Hosted by the US Mission to the UN in celebration of Black history month. Free and open to the public.
Location: Ecumenical Center, 150 route de Ferney, 1218 Grand Saconnex
Date: 1 Mar 2012
Start time: 12:00
End time: 12:45
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Reactions are flowing in to Zimbabwe’s presentation Monday 10 October to the UN Human Rights Commission, part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) that takes place for each country every four years. Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinawasa presented a “glowing picture” according to Zimbabwe’s The Independent, but critics have had little patience with the report.
The Zimbabwe newspaper, in an editorial, said that “Instead of pointing out areas of progress and problems to paint a balanced picture of the situation, Chinamasa used sanctions as a pretext to exonerate government from human rights abuses and went for the jugular against Western countries. That made constructive dialogue impossible and predictably the report was divisive.” It adds that the result was a session divided mainly along political lines.
SW Radio Africa, in allAfrica, pointed out that the government’s rosy picture is sharply at odds with those from a number of civic society groups that also attended the Geneva review, notably in the area of radio licenses, where the government says progress has been made and others say it isn’t so.
The US Mission in Geneva commended Zimbabwe on progress in some areas but pointed out a number of continuing problems, including the fact that a new human rights commission is not yet up and running. It made four recommendations, including improvements and greater transparency in diamond mining.
Zimbabwe’s government confirmed this week that it does not intend to lift its often-criticized AIPPA (Access to Information and Privacy Protection Act), which has been heavily criticized within and outside the country as limiting human rights.
US Ambassador to the UN Eileen Donahoe at the UN in April 2011 - Photo UN/Pierre Albouy
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Seven countries were singled out by US Ambassador to the UN Eileen Donahoe Wednesday when she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the US “remains deeply disturbed by ongoing human rights violations around the world”.
Iran, Burma, DPKR, China, Cuba, Venezuela and Zimbabwe came in for sharp criticism in specific areas, in her Donahoe’s statement.
The US accusations came on the same day as the highly controversial death by lethal injection of an inmate in Georgia, found guilty of murder. Troy Davis maintained his innocence even as he was being injected. Amnesty International’s programme to abolish the death penalty has accused the US of human rights abuses for the use of the death penalty by several states.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Ambassador to the UN Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe used unusually strong words in a statement issued Friday 8 July to suggest that UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk should step down, saying that “his continued status as a UN mandate holder is a blight on the UN system”.
The US and Falk have tangled several times over his stance on Israel and Palestine, but Chamberlain Donahoe’s criticism Friday focuses tightly on Falk’s personal blog, which has been under fire for an anti-semitic cartoon. “I am repulsed by the recent cartoon posting to the personal blog written by Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on ‘the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.’, the ambassador’s statement says. “Mr. Falk’s continued comments and postings to his personal blog are deeply offensive, and I condemn them in the strongest terms.”
Falk for his part says he was unaware until it was pointed out to him the anti-semitic nature of the cartoon, which he then removed from his blog.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Seven people from seven countries, a collection of bloggers and journalists, all of them human rights activists in their countries, were presented Thursday 9 June in Geneva, and given an opportunity to tell their stories at a conference, “The Human Voice of Freedom, the Internet and Human Rights”.
The seven are:
- Egypt – Wael Abbas
- Burma – Aung San Thar
- Uganda – Rosebell Kagumire
- Indonesia – Andreas Harsono
- Tunisia – Henda Chennaoui
- China – Wen Yunchao (Bei Fung)
- Korea – Kwon Eun Kyoung
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US Mission in Geneva is host Thursday, from 13:00-15:00, to an interactive webcast from the UN Palais on “The Human Voice of Freedom: The Internet and Human Rights”. The session is part of the current session of the Human Rights Council.
The US Mission description for the session: “The webcast will feature human rights activists from across the world, along with highly regarded experts in the field of social media, to discuss the importance of a free Internet to the promotion of human rights and freedom of expression. This discussion will focus on the grass roots issues important to this issue. With activists from Uganda, Egypt, China, Burma, Korea, Indonesia and Tunisia, and with UN diplomats and civil society representatives from across the world in attendance, this discussion will shed a direct and unusually focused light on this timely issue.”
