 (left), and Kevser, 9, both Syrian girls, in 2018, while working in a lettuce field. 

In the run-up to the 76th World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit will take place both in Geneva and online from 19 to 21 May. This high-level multistakeholder event will address the most pressing issues in global cardiovascular health. Magnum photographer, Olivia Arthur, took this portrait in 2016, during a party in London, Great Britain, following Philippe Halsman’s famous "Jumpology" photoshoot method. 

In collaboration with the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Studies and the Interfaculty Centre for Affective Sciences at the University of Geneva, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum invites you on Thursday, 4 May, to the 4th edition of "Let's Talk about Mental Health" from an artistic and participatory approach. 

As part of the Generation COVID: Respond project of UNICEF, the photographer Alex Majoli has been commissioned to cover the consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on young people's mental health in 2021. It is in a small village in the province of Bergamo in Lombardy, Italy, and to prevent social isolation, that the Regional Council of Psychologists and the Lombardy Guarantor Authority for Childhood and Adolescence invited high school students to write their vision of confinement. Anna (pictured left) was 14, when she became one of the laureates. Her story "Before I was different" is described here.
 

The Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW), organized annually by OCHA and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), will be held from 17 to 28 April 2023. Since its inception in 2015, this conference has provided a space for practitioners and experts to connect and fosters a collaborative approach to address common challenges in crisis preparedness and response. The above scene was taken by Peter van Agtmael at the Bab al-Hawa Hospital, Syria, in the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February 2023. 

To mark its 75th anniversary, the World Health Organization (WHO) presents the exhibition "Picturing Health, 75 years of progress and challenges" at Quai Wilson from 3 April to 1 May. For over 70 years, the WHO has assigned professional photographers to document its efforts to advance health for all, today constituting a collection of more than 58'000 images. As part of the exhibition, this portrait of a mother and child suffering from smallpox was taken in the early 70s by renowned Indian photojournalist T. Satyan. In 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly endorsed the conclusions of the Global Commission for Certification of Smallpox Eradication that smallpox had been eradicated worldwide and that the return of the virus was unlikely." The Smallpox Archives are, since 2017, registered in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.

For the first time, 30 March will mark the International Day of Zero waste. In this context, the Geneva Environment Network organizes the discussion "Beating Waste Pollution | Geneva Zero Waste Day Celebration." This multi-stakeholder event will highlight the steps taken by International Geneva actors and beyond to achieve the zero waste agenda. While the tide is out, those brave volunteers struggle in the mud to collect rubbish and loads of plastic bags. Ian Berry took this image on the Isle of Dogs during the London Rivers week for clean rivers organized by Thames21 in England in 2008. 

This year’s World TB Day theme focuses on "Yes! We can end TB." In this perspective, the WHO invites you on 22 March to an online Talk Show with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other senior WHO leadership, ministers, leaders, high-level government representatives, Heads of Agencies, TB survivors, civil society, and partners. The Show is broadcast live, with interactive Q&A from the audience online. This sparkling little girl above suffers from spinal tuberculosis and must wear a stiff body jacket. She was pictured, by David Seymour, in 1948 at the Bellevue Hospital in Vienna, Austria.

On 16 March, the GCSP invites you to the Geneva Security Debate on "A World without War," the latest book by Sundeep Waslekar, President of Strategic Foresight Group. By examining the history and politics of war, Dr. Waslekar proposes a "global social contract for lasting peace." Together with Ambassador Greminger, Director of the GCSP, Dr. Waslekar will discuss the key messages of this publication and how sustainable peace can be achieved. To participate, you may register here. This lively scene of a mother and child above was taken by, Magnum Photographer, Newsha Tavakolian in Paracaima, Roraima, Brazil, in October 2022.

