Latest Geneva News & Updates

Beijing, May 12 (IANS) China has announced that it will not approve Taiwan’s participation in the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) set to be held in Geneva from May 18-23. Addressing a regular press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun reiterated the country’s stance that Taiwan is an “inalienable” part of China and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. Guo stated that Taiwan’s participa…

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) India’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Prabhat Kumar, formally handed over a banner of India’s Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) during a ceremony at the Royal Observatory in Cape Town to mark further strengthening of the long-standing scientific collaboration between the two countries, according to media reportsSpeaking during the ceremony held earlier this week, the Indian envoy com…

Washington, April 8 (IANS) The United States has sharply criticised the functioning of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer calling it “ineffective and dysfunctional” after the 14th Ministerial Conference failed to deliver meaningful reform, particularly on digital trade rules.​ In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, following the conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Greer said the WTO is no longer a “serious forum” and wa…

Seoul, April 7 (IANS) The Baloch National Movement (BNM) held a peaceful protest in South Korea’s Busan, highlighting the persistent human rights abuses in Balochistan, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, collective punishment and systematic military repression by Pakistani forces. The demonstrations held on April 5 near Sasang Station were part of the ongoing BNM Global Campaign running from March 10 to April 9 and brought together Baloch community members, sup…

Seoul, April 2 (IANS) North Korea on Thursday condemned a recent United Nations resolution on human rights violations in the country, calling it a “grave political provocation.”The reaction came after the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council adopted its annual resolution on Pyongyang’s human rights by consensus Monday at its 61st regular session, co-sponsored by 50 countries, including South Korea.”(Our) foreign ministry brands the adoption of this anti-DPRK ‘human rights resolution’ as a grave …

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said that India’s stance at the recently concluded WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Cameroon was “not only heard but also reflected” in the final outcomes, underlining the country’s growing influence in shaping global trade discussions.Wrapping up his four-day visit to Cameroon — where he participated in the WTO Ministerial Conference — Goyal noted that the global trade landscape has undergone signif…

Islamabad, March 27 (IANS) Terming his father and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s detention “arbitrary”, Kasim Khan has raised serious concerns at the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva over the Pakistani authorities’ treatment which he said breaches international human rights conventions. During the UNHRC session, Kasim Khan said that Imran Khan’s case was not an “isolated incident” but it was the “most visible example” of a much wider patt…

Srinagar, March 24 (IANS) Darakshan Hassan Bhat, Speaker at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and President of the Kashmir Women’s Organisation (KWO), on Tuesday, highlighted the evolving landscape of women’s empowerment in Jammu and Kashmir, emphasising both progress and persistent challenges during her recent address at the world body in Geneva.Calling it an honour to represent the region at such a global platform, Bhat said her intervention was shaped by both academic grounding …

Florida, March 22 (IANS) Ukrainian and US delegations discussed “key issues” and next steps on settling the Ukraine crisis in fresh negotiations held in the US state of Florida, Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, has said.”We continued to discuss key issues and next steps within the negotiation track. Special attention was paid to coordinating approaches for further progress toward practical results,” he was cited as saying in a report by the Interfax-Uk…

United Nations, March 20 (IANS) India has dismissed a report by the expert on minority issues as “factually incorrect” and displaying “hostility” to the country.Gaurav Kumar Thakur, a counsellor at India’s UN Mission in Geneva, said India rejects the assertions of Nicolas Levrat, the special rapporteur on minority issues, about the Waqf Amendment Act 2025.His assertions are “factually incorrect and based on a poor grasp of its background and history”, Thakur said on Tuesday at a se…