Asset Publisher

Screenshot 2025-11-04 at 15.32
Publication

80th anniversary of the United Nations

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

Learn more
Menschen auf der Flucht aus dem Sudan 2024 UNHCR, 2024, Nicolò Filippo Rosso
Geneva Telegram

Key insights from UNHCR’s new global trends report 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.

Learn more
Multilateraler Dialog Genf, Genfer Depesche WHA U.S. Mission / Eric Bridiers / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Global Health at the Crossroads of Reform and Rivalry

The 78th World Health Assembly of the WHO 2025

Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, the 78th World Health Assembly was able to adopt key health policy projects with potential for future generations.

Learn more
Multilateraler Dialog Genf, Genfer Depesche WHA U.S. Mission / Eric Bridiers / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Opening a Window to Global Cooperation

The Pandemic Agreement

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.

Learn more
Multilateraler Dialog Genf, Genfer Depesche WHA U.S. Mission / Eric Bridiers / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
Geneva Telegram

The 13th meeting of the INB - A crucial moment for the pandemic response

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.

Learn more
Kas.de
Trump 2.0 und Auswirkungen auf den Multilateralismus

Genfer Depesche

Was eine zweite Trump-Administration für den Multilateralismus per se und insbesondere das internationale Genf bedeuten könnte.

Learn more

Asset Publisher

Welcome

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).
More about us

Asset Publisher

Media library

Neue Folge des Podcasts Multipod

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.

Read now
Neue Folge des Podcasts Multipod

Multipod: Wie können Frauenrechte im Gesundheitssektor gestärkt werden?

Erfahren Sie mehr über die Herausforderungen von Frauen, Ihr Recht auf Gesundheit einzufordern.

Read now
Please click here to view contents.
Or adjust your cookie settings under privacy policy.
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

Read now
Please click here to view contents.
Or adjust your cookie settings under privacy policy.
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

Read now

Asset Publisher

Asset Publisher

Asset Publisher

Map of the Month

The KAS Map of the Month

Publications

Countries endorsing Declaration on climate and health at COP28

Map of the Month 12/2023

During the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties a declaration on climate and health was negotiated on 1 December 2023. In the first fortnight since the declaration, 142 countries and the European Union have joined, emphasizing the critical link between climate change and human health and the urgency of action.

Dr. Anja Maria Rittner
December 15, 2023
Map of the Month

75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Map of the Month 12/2023

Probably the most important document of the century turns 75: December 10, 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Initially drafted by Eleanor Roosevelt (USA) and Dr. Peng-chun Chang (China), representatives of 9 states came to encompass the Drafting Committee who worked on the 30 articles of the declaration which was ultimately voted upon in the UN General Assembly in 1948. The drafting states included: the Soviet Union (USSR), Australia, Chile, Lebanon, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. 48 states voted in favor of the text, 8 abstained (Soviet Union, Belarusian and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Saudi Arabia, Union of South Africa) and 2 states did not vote. Important human rights mechanisms, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were adopted in the following years. Currently, 9 international human rights treaties exist whose implementation is monitored by committees of independent experts. In 1993, the UDHR was again reaffirmed by a total of 171 state representatives as part of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action (VDPA). The UN General Assembly with its 184 Member States endorsed the VDPA again on 20 December 1993, thereby reaffirming their support for the Universal Declaration. They also decided to establish the post of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Although human rights constituite one of the three pillars of the UN system alongside peace, security and development, 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) only receives a tiny part of the UN regular budget, only 4.3% and thus remains severely underfunded.

Sarah Ultes
December 10, 2023
Map of the Month

International Day of Persons with Disabilities – 30th anniversary

Map of the Month 12/2023

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated every year on 3 December. The year 2023 marks the 30th anniversary. It was not until 2006 that the UN General Assembly adopted a Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in 2008 and has since been ratified by 188 States Parties. Seven countries have so far only signed but not ratified the convention: the USA, Liechtenstein, Bhutan, Lebanon, Tajikistan and Tonga. Eritrea and South Sudan have neither signed nor ratified it. In Geneva, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) monitors the implementation of the Convention. The situation in Germany was reviewed from August to September of this year. Germany's human rights situation was also scrutinised as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, with 15 recommendations from other states particularly focussing on the rights of people with disabilities, including the recommendation to promote a more inclusive education system.

Sarah Ultes, Victoria Müller
December 1, 2023
Map of the Month

Conventions on the Ban of Anti-Personnel Mines and Cluster Munition

Map of the Month 11/2023

The latest landmine monitor was launched in Geneva in mid-November. The related cluster munition munition was presented back in September. In both reports the developments in Ukraine stand out particularly clearly. The Eastern European country is a state party to the Antipersonnel-Mine Ban Convention, but not to the Convention on Cluster Munition. Both types of weapons were used extensively on the territory of Ukraine in 2022. The number of casualties, thus people who were either killed or injured by landmines in Ukraine alone increased tenfold in 2022 and until the beginning of 2023. After Syria (17%), Ukraine is in second place worldwide with 12% of all casualties newly recorded. 2022 was also the year with the highest number of cluster munition casualties on record. 78% of the 1,272 newly registered casualties were detected in Ukraine alone. Once again, most of the victims were civilians and children in particular. 85% of mine victims were civilians, 49% of them children and as many as 95% of cluster mine victims were civilians, 71% of whom were children. In 2023, Nigeria and South Sudan were accepted as new states parties to the Convention on Cluster Munition, which still counts 73 non-signatories. The Mine Ban Treaty enjoys broader support, with only 33 non-signatories. In addition, a total of 12 countries are still actively producing landmines and 16 are actively producing cluster munitions. 

Sarah Ultes, Victoria Müller
November 29, 2023
Map of the Month

Asset Publisher

Publication

80th anniversary of the United Nations

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

View details

Asset Publisher