Guests can sign in to the free online event here.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US Mission in Geneva announced Thursday 5 May that the US government is providing an additional $6.5 million to help the International Organization for Migration evacuate civilians and people who have been wounded by the fighting in Libya, from the port in Misrata. The new funds bring to $53.5m the amount the US has contributed for humanitarian aid in the region since the fighting began in Libya.
Mark Toner, acting deputy spokesperson, said in a statement that “the United States condemns the Qadhafi regime’s continued brutal attacks on the Libyan people in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which calls for a stop to all attacks on civilians and an immediate ceasefire. In particular, we urge the Qadhafi regime to cease hostilities in Misrata port and to allow the International Organization for Migration and other organizations to provide much needed relief and evacuation services to civilians caught up in the Libyan conflict. This includes taking all measures to facilitate international efforts to evacuate third-country nationals and wounded Libyans from the port city of Misrata.”
The IOM said Thursday that it had completed its sixth evacuation since early April with the Red Star One ship, but was able to carry out only 800 instead of the planned 1,000 persons after it had to leave the port quickly to avoid shelling. GenevaLunch reported earlier that according to the IOM those leaving are now facing not only shelling but landmines.
The IOM’s humanitarian evacuation programme out of Misrata has until now been funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civilian Protection Office (Echo), Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), Germany, Ireland and Australia.
“We did our best and took everyone we could in a very short time, including Libyan women and children whose relatives had been wounded,” an IOM staff person told the Geneva office by satellite phone from the ship Wednesday morning. Geneva staff reported that the sound of continuous gun fire could be heard in the background during the satellite communication.
The group delivered 180 tons of humanitarian aid comprising food, non-food and medical supplies before the boat departed for Benghazi. To date 2,000 tons of aid have been delivered to the port and nearly 6,000 people have been evacuated during the lifesaving missions, says the IOM.
This is the sixth life-saving rescue mission to Misrata successfully carried out by IOM since early April. In that time, the Organization has delivered almost 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the besieged city and safely brought back to Benghazi about 6,000 stranded migrants, wounded civilians and their families.
IOM’s humanitarian evacuation programme out of Misrata is funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civilian Protection Office (ECHO), Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), Germany, Ireland and Australia.
Chocolate hedgehogs joined the party at the US Mission to celebrate the newly planted indigenous prairie
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US Mission in Geneva 29 April is celebrating its second-place honour for a new award given by the US State Department, the first annual Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) award, “which recognizes leadership and innovation in sustainability projects at State Department buildings around the world”, according to the Geneva office.
The award was announced a week after a ceremony in Geneva to mark the planting of an indigenous meadow, with a seed mix developed by canton Geneva’s conservation office, to replace the tidy lawn that has long decorated the borders of the Mission buildings.
Mongolia won top prize
The US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia took first place in the State Department contest that had 130 entries from diplomatic operations around the world. It was the first US diplomatic mission to comprehensively calculate its carbon footprint, tallying all carbon emissions of its embassy’s activities.
US Ambassador Betty E King inaugurates indigenous Geneva meadow at US Mission in Geneva
“The State Department has emphasized the importance of carbon emissions measurements because of the important benchmark they set and is encouraging other embassies to follow Ulaanbaatar’s lead,” the Geneva office says.
US Mission completes carbon footprint study
The US Mission in Geneva this week completed a carbon footprint study, working with Swiss Climate AG, an ISO certified auditor for carbon emissions. The results show that the Mission’s footprint per employee is half that of comparable organizations in Geneva, according to the US office.
Peter Barron, director, Google, speaking on Internet freedom in Geneva 4 March 2011 (photo, US Mission)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Peter Barron, a Google director, says that Internet activity in Libya in the past 24 hours has been “exactly zero”, citing the difficulty protestors there face trying to use the same kind of tools that protestors have recently used elsewhere in the Middle East to topple dictators.