8 March marks International Women's Day. In this impetus, the Geneva Environment Network convenes you to the high-level panel discussion addressing “Women, Girls, and the Triple Planetary Crisis” through the lens of climate change, biodiversity loss, human rights, gender, and innovation. Along the same path, the WTO organizes “A Conversation between European Central Bank President, Christine Lagarde and WTO Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.” The photojournalist Nana Heitmann followed, 16-year-old, Divya Chaudhry’s quest to study for a career in science encouraged by youth empowerment groups, and the support of her parents. Here, Divya poses with her sister Saniya next to their village, Turki, Madhya Pradesh, India in November 2022.

From 27 February to 4 April 2023, the Human Right Council is holding its 52nd regular session. United Nations' highest body dedicated to the protection and promotion of Human Rights will mark the 35th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development and organizes notably a series of high-level meetings addressing youth rights and participation, the question of death penalty, racism, the rights of people with disabilities and children's rights. You may watch the session live on UN Web TV. Those children playing were pictured in September 2020, by Emin Ozmen, in the province of Mardin, Turkey, at the border with Syria, where thousands of Syrians have sought refuge since the beginning of the war. 

On 23 February 2023, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, known as the Declaration of Geneva, is 100 years old. This anniversary is the occasion to announce that the International Museum of the Reformation will present, from 27 April to 27 August, the exhibition "Déflagrations: more than a century of children's drawings in wars and mass crimes." 

The exhibition will bring together more than 150 drawings by children who have witnessed, been victims of, and acted in armed conflicts from the First World War to the present day.

The International Cooperation Forum Switzerland will take place on 15 and 16 February under the theme "Education for Future." This event will bring together actors from international cooperation, business, finance, civil society, and research to address sustainable funding, innovative and practical solutions, and active youth participation for global quality education. This classroom scene pictures Syrian children in a makeshift school supported by the Turkish NGO "Support to Life." It was taken by Magnum photographer Emin Ozmen, in Hatay, Turkey, in 2018.

In the roundup of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Human Rights Platform and Child rights connect, organize the discussion "Child participation in the work of UN Human Rights mechanisms" today, 6 February, at 13:15. This event is part of the Human Rights Conversations series that aims to discuss today's challenges to promote and safeguard Human Rights. The above sparkling scene was pictured by Alex Webb in the framework of UNICEF's Children's broadcasting participation program, in Mozambique, in 2012. 

"How global governance needs to adapt to new world orders?" How do we accelerate the process from ideas to actions? What can be done now, and by whom? Those questions are at the core of the new digital publication "Geneva Policy Outlook," produced by the Geneva Graduate Institute. Key findings of this pilot edition, and a discussion with some authors on issues and negotiations to watch in 2023 will be presented at the launch event on 31 January. This school, built on stilts to avoid incidents due to the rise in water levels, was pictured by Sohrab Hura near Tacloban, Philippines. It is part of UNEP's commission of ten of Magnum's Photographers to document the solutions implemented to curb the rise of global temperatures. This photographic corpus resulted in the exhibition "We have the power: we are the change."

Since 2018, the 24 January marks the International Day of Education. It is the occasion to remind that the first Declaration of the Rights of the Child, known as the Declaration of Geneva, was adopted a hundred years ago, recognizing the existence of specific rights for children and that "humanity must give the child the best it has." This portrait of Somali girls at school was taken in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, in 2016, by Magnum photographer Newsha Tavakolian. 

The 92 session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) starts today, 16 January, until 3 February. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights that must be realized for children, adolescents, and teenagers to develop to their full potential, and be protected from violence, abuse, and harm. This photograph was taken in Belbedji, Niger, in July 2021 by Zied Ben Romdhane. It is part of the story "Children of the Rain" and selected in the Witnesses: 50 years of Doctors Without Borders project. 

"What will 2023 bring for digital geopolitics, AI, data, and cryptocurrencies? What issues will dominate the United Nations and multilateral agenda in Geneva and beyond?" Those questions, and numerous others, will be discussed at DiploFoundation's "Trends and Predictions for 2023" webinar on 12 January at 14:00 CET. The conceptual image above symbolizes the "Right to ensure human direction and control over artificial intelligence." It is the result of a collaboration between Magnum photographer Cristina de Middel and the International Federation for Human Rights to mark their Centenary in 2022.