A brief overview of the work of some of the Geneva-based UN organisations and their achievements at the 80th anniversary of the United Nations on 22 September 2025
The new UNHCR report provides insights into global trends in 2024. With 123.3 mio. people, there were 6% more forcibly displaced than in 2023. Sudan is particularly hard-hit.
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, the 78th World Health Assembly was able to adopt key health policy projects with potential for future generations.
With the successful conclusion of negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, the international community has taken a decisive step toward a stronger global health architecture.
With only five official negotiation days left before the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May—where the agreement is set to be adopted—delegations are under immense time pressure.
Freedom, justice and solidarity are the basic principles underlying the work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). The KAS is a political foundation, closely associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).
Multipod: WHO macht Fortschritte bei internationalen Gesundheitsvorschriften
Die Covid-Pandemie hat auch auf internationaler Ebene Folgen. Erfahren Sie, wie die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) und ihre Mitgliedstaaten sich besser für die Zukunft wappnen.
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Statement
Norbert Lammert on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"Human rights are not laws of nature. [...], they must be protected & defended by people who take the claim to the inviolability of human dignity seriously".
Multipod: Review of Germany in the UPR
Multipod: Human rights protection starts at home. Germany in the UPR
On 9th November 2023, the United Nation's Human Rights Council discussed the human rights situation in Germany
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Genfreise
Geneva Security Debate zum Krieg in der Ukraine
Prof. Dr. Lammert, Botschafter Dr. Heusgen und Botschafter Greminger zu den Auswirkungen des Krieges in der Ukraine auf den Multilateralismus und die Weltordnung
Delegationsreise
Dialogprogramm des Arbeitskreises Globale Gesundheit der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Genf
Erfahren Sie mehr über die Delegationsreise zu aktuellen Herausforderungen im Bereich Globale Gesundheit vom 7-9. Juni
Beyond Fragmentation: Policy Options for Digital Harmonization
Reflections from the second KAS-WISC Roundtable on Digital Trade
Keith Rockwell
October 6, 2025
Single title
The 80th Session of the UN General Assembly
Andrea Ellen Ostheimer, Cedric Amon
September 25, 2025
Single title
UNHCR, 2024, Nicolò Filippo Rosso
Key insights from UNHCR’s new global trends report 2025
The "Geneva Telegram" explores events in Geneva-based multilateral organizations on a current topic. This time, the focus is on the new global trends report of the UNHCR.
Sarah Ultes
June 30, 2025
Geneva Telegram
U.S. Mission / Eric Bridiers / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
The 78th World Health Assembly of the WHO 2025
Global Health at the Crossroads of Reform and Rivalry
Dr. Anja Maria Rittner
June 13, 2025
Country reports
U.S. Mission / Eric Bridiers / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Voting behaviour in the UN Human Rights Council in 2022: in relation to Germany and China
Map of the Month 01/2023
The Map of the Month January illustrates the joint voting behaviour of the Members of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) with Germany and China in 2022. A total of 97 resolutions were adopted in the UN Human Rights Council, of which 33 were put to a vote due to lack of consensus. Besides the EU member states, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, the UK and the USA voted most often with Germany; Cameroon, Uzbekistan, Sudan or China the least. Of all African Council members, Malawi voted most often with Germany. On the other hand, Venezuela, Eritrea, Russia, Bolivia and Cuba voted most often with China, while EU member states, South Korea, Japan and Ukraine rarely did so, and the USA, the UK, the Czech Republic and the Marshall Islands never. After the Russian attack on Ukraine which lead to the suspension of Russia's right to membership, the Czech Republic replaced Russia with full voting rights at the 50th and 51st session in the Group of Eastern European States.
Dr. Olaf Wientzek, Sarah Ultes
December 19, 2022
Map of the Month
Voluntary contributions to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2022
Map of the Month 12/2022
Every year on 10 December, Human Rights Day is observed, the day the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. While the 75th anniversary of the UDHR will be celebrated in 2023, its promises have been under a sustained assault in recent years.
Although human rights constitute one of the three pillars of the UN, along with development, and peace and security, only 7% of the regular UN budget is allocated to human rights and only around 3% to the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), the leading UN entity on human rights.
Hence, OHCHR relies heavily on voluntary contributions by Member States and other donors which make up almost two thirds of OHCHR’s income.
Out of the 211 Mio. USD received in 2022, the European Commission (30 Mio.), Sweden (28,8), the USA (27,8), Norway (19), Netherlands (15), Germany (12,6) and Switzerland (19) alone gave around 62%.
Dr. Olaf Wientzek, Sarah Ultes
December 9, 2022
Map of the Month
Donor and Recipient countries and progress of appeals Humanitarian aid worldwide in 2022
Map of the Month 12/2022
On December 1, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), led by Martin Griffiths, presented its new Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) for 2023. OCHA estimates that 339 million people will need humanitarian assistance in the upcoming year, an increase of around 20% compared to the beginning of 2022. This is 1/23 people worldwide. To reach the 230 million in 69 countries who are at the sharpest edge of suffering, $51.1 billion will be needed, $10.5 billion or 25% more than the year before. In the last 5 years alone, the number of people in need has doubled. While the amount of money needed has risen accordingly, the number of donor countries has remained relatively small (the US provides nearly half of the funds to date, Germany is by far the second largest donor, and the EU Commission is in third place). Hence, there is a huge funding gap: in 2022, only 47% of the funds required were actually received. 10 country situations alone, most of them war and conflict situations, require around USD 30 billion. In addition, climate change and the secondary consequences of the Ukraine are considered reasons for the sharp increase.
Dr. Olaf Wientzek
December 2, 2022
Map of the Month
35th Special Session of UN Human Rights Council on Islamic Republic of Iran
Map of the Month 11/2022
In light of the violent crackdown on protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran, Germany and Iceland on 11 November officially requested to hold a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to address the increasingly deteriorating human rights situation, “especially with respect to women and children”. The 35th special session, which was the first one held on Iran, took place on 24 November. Prior to the debate, the initiative has received the support of a total of 51 states: 17 Council members and 34 observer states. According to UN figures, well over 300 people have been killed so far and tens of thousands have been arrested, many possibly facing the death penalty. Numerous UN special rapporteurs and working groups had called for the session to be held and for an international investigation mechanism to be established. With 25 votes in favor, 6 against and 16 abstentions, the Council indeed established an independent international fact finding mission to investigate alleged violations related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022. In the last minute, China had put forward an oral amendment which aimed at abolishing the mechanism. It was rejected with 6 to 25 and 15 abstentions.
A brief overview of the work of some of the Geneva-based UN organisations and their achievements at the 80th anniversary of the United Nations on 22 September 2025