Libya’s Internet access has been intermittent for the past two weeks, reports Fast Company, with spikes where “ingenious activists” have managed to break through the country’s firewall (graph from Arbor Networks provided).
Barron was speaking as part of an Internet freedom panel in Geneva organized by the US Mission. He noted that in 2002 four governments intervened in Internet access, but “we’ve seen a growing trend and there are around 40 today, a very worrying sign.”
“It is suicidal for governments to think that they can opt out of the Internet,” points out Michael Posner of the US State Department, noting that in today’s world, commercial success alone is dependent on Internet access.
Google in late January rolled out early a project it had been working on with Twitter, called SayNow, that allows people to Tweet via phone, thereby getting around the problem of governments cutting Internet connections, as long as phone lines continue working.
Libya’s SayNow lines are still operating, notes Barron.
Libyan crisis brings foreign minister to UNHRC meeting
US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe speaking with the press 25 February 2011 during the Special Session of the Human Rights Council on Libya. (photo, US Mission, Eric Bridiers)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both attending the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva starting Monday and a plenary session of the Conference of Disarmament. Russian media reported Sunday that the Americans and Russians were discussing the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the two on the sidelines of these sessions.
The two met in Munich in early February to exchange the Instruments of Ratification that put the new Start treaty into place.
The situation in the Middle East and in Libya in particular are expected to be the focus of any bilateral meeting, which Itar-Tass reports was initiated by the Americans.
Lavrov will address the UNHRC, the first time a Russian foreign minister will address the council. Itar-Tass reports that “Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, when commenting on Lavrov’s upcoming trip, said, ‘While in Geneva, Lavrov will hold talks at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.’” He is reportedly scheduled to meet Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Tuesday.
The UNHRC last week recommended to the UN General Assembly that Libya be stripped of its membership in the Geneva-based body, for gross abuse of human rights.
Links to other sites: Itar-Tass, Ria Novosti, The Voice of Russia, US Mission in Geneva
Geneva NGO representatives at the US Mission in Geneva listen to Hillary Clinton
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The group of 25 representatives from Geneva’s NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) cheered as Hillary Clinton took her first question from them 16 February.
The video conference question-answer session was part of a new US initiative by US Secretary of State Clinton called “strategic dialogue with civil society”.
The first session was held with 50 US diplomatic posts from around the world, including Geneva, participating long-distance, while about 1,000 people participated in Washington.
NGOs and US diplomats consider how to best work together in Geneva
Clinton said she hoped that regular contact between civil society groups and US officials will help to build “habits of cooperation”,
increase understanding to produce practical results, share insights and make it easier to identify common problems and interests.
“Our work together on women’s rights, corruption, religious freedom and other issues is just as important as anything we do with governments,” Clinton said.
The Geneva group included NGOs that work in several fields, including human rights, environmental protection and conservation. They met with US diplomats, including ambassadors Betty E King and Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe.
One participant noted afterwards that several NGOs were positive about US efforts to have the Human Rights Council “establish the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association”.
Le Temps and NZZ will be publishing US cables on Switzerland, from WikiLeaks
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss newspapers Le Temps (registration required) and NZZ will publish, in French and in German starting next week, selected cables from the 5,814 that WikiLeaks collected. The two negotiated an agreement to receive the entire collection and several journalists from the two publications are meeting this weekend to determine which to publish.
The cables cover the period from 1978 to 28 February 2010.
Le Temps explains its decision: “It normally takes several decades for the reality, on which we want to shed some light, to surface.
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.
US official reply Tuesday rejects some of criticisms as “political provocation”
US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe at the final report session, UNHRC in Geneva 9 November 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US and Libya were criticized by other countries during their Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council in the past week. Switzerland, under review 5-8 November by a council committee for its adherence to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, struggled to explain how its political system and direct democracy work in relationship to international law.
