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Following the June 1976 Soweto riots between black youths and the South African authorities, thousands of students fearing arrest and ill-treatment sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
With the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) support, student refugees received professional counselling, scholarships and subsistence help. Assisted by UNHCR, Lesotho allowed South African student refugees to be accommodated in educational institutions in order to carry on with their education.
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In 2010, on the basis of standards developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the European Union, along with many countries around the world, introduced a regulation that limits the stand-by power consumption of electronic devices to a maximum of 1 watt/hour, resulting in important energy savings.
The IEC is the world's leading organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
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In recent years, few concepts have changed international cooperation and our daily lives as much as “sustainable development”.
The term was first coined in the 1980 World Conservation Strategy document produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), headquartered just outside Geneva. In 1987, the Geneva-based UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) further developed and defined this concept in its report, also called the Brundtland report: “Our Common Future”.
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Some of the planet’s finest coffee varieties originate from Ethiopia. Speciality coffee commands much higher prices on world markets than coffee traded over commodity exchanges.
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In November 1985, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Geneva to discuss arms control. In a symbolic gesture, the picture of the two superpowers’ leaders shaking hands marked a turning point that led to the end of the Cold War.
During the following decade, Germany was reunified, and Eastern Europe transformed with a redesigned map and redefined balance of power.
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On the basis of research conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is improving its climate information services for local communities in order to plan local development better and avoid strategic errors, such as building a dam on a river which will subsequently dry up.
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Safia Mohamed lives in Zanzibar. She is married and has a 6 year-old daughter. Safia and her family benefited from the Geneva-based Global Fund programme to fight against malaria. Safia's daughter used to go to the hospital two to three times a year to be treated for malaria.
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Have you ever noticed that road signs are more or less the same all around the world? This is thanks to the Working Party on Road Traffic Safety (WP1). The group meets twice a year in Geneva to elaborate legal instruments aimed at harmonizing traffic regulations and road signs. WP1 also prepares recommendations on specific issues such as international driving permits.
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The price of an international phone call – or computer connection – has fallen dramatically since the 1997 Telecommunications Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This agreement was aimed at both opening and, even more importantly, regulating the telecommunications sector of WTO Members. This has provided better telephone connections in many developing countries, with positive effects on the well-being of their populations.
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Making a video call to a friend in Australia while walking along the shores of Lake Geneva is no longer science fiction. Mobile broadband users exceed one billion in 2012 driven by a growing demand for smartphones, new applications and social networking services. This ongoing revolution in the way people communicate could not have occurred without the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
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In 1967, smallpox still killed 2 million people annually around the world. That year, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an intensified plan to eradicate the disease through mass vaccination. Thirteen years later, smallpox was officially eradicated. Dr. H. Mahler, WHO Director-General at the time, described the smallpox program as a “triumph of management”.
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, providing leadership on global health matters.
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In August 1980, workers went on strike at the Gdansk shipyard in then-communist Poland to enjoy their right to freely form and join trade unions.The strikers based their demands on conventions adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on freedom of association and collective bargaining. The Polish strikers formed Solidarity, the first independent, self-governing trade union in the Eastern bloc.
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Acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatments often occur during the first hours of detention in police stations. Necessary safeguards - such as the need for detailed records - have therefore to be put in place.),By establishing a system of regular visits to places of detention, the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) ensures such improvements.
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On September 14, 2011, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inaugurated its new logistics hub in Satigny, near Geneva International Airport. This new building is meant to support ICRC's activities worldwide and deliver medical equipment to populations in emergency situations.