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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're up against a ticking clock. And even though we've enjoyed successes in the past, even though the renewables rollout is going rather well, it's all too little, too late from the point of view of avoiding genuinely dangerous degrees of warming,” says climate security expert Peter Schwarzstein.

Why can’t world leaders really unite around global challenges?

‘Their children and grandchildren have to deal with abominable and extreme heat levels and forest fires and fierce hurricanes and no trade and collapsed economies and extreme food security and complete anarchy. Is this what they wish for their children. What form of love is that?” continues al Hussein.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva for in-depth analysis of where we stand.

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• Email us at insidegeneva@swissinfo.ch
• Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

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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 Zhang

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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 rights. Humanitarian programmes that help women and girls are being cut.

“During his first presidential term, Trump vetoed a new resolution proposed under the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda because it enshrined the right of women to their reproductive rights,” says Leandra Bias from the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern.

What’s happening? Support for vulnerable women is being cut, and toxic masculinity is growing. The UN is worried.

“I am concerned about the resurgence in some quarters of toxic ideas about masculinity and efforts to glorify gender stereotypes, especially among young men,” said UN human rights commissioner Volker Türk.

This week Inside Geneva asks what toxic masculinity actually means. Is it even new?

“What worries me about the language of toxic masculinity is that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, we didn’t know this was coming.’ But it’s actually just a continuity of how violence and patriarchy combine,” says Narayanaswamy.

Is there a connection between toxic masculinity and the repression of women? Are both now identifiers for authoritarian regimes?

“‘We are the tough guys, we are actually the proper nations, while look at Europe, they have been completely emasculated and therefore they are not a model to aspire to.’ Therefore, democracy is also not a model to aspire to,” says Bias.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva to listen to the full episode.

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 Zhang

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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 (UN) Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The cuts are hitting women and girls especially hard.

“Right now, a woman dies from a preventable form of maternal mortality every two minutes. That’s unacceptable. One of the grants that the United States has just cut supports the training and salaries of midwives,” says Sarah Craven, Director of the Washington Office of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund.

What will happen to local NGOs in crisis zones that relied on UN support?

“I have to have hope. I am the leader of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society. I have staff and 12,000 volunteers behind me. So, I always have to be really strong and give hope to everyone to continue serving Sudan,” says Aida Al-Sayed Abdullah, Secretary General of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society.

But could the cuts bring much-needed reform?

“Sure, the humanitarian system isn’t perfect. It can be inefficient and a little bit colonialistic at times. But it was delivering results. We were seeing actual progress. Now, in just a few months, decades of progress will be erased,” says Dorian Burkhalter, SWI swissinfo.ch journalist.

Or will the cuts cost lives and cause more crisis?

“We’re so close to ending AIDS, full stop. Now, we could very well be turning back completely. All those years of work, dedication and progress,” says Achrekar.

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 Zhang