The US, at a final report meeting on its review Tuesday 9 November in Geneva, took umbrage with part of the report on the state of human rights in the US, saying”several recommendations are plainly intended as political provocations, and cannot be taken seriously.”
The first-ever Universal Periodic Review of the US by the council took place Friday 5 November (background story) and the report on it was accepted by the council Tuesday. Its review is one of several during the November 2010 session, but those of the US and Libya have attracted the most attention.
Libya taken to task over torture practices, lack of freedom of expression, detentions, migrants
Libya, too, had its first-ever review, Tuesday 9 November, and it was assailed by several countries. Switzerland has had a tense diplomatic relationship with Libya over an incident in Geneva where the son of leader Muamar Qadaffi was arrested and two Swiss businessmen were subsequently held for months in Libya. It asked Libya to make three major changes: allow freedom of expression; end arbitrary detainments including those of people cleared by the courts and free the “hundreds of thousands” held in Libya’s jails and prisons; abolish the death sentence, corporal punishment and torture. The US also said it is concerned about several cases of torture in Libya and lack of freedom of expression, as well as handling of refugees and migrants, which has included shooting at boats of would-be migrants.
Criticism of US focuses on abolishing death penalty
Harold Hongju Koh, legal adviser of the US State Department, who gave the initial reply from the US, told the council that the US believes the recommendations fell into three broad categories:
“First, many of the recommendations fit well with the Obama Administration’s existing approach to human rights, and can be implemented in due course. Second, several recommendations are plainly intended as political provocations, and cannot be taken seriously. Yet a third group of recommendations invite fuller discussion within our government and with our own civil society. Because we take this process seriously, we now plan to conduct a considered, interagency examination of all 228 recommendations, and to give our formal response at the March 2011 Council session.”
The US came in for criticism from several countries during the review session, even from some of its friends, including Switzerland, over its refusal to end the death penalty.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US Mission in Geneva was evacuated shortly before 16:00 Friday afternoon after a suspicious package was found on the premises. The Swiss bomb squad was called to the scene but further details are not yet available. The incident occurred on a day when the US had a particularly high-powered team in Geneva for its first-ever Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council, and a town hall style meeting for non-governmental organizations was organized nearby for 17:00.
Bombs have been delivered to several embassies and government offices in Europe this week and consulates, embassies and other areas on are high alert.
The “meet the artist” reunion takes place at the US Mission to the United Nations; 11, route de Pregny on 2 November. RSVP is required: mehdi@usmission.ch
This event is organized in the lead-up to the exhibition at the UN of “Color in Freedom, Journey Along the Underground Railroad,” a collection of 50 works by the artist depicting the struggle for freedom by slaves in the US prior to their emancipation in 1863.
Location: 11 Route de Pregny, Geneva
Date: 1 Nov 2010
Start time: 14:00
American and Swiss landscape architecture students visit the gardens of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland accompanied by IUCN's Master Gardener Florian Meier. Foreground: JJ Obee from Ohio State looking at a native shrub in IUCN's garden. (photo, US Mission Geneva / Eric Bridiers)
Update 11:55 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The US Mission to the UN in Geneva has begun a project with a group of nine American and three Swiss university landscape students to help “green” the grounds of the Mission.
The students, selected by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in Washington, DC, which is the Mission’s partner for the project, are spending the first two weeks of August studying the Mission’s grounds. They will then draft a sustainable landscape design that can be phased in, over five years.
More than 130 applications were received by ASLA and screened to select a team with the widest breadth of skills, talents, and experience.
In addition, Craig Verzone, an American landscape architect based in Switzerland, worked with the Mission to identify three Swiss students to be part of the team and to share Swiss expertise in this area.
The project is part of a larger US State Department commitment to sustainable design at its dipomatic facilities.
Geneva site aims to be greenest US diplomatic building in Europe
The prominence of the Mission building in international Geneva and the fact that it is regularly visited by diplomats and political figures from around the world for meetings, such as the recent negotiations on the new Start nuclear treaty, were factors when the State Department selected Geneva as its “”Flagship Post for Energy and Sustainability”.
