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Category: News

The GCH publishes a policy paper on the commitments by the international organizations:“What reconstruction for Ukraine?”

In the run-up to the international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2023) to be organized in London on 21-22 June 2023, the Geneva Cities Hub published a policy paper, entitled “What reconstruction for Ukraine? How the need for a future-oriented reconstruction approach translates into concrete projects?” In the policy paper the Geneva Cities Hub aims to …

Habitat Assembly: revitalizing multilateralism from the bottom-up

On 15 June, the Geneva Cities Hub, in close partnership with UN-Habitat, organized a Geneva Urban Debate on key outcomes of the UN Habitat Assembly (5-9 June 2023, Nairobi). Present in Nairobi, the GCH advocated for a more inclusive kind of multilateralism at the UN. Notably, it called for the creation of a new status …

Cities also work on human rights

On 8 June, during the 2nd UN Habitat Assembly (Nairobi), the Geneva Cities Hub organized a side-event in partnership with members of the Coalition for LRGs in the UPR (UN Habitat, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, OHCHR, UPR Info, Geneva Human Rights Platform). The objective was to emphasize that the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mechanism of …

“You can only rebuild a city in close collaboration with the local authorities”

On 5 June 2023, the conference “What reconstruction for Ukraine? What has been lost and achieved in one year?” was organized by the Geneva Cities Hub and the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the participation of the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv …

New treaty on plastic pollution: outcome and follow-up

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution met for its second session in Paris (May 29-June 2, 2023) to resume negotiations on a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution. While the time-frame for the negotiations is relatively short (the treaty is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024), delegations agreed to …

Interview of Raphaelle Veronica Ortega-David, Governor of La Union

Governor of La Union Raphaelle Veronica Ortega-David granted Geneva Cities Hub an interview. This is a follow-up to her participation at the Mayors’ High-Level Presentations during the WSIS Forum 2023 in Geneva. What was the purpose of your visit to Geneva and what was its highlight? I had the privilege of being invited by the …

Mayors are critical to refugee inclusion

On 17 May 2023, the Geneva Cities Hub, the Mayors Migration Council, UCLG and the Mayors Mechanism joined forces to speak on behalf of the Local and Regional Governments (LRGs) constituency at the 2nd formal preparatory briefing of the Global Refugee Forum (GRF, Geneva, 13-15 Dec 2023). As the international community prepares for the second …

Suggested language for cities in the new Plastic Pollution Treaty

As the Geneva Cities Hub prepares to attend the second session of the negotiations on a new treaty against plastic pollution (INC-2, Paris, 29 May -2 June), it has provided inputs to the compilation that the UNEP Secretariat prepared, based on the States’ submissions. The objective of these inputs is to ensure a meaningful inclusion …

The GCH goes to the 2nd UN Habitat Assembly

As an organization that seeks to better connect LRGs to multilateral diplomacy, the Geneva Cities Hub will take part to the 2nd session of the UN Habitat Assembly (Nairobi, 5-9 June) focusing on “A sustainable urban future through inclusive and effective multilateralism: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in times of global crises.” On 8 …