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Geneva Telegram - March 2026

PABS Annex to WHO Pandemic Agreement: Fifth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group in Februar...

With a view to the 79th World Health Assembly in May, differing views on the further development of the PABS Annex continued to emerge during the fifth round of negotiations.

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Geneva Telegram - February 2026

PABS Annex to WHO Pandemic Agreement: Resumed 4th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group

Following the formal suspension of the fourth round of negotiations in December 2025, WHO Member States resumed deliberations on the PABS Annex under heightened time constraints.

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Geneva Telegram - January 2026

3. and 4. meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the PABS Annex of the Pandemic Agreement

Despite a shared sense of responsibility in the context of geopolitical tensions, differences remained over the exchange of pathogen data in return for fair access to pandemic produ...

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When All Concerns Are Trumped

The Impact of US Policy on Global Health

US withdrawal jeopardises global health programmes and research – WHO faces billion-dollar shortfall and restructuring.

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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

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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.

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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).
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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.

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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.

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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

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Map of the Month

The KAS Map of the Month

Publications

Fazilitatoren der informellen Unterarbeitsgruppen zu ausgewählten Artikeln eines Pandemieabkommens

Map of the Month 12/2023

Controversial elements in the negotiation of a pandemic agreement are discussed in four thematic sub-working groups. All WHO regions are involved in the facilitation of the sub-working groups: (1) the African region: Ethiopia, South Africa and Tanzania; (2) the Americas region: Canada, USA and Brazil; (3) the South-East Asia region: India and Thailand; (4) the European region: Norway and the United Kingdom, (5) the Eastern Mediterranean region: Egypt and (6) the Western Pacific region: Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines. Each is chaired by a member of the INB office.

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.

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.

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.

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Geneva Telegram - March 2026

PABS Annex to WHO Pandemic Agreement: Fifth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group in February 2026

With a view to the 79th World Health Assembly in May, differing views on the further development of the PABS Annex continued to emerge during the fifth round of negotiations.

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