Solar panels at the US Mission in Geneva are part of a larger US State Department effort to make diplomatic buildings, grounds greener
The building is the site of the installation of the largest solar energy project ever undertaken by the State Department overseas. It is home to an innovative magnetic levitation (MaglevTM) chiller air conditioning system that runs a virtually friction-free compressor.
Conserving the variety of plant and animal life is also a priority, and in 2009 the Mission became the first State Department facility to earn certification by the US National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
US Ambassador Betty E King makes Geneva press debut
Betty E King, press breakfast at the US Mission in Geneva 1 April 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “There is no better time to be here,” Betty E King, the new US ambassador to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva, told a group of journalists invited to the US Mission in Geneva Thursday morning, 1 April. King knows Geneva from time spent in the city when she was the US representative to Ecosoc (UN Economic and Social Council) and from working with UNDP (UN Development Programme). She arrived nearly five weeks ago to take up her new post, replacing Warren Tichenor, who left a year ago, shortly before Barack Obama became president.
“Geneva is seeing a resurgence of diplomatic activity,” she says.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The nuclear arms reduction talks (Start) between the US and Russia will continue in January, the two countries have announced, with both sides saying they believe good progress has been made. “This is a much different environment that we exist in today,” PJ Crowley, US State Department spokesperson said in a briefing Wednesday 22 December in Washington.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United States heads into the Cartagena Summit, which opens Sunday 29 November in Colombia, now saying that it is continuing to review its policy on signing the international Mine Ban treaty. The US is sending a sizeable official observer team to the summit, with groups from the State Department, Pentagon, US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Cartagena Summit is the second review of the 1997 Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. More than 1,000 delegates, including several heads of state, will participate in the summit, which will assess progress made in clearing the world of landmines.
Cause of US shift unexplained
The US said in a statement issued Wednesday 25 November that it is still reviewing its position on signing the 10-year-old Mine Ban treaty – the opposite of what it said the previous day, but it was unclear if the statement was a correction of an error, a change in tactics ahead of the Cartagena Summit that opens 29 November in Colombia, or a change of heart following harsh criticism.
Update 2 25 November Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Russian officials have been meeting in Geneva since Sunday according to Michael Parmly, spokesperson for the US Mission in Geneva. The Russian Permament Mission would not comment on the talks but confirmed that they had taken place. Mullen’s office says he met Tuesday with Russian armed forces chief of staff General Nikolai Makarov, AP reports.
Geneva is the site of negotiations between the US and Russia to replace the 1990s-era Start treaty on cuts to both countries’ nuclear arsenals, which expires 5 December. A major obstacle has been the verification process. The Start talks have been the subject of high-level meetings between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over the course of 2009.
Mullen also met with the head of the Swiss army, André Blattmann, for a working lunch in Geneva Tuesday.
Background: “Start treaty talks may take longer, Obama says“, 16 November 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Adm Mike Mullen on Facebook, US Mission in Geneva, Permanent Russian Mission in Geneva and ABC News, AP/WGN-TV, Chicago
Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe (image: Cisac, Stanford University)
Update 18:50 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - US President Barack Obama has nominated two more women for key posts in Geneva. Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe is nominated as US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, as a member of the US Mission to the United Nations. Her name had been circulating earlier in the year as a possible candidate for the post of US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, and thus head of the US Mission, but Obama 24 October nominated Betty King for that post.
Laura Kennedy has been nominated as US ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament (CoD), as part of the Department of State, but the CoD is based in Geneva. The Conference has 65 member nations, and it famously ended a 12-year stalemate in May 2009 with a new work programme. The new agenda’s priority work is to develop the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, which would end production of fissile materials for use in atomic bombs.
The two nominations, as well as that of Betty King, are subject to review by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, which then makes recommendations to the full Senate, and it votes on each appointment. The process normally takes two to three months.
Update 12:10 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US intends to negotiate a legally binding protocol on cluster munitions under the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), says Harold Hongju Koh, legal advisor to the US Department of State.
