Correction Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US has granted Wipo, the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, $50,000 for a six-month programme in Kenya, Morocco and the Philippines to help local authorities raise awareness about the risk of counterfeit products. The programme, to be administered by Wipo, which is matching the grant, will involve a series of seminars.
US Ambassador Betty E King, speaking at an event in Geneva with John Tarpey, head of communications for Wipo, said that “trademark infringement and counterfeiting raise very serious health and safety concerns, such as those attributed to counterfeit medicines, food, automotive parts and electrical products.”
Tarpey notes that half of all drugs sold on the Internet, for example, are counterfeit. The funding will allow Wipo to run workshops to develop a toolkit that will help intellectual property authorities in the three countries conduct more effective outreach campaigns, he says.
Update 2, 1945 Geneva and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US Mission in Geneva is under investigation by the Swiss Justice and Police Department (FDJP) and the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department for spying, despite being refused permission by Bern in 2007 to do so. Headlines around the world, based on one AFP story, say Swiss lawmakers are calling for diplomats to be expelled, but there is little evidence of this in Switzerland. NZZ, the Zurich newspaper, broke the story Sunday and Le Temps in Geneva Monday noted without confirmation that the US Mission is suspected of having 25-30 people involved in surveillance. The FDJP has refused to comment on the type of surveillance involved, electronic or humans spying or both, nor are details available about who was spied on, although WikiLeaks makes reference to a Muslim couple spied on in 2005.
The Swiss were alerted by Sweden and Norway in the autumn of 2010 of “indications” the US was running an espionage programme in Geneva, after WikiLeaks turned up evidence of similar surveillance operations there. The government in Bern “immediately approached the US Mission in this matter, reminding the US authorities of the legal force of the Federal Council’s decision of 2007 and demanding suspension of any possible surveillance activities”, according to a statement issued Monday 17 January by the FDJP.
The US mission in Geneva and embassy in Bern in 2006 and 2007 requested the right to establish what are known as Surveillance Detection Programmes. These require “official authorization if they go beyond the range of the immediate vicinity of an embassy,” the Swiss FDJP say in its statement, because they “constitute operations for a foreign state”. A spokesperson in Bern told GenevaLunch that the definition of vicinity is not a question of metres but involves evaluating the “characteristics” of the surveillance and its location.
The Federal Council turned down the requests in August 2007 “for want of a legal or contractual basis” the statement says, and the US embassy was informed about the decision. The situation at the US Mission in Geneva “is under review” says Bern, since it informed the US any such activities must stop.
The US Mission has not commented on the matter, although AP reports US authorities as saying they won’t comment on a security matter. Monday is a public holiday in the US, with government offices closed for Martin Luther King day in remembrance of the civil rights leader.
Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, US ambassador
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US Senate has approved two more nominations by President Barack Obama for ambassador posts in Geneva: Laura Kennedy as Ambassador and Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, and of Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe as the United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council, with the rank of Ambassador. Betty E King, who heads the US Mission in Geneva, was approved in February by the Senate and presented her credentials to the UN 3 March.
Michael Punke’s nomination as Ambassador to the World Trade Organziation is still pending.
Ed. note: photo of Laura Kennedy not yet available, but we will add it once it is.
Background on Kennedy and Chamberlain Donahoe nominations, GenevaLunch
Link to US Mission, Geneva with biographies of both new ambassadors
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Women human rights leaders are meeting in Geneva 8-10 December for the first Courage to Lead summit. The meeting brings together emerging women leaders and those with experience in human rights advocacy around the world. The US Mission to the UN says the meeting is designed to encourage exchanges, mentoring and collaboration among the women.
The summit is organized by George Washington University’s Eleanor Roosevelt Project and the Vital Voices Global Partnership, and sponsored by the US State Department, the International Labour Organization, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Allison Wilbur, quilter, Douglas Griffiths of the US Mission in Geneva and Barbara Lee, US House of Representatives, at exhibit opening 12 November
Dawn Maria Piasta from Canada with her quilt, Geneva Quilt Challenge at the UN
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A warming exhibit, in every sense, has opened at the UN Palais building in Geneva, with a display of American quilts made specially to promote the work of Geneva-based Global Fund for Malaria, Aids and Tuberculosis. The show, “Making a healthier world for our children”, is organized by Geneva’s US Mission to coincide with the annual United Nations Women’s Guild fundraising bazaar, which pulls in thousands of visitors.
Mark Platt, Multistack, left and Michael Christensen, US State Dept, right (click on images to view larger)
Updated 16:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Wednesday was the 39th annual Earth Day in the US, which explains much of the flurry of talks, blogs and activities designed to get us thinking along greener, cleaner lines. The Huffington Post carried blogs by filmmaker Robert Redford on taking a stand, and author Michael Pollen, who praises the new vegetable garden at the White House, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Meanwhile, here in Geneva, the US Mission to the United Nations put into operation a piece of new technology that will contribute significantly to Geneva’s reputation as a green city and to the United States government’s efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of its embassies and missions. The State Department sees Geneva as an ideal place to spotlight emerging green technologies because of its reputation as an environmental centre, US staff say, but also because during the past four years the Mission has developed excellent working relations with the canton’s energy department and Geneva’s SIG (industrial services) department. “They’re very forward thinking,” says Michael Christensen, a green engineer from the US State Department, who praises SIG’s efforts “to do everything they can to prevent fossil fuel use.”
Hillary Clinton met with international diplomats in Washington to discuss “Greening Diplomacy” where she mentioned the US Geneva’s Mission and its new air conditioning system.
Geneva’s US Mission goes for maglev air conditioners
The Mission’s new air conditioning system gives the US an opportunity to showcase cutting edge technology, an air cooling chiller system that uses no lubrication oil and a minimal amount of refrigerant in comparison to typical chilling systems. It is a long-awaited commercial application of a solution to a decades-old engineering dilemma of how to maintain a magnetic levitation motor shaft within microscopic tolerances. Magnetic levitation dates back to the 1940s, but nanotechnology was required for this step.
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in Geneva at the end of next week, part of a seven-day swing through Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Territories, Belgium, Switzerland, and Turkey 1-7 March 2009.
