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
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 one of the main iss...
Inside Geneva joins aid workers staying in Ukraine this December.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) supports tens of thousands of people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Marcel van Maastrigt, UNHCR, Odessa: ‘At two in the afternoon you might have an air alert, and at three in the afternoon people in shops and restaurants are putting up Christmas decorations, because they want to continue their life. I think it&a...
On Inside Geneva this week: what does international law mean to you?
“When your government is not there to uphold your rights, it’s that safety net – to think that there’s something else out there, other sets of rules that can help right wrongs and bring about some form of justice as well,” says Kasmira Jefford, editor at Geneva Solutions.
The Geneva conventions, bans on torture and landmines: global rules that should ...
COP30 has ended without a firm commitment to phase out fossil fuels. Inside Geneva talks to some campaigners who remain surprisingly optimistic.
“I’m actually quite hopeful, and I think that the answer is probably coming from the countries and the communities that have the most to lose,” says Candy Ofime, from the Climate Justice Team at Amnesty International.
Indigenous peoples made their voices heard at COP30.
They hav...
How do journalists report on war when they’re denied access?
“For the first time I think since the Second World War, Israel has not allowed foreign journalists to come into Gaza. This is unprecedented,” says Israeli journalist Meron Rapoport.
Palestinian journalists, who live in Gaza, have paid a terrible price for their reporting.
“Gaza has been a horror story. The Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that around ...
This week on Inside Geneva, we take the pulse of the United Nations as it turns 80.
“Someone celebrating their 80th birthday cannot be expected to be in tip-top shape. The UN is an old lady,” says Corinne Momal-Vanian, executive director at the Kofi Annan Foundation.
Some world leaders don’t have much time for the UN.
“All I got from the UN was an escalator that stopped halfway on the way up and a teleprompter that didn’...
On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, we ask: are other countries following Russia’s lead in cracking down on freedom of expression?
“I feel as though I’m monitoring a repression handbook used by the Russian government against its own civil society and, unfortunately, this handbook has been copied by other leaders in some democratic countries,” says Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russ...
This week, in the final episode of our Summer Profiles series on the Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes talks to Irish physiotherapist Rieke Hayes, who now works in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“I think I went into physio with the classic idea – I’d have a little clinic, do outpatients, you know, back pain, neck pain. Turns out I really, really didn’t enjoy that setting at all o...
The United Nations General Assembly has officially opened and the organisation marked its 80th anniversary. Inside Geneva asks whether the body remains relevant.
“If you're a refugee in Bangladesh, or seeking protection in South Sudan, the UN may be imperfect but it’s still relevant,” says Richard Gowan from the International Crisis Group.
The UN is bigger than many of us think.
“We do sometimes forget that the UN ...
On World Humanitarian Day, Inside Geneva spoke to a man who has dedicated his life to humanitarian work. He grew up in a quiet Swiss village – so what inspired him to take this path?
“When I was young, I quickly realised that many people didn’t have the same opportunities, they didn’t have equal chances. And to me, that felt fundamentally wrong,” says humanitarian worker Stéphane Jaquemet.
His first posting was to Gaza ...
Inside Geneva’s fourth summer profile – not a person, but a much-loved museum.
“In this museum, we ask an essential question: what does humanitarian action have to do with me, in my life, here and now?” says Pascal Hufschmid, director of the Red Cross Museum.
This month there’s a special exhibition, “Tuning in” … to the sound of humanity.
“It’s an exhibition conceived as an exploration of sound archives – particularly h...
Rachael Cummings of Save the Children is Inside Geneva’s summer profile this week.
“When I went into nursing, I also wanted to travel, so nursing gave me that opportunity. That was sort of an 18-year-old thinking, ‘Okay, I can use this to travel with’,” says Cummings.
Since taking her nursing skills to humanitarian work, she’s been all over the world.
“I think one of the things I’m most proud of is Save the Children’s ...
Inside Geneva brings you our second summer profile, with international lawyer Dapo Akande.
“I’m one of those boring people who actually always wanted to be a lawyer. I’m not sure exactly what the motivation was when I was younger, but I think I was very argumentative as a child. And everyone used to say, ‘You should be a lawyer,’” says Akande.
As a child in Nigeria, he also took a keen interest in world affairs.
“I was b...
Get in touch!
- Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
- Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en
Thank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter.
For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Production assitant: Claire-Marie Germain
Distribution: Sara Pasino
Marketing: Xin Z...
Inside Geneva’s Summer Profiles are back! In this episode we talk to Tammam Aloudat, doctor, aid worker and now journalist.
“I was born in Syria, and I spent most of my life there until my mid-20s. I studied there; I went to medical school there,” says the CEO of The New Humanitarian.
Was being a doctor in Syria his first choice?
“One of the first side effects of autocratic dictatorships is that there isn’t really work...
2025 has been a year of conflict, upheaval, and huge challenges to the international system.
Gunilla von Hall, Svenskadagbladet: "It all started downhill from 20th of January. Since then, it's just, well, ‘the Ukraine war will be over in 24 hours?’ Nothing happened. It just got worse. Then we had Gaza, then we have Iran, Israel. Then we had the cuts of all the aid. It's very bleak. I think we should jus...
Israel blocked aid into Gaza for 10 weeks. Then the US and Israel came up with a new plan – without the United Nations. Established aid agencies had doubts. Inside Geneva finds out why.
Jan Egeland,secretary general, Norwegian Refugee Council: ‘We would welcome anything that would allow us to resume work for a population that is starving and that has been suffocated by a siege over two months. But this seems to be mili...
The world just agreed a pandemic treaty. But without the United States. Is it really a milestone?
‘‘It is a major step forward. I mean, just imagine if we failed. We would not only go back to the point before the pandemic, before COVID-19 struck us, we'd go back to a point much further back,” said Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein from the International Peace Institute.
But what about the global challenge of climate change?
“We...
It’s been 30 years since the Beijing Declaration on Women, a landmark agreement to empower women and girls.
“The Beijing declaration was such an incredible moment to say that enough is enough. Women are half of humanity and we have to be better,” says Lata Narayanaswamy, associate professor at the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds.
But now, some governments are rolling back women’s ...
On Inside Geneva this week, aid agencies count the costs of funding cuts.
“I am most sad for all the millions of people living with HIV and affected by HIV whose lives have been upended. They have lost access to life-saving medication. They have showed up at clinics for support, only to find no one there to help them,” says Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director for the Programme Branch at the Joint United Nations...
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