Inside Geneva
Inside Geneva is a podcast about global politics, humanitarian issues, and international aid, hosted by journalist Imogen Foulkes. It is produced by SWI swissinfo.ch, a multilingual international public service media company from Switzerland.
Episodes
Diversity, equality, inclusion, woke: are these concepts now toxic?
The past two years have seen a pushback against gender equality, and it is having real-world consequences for women and girls.
Yet in Geneva, the International Gender Champions, led by senior diplomats, are not giving up.
“I embrace wokeness,” one ambassador tells us. The data shows that equality benefits everyone, socially, eco...
It’s been ten months since the ceasefire in Gaza. Almost a million people still live in tents. There are 60 million tonnes of rubble to clear.
The UN estimates reconstruction will cost at least $70 billion. But the work has not started. Key building materials are being denied entry, there is little clean water, but many rats.
Inside Geneva talks to Jehan Salim and Mohammed al Aklouk, aid workers from the N...
UN investigations have documented war crimes in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. So why is no one being held accountable?
Why do some political leaders talk about human rights as though they were an optional nuisance?
In this episode of our ‘Inside Geneva’ podcast, we speak with Phil Lynch and Pooja Patel from the International Service for Human Rights. We discuss impunity, scapegoating, funding cuts, standi...
Philippe Stoll, the Red Cross’s ‘techplomat’, is Inside Geneva’s Summer Profile this week.
“I studied economics and I think I could have been a banker or something like that. A good Swiss indeed! But my mother was a volunteer at the Red Cross, and I think she influenced me a lot about maybe being human or taking care of humans,” he says.
He’s helping the International Co...
Trish Newport of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Switzerland is Inside Geneva’s first summer profile this year.
“My grandma was a humanitarian she had worked in Malawi and I remember when I was about 10 years old she said to me, ‘When you grow up and you become a humanitarian, you should work for MSF because they really have strong values and ethics that you will appreciate,’” says Newpor...
On Inside Geneva this week, we look at the race to be the next UN Secretary-General. Is it time for a change?
Susana Malcorra, candidate for UN Secretary-General 2016: 'I am deeply convinced this is a moment that requires a different type of leadership, and we have tested leadership nine leaders throughout 80 years that were all men.'
Geneva recently hosted three of the candidates – we hear from them. What are t...
This week, Inside Geneva presents the newest instalment of our “Books to make you think” series.
We talk to an author who had a ringside seat as the US development agency USAID was being destroyed.
“The people who so recklessly tore down the agency [...] are still sitting in high government positions and have not been held accountable for their actions, so I intentionally named names in the book and ...
On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, we host a debate on a key question: what’s the point of foreign aid?
“What’s the point of mobilising taxpayers’ money and sending it to faraway countries to assist vulnerable people? And how do you sell that to your own taxpayers?” says Gilles Carbonnier, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
There are more co...
On this week's Inside Geneva podcast episode, we take stock of aid cuts and what they mean for new crises such as Ebola.
“It is a catastrophe. It is not an opportunity. But now we have an obligation to transform the system: there’s no other way the humanitarian system can survive this crisis without any change,” says Professor Karl Blanchet from the University of Geneva.
A new report says aid deliver...
On Inside Geneva, we look at weapons contamination and the harm it causes.
“We have at least one casualty every single day in Afghanistan – someone killed or injured –and it is most likely a child,” says Nick Pond, from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
From old conflicts to new.
“Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and billions of square metres of land are suspected to be c...
On Inside Geneva this week, we mark Press Freedom Day. Is there anything to celebrate?
Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression: “The role of journalists has never been under such pressure, and the sector itself is suffering. So these are very, very important times to take a deep breath and make sure that freedom of expression, and media freedom as part of that, is protected, because it is an ...
On Inside Geneva this week, we ask: in a world of violent conflict, is the UN – which was founded to keep the peace – doing its job?
“On many fronts the UN is doing indispensable work every day, bringing food to hungry people and ensuring practical standards for how we cooperate on the planet. Most countries follow the UN’s rules and principles on an everyday basis, so not too bad. [Former UN ...
On Inside Geneva this week: who are the peacemakers?
“Women are completely absent in high-level politics and from high-level peacemaking at the moment. However, this is only the visible part. Our focus has been so much on US President Donald Trump,” says Sara Hellmüller, professor of International Relations at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Two peace experts, both women, give us their take.
“Tra...
On Inside Geneva this week, we look at women fighting for justice.
In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched an assault on the Rohingya population. Almost a million were displaced, there were reports of horrific violations: rape, the murder of children, including babies.
“The accounts that affected me most are those of children. Now I’m a grandfather, I sit there and listen and I think of my own kids when...
In August 2021, the Taliban took back control in Afghanistan. Women face unprecedented repression.
They can’t go to school or work; public parks are banned to them; they are not allowed to speak or sing too loudly. Are we turning away?
“This is the time for the international community and for other countries, especially the EU, to step in and to make sure they respond to the crisis in Afghanistan and...
On Inside Geneva this week, we unpick the divisive topic of migration and asylum. Why are some countries closing their doors?
“In Europe we are seeing one country after another erect barbed wire around their country and around a continent,” says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
When does restricting immigration turn into human rights violation?
“We believe it’s wi...
On Inside Geneva this week, we take an in-depth look at US President Donald Trump’s new ‘Board of Peace’. Experts on conflict resolution are sceptical.
“The US circulated an invitation to about 60 countries to join a new board of peace that would not just focus on Gaza but would instead be a global conflict prevention organisation, complete with a pre-baked charter that looks a bit like Presid...
On Inside Geneva this week: world leaders are gathering in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, but do they have any answers?
“I think we are at an amazing moment in history. We have in our hands the opportunity to do well, to save our own environment, the planet, to take the right decisions to bring humanity onto a good path,” says Marilyne Andersen, Director General of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy An...
2026 has started with some momentous events. Israel has banned dozens of aid agencies. What are the consequences?
“We’re supporting one in five of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and one in three babies that are born in Gaza are assisted by our staff on the ground. We’re doing surgical support, wound care, physiotherapy, maternity and paediatric care,” says Chris Lockyear, Secretary General o...
This week on Inside Geneva, we discuss the key stories of 2025 that we know will continue to make the news in 2026.
“The top story of 2025 has been the cuts to the humanitarian aid sector. We knew that, with Donald Trump returning to the White House, cuts were likely, but we did not expect them to be so brutal,” says Swissinfo journalist Dorian Burkhalter.
“I wanted to talk about Gaza, which has been...
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