A Life in International Law

In this episode of In Conversation With, we explore Professor Abi Saab's unique approach to the study and practice of international law and how he seamlessly merged his roles as both a scholar and a practitioner. He also imparts invaluable lessons he has passed on to his students during his distinguished academic career.

This episode features a conversation between Stuart Campo, Team Lead for Data Responsibility at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’s Centre for Humanitarian Data, Charlotte Lindsey, Chief Public Policy Officer at the CyberPeace Institute, Balthasar Staehelin, Special Envoy for Foresight and Techplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Achim Wennmann, Director for Strategic Partnerships at the Geneva Graduate Institute. This discussion sheds light on the cyber threat landscape and its impact on the humanitarian sector, and focuses on the meaning of humanitarian protection in the digital space and the role International Geneva should play. This episode was produced in partnership with the Diplomatic Club of Geneva and the CyberPeace Institute.

This episode features a conversation between Michel Jarraud, Secretary General Emeritus at the World Meteorological Organization, Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization, Marek Harsdorff, Economist in the Green Jobs Programme at the International Labour Organization, and Joëlle Noailly, Head of Research of the Centre for International Environmental Studies and Lecturer in the Department of International Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The new loss and damage fund announced at the UN climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh marks a small step towards climate justice but much more is needed in order to tackle the multiple crisis induced by climate change. This discussion focuses on the challenges and opportunities for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable societies and the role that International Geneva can play. This episode was produced in partnership with the Fondation pour Genève and we invite you to have a look at their recent report entitled « International Geneva and the Climate Emergency » for further reading on the topic.

This episode features a conversation between Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute and former Prime Minister of Italy, and Christine Lutringer, Executive Director and Senior Researcher of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy at the Geneva Graduate Institute. This discussion focuses on the challenges European democracies are currently facing and highlights concrete proposals towards building more effective ways for citizens to participate.

This episode features a conversation between Barry Eichengreen, the George C. and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and Rui Esteves, Professor of International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The dramatic economic and financial measures taken by the United States and its allies in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine point up the potency but also the limits of economic power. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Russia will cause the country’s economy to contract by 9 percent in 2022. Yet there are no visible signs of this intervention inducing the Kremlin to halt its war on Ukraine or even to modify its prosecution of the war. Have Western sanctions failed? More globally, what is the future of international liberalism and economic integration given the current geopolitical context?

This episode features a conversation between Michael Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University, and Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute. In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, Michael Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. Through the years, he has built a powerful toolbox for the critical assessment of our current life and institutional choices. So how do we move from critical thinking to a constructive re-engagement and positive transformation of our world?

What characterizes Mexico's feminist foreign policy and why was it proposed? How can a feminist foreign policy influence domestic policy regarding the gender perspective and equity? These are some of the questions that are addressed in this episode of In Conversation With. Our guest is Ms Martha Delgado Peralta, Mexican Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. She is interviewed by Clara Schöpfel and Jessica Espinosa Azcárraga, students at the Geneva Graduate Institute, on Mexico's Feminist Foreign Policy. Martha Delgado Peralta has more than 29 years of experience in the federal government and NGOs engaged in the protection of human rights, and has gained national and international recognition as a public servant. As Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, she has promoted Mexico's feminist foreign policy to increase the number of women in leadership and decision-making positons throughout the country.

This episode features a discussion between Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Co-Chair of the International Crisis Group, and Professor Keith Krause, Director of the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the escalation of conflicts in some parts of the world and led to severe fiscal impacts on aid budgets. Lord Malloch-Brown hopes however that this crisis may trigger a new international engagement and recognition that these public good issues like pandemics or climate change cannot be only dealt with at the national level and require real international partnership and multilateral collaboration.

This episode features a discussion between David Nabarro, Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and Special Envoy of WHO Director General on COVID-19 and Ilona Kickbusch, founding Director and Chair of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. The COVID-19 pandemic reveals that our food systems are not working properly; food supplies are damaged, strong challenges face both consumers and producers, and food systems are simply not able to respond to a sudden increase in hunger. David Nabarro argues that we need to learn to become systems thinkers to establish a pathway to sustainable food systems. That was David Nabarro and Ilona Kickbusch discussing the future of food systems in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This episode features a discussion with Helen Clark, Former Minister of New Zealand and former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamedou, Professor of International History at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. The so-called War on Drugs has led to devastating consequences. According to Helen Clark, it is time to rethink the drug policies rationale and anchor it in science and evidence. In this sense, the Global Commission on Drug Policy believes policies on drugs should be health- and human rights-based, and people who use drugs should not be criminalised.