All Projects
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Ce projet de Small Grant a été développé grâce à une collaboration entre le Département de sociologie de l’Unige, l’Unité psychosociale et d’intégration culturelle de l’OIM et la Section migrations internationales et politiques multiculturelles de l’UNESCO. Il se propose d’accompagner les initiatives de ces deux organisations internationales en matière d’éducation, de sensibilisation à la multiculturalité et de négociations internationales au travers de la réalisation d’une recherche audiovisuelle...
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L'année 2006 reste marquée par un important flux migratoire irrégulier en provenance de l'Afrique Subsaharienne, notamment de la Mauritanie et du Sénégal via le Maghreb et les îles Canaries. Que ce soit à travers le désert des pays du Maghreb ou par le biais des pirogues au départ des côtes mauritaniennes ou sénégalaises, des milliers d'africains utilisent des réseaux de trafiquants humains ou passeurs mettant ainsi en danger leurs vie. La situation actuelle de cette émigration clandestine de...
This text exists in French only.
Ce projet a pour ambition principale l'amélioration de la gestion des situations d'"urgences complexes". L'"urgence complexe" correspond à des situations de crises humanitaires où des populations ont fui leurs lieux de vie (village, région ou pays) en raison d'événements politiques, sociaux ou encore naturels, comme un tremblement de terre ou un tsunami. Ce projet a comme but plus spécifique la prise en compte des facteurs spatiaux dans la gestion des actions humanitaires et sociales menées au sein...
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Le projet " RUIG" devrait permettre de traiter une quinzaine de concepts statistiques qui couvrent notamment l'aide au développement, le marché du travail et l'agriculture, d'identifier et de traiter un certain nombre d'indicateurs composites du développement socio-économique, et de sensibiliser, par l'intermédiaire d'un colloque, les producteurs de statistiques des organisations internationales à la qualité de la présentation et de la diffusion de leurs statistiques.
Le projet vise au...
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Quels sont les défis posés à nos systèmes d'éducation et de formation par la diversité des cultures et des langues? Quelles sont les recherches réalisées en Suisse sur des questions liées à l'éducation et à l'interculturalité? Quels résultats et quelles propositions concrètes amènent-elles? Quels sont les impacts de ces propositions sur le terrain? Quel regard des chercheurs venant d'autres pays, ainsi que des praticiens, portent-ils sur la recherche réalisée en Suisse?
Telles sont les...
The overall lack of an articulated and universal legal foundation related to non-State actors (NSAs) has meant that the international community's relations with NSAs have primarily been concentrated on cease-fire agreements and peace treaties, which in many cases were the only interaction possible. However, the need for engaging NSAs has been increasingly addressed, mainly by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) using methods which are less tied to traditional frameworks. The example of Geneva Call shows that such engagements are possible...
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Malgré les efforts déployés depuis plus de trois décennies et à différents niveaux -- international, national, dans les organisations de base, les ONG, les mouvements de femmes -- force est de constater que les inégalités entre hommes et femmes persistent. Celles-ci sont éthiquement inacceptables, et entravent par ailleurs un développement équitable et soutenable.
Un nouveau champ de savoir interdisciplinaire "femmes/genre et développement", s'est construit, depuis les années 70....
There has recently been a surge of interest in the role of humiliation and its impact in terms of violence and low collective self-esteem amongst populations in conflict zones. Humanitarian workers are becoming increasingly aware of these issues as they encounter growing resistance and rejection, misunderstanding and hostility at a time when rampant 'anti-Western' feeling is being re-kindled. This lack of communication can lead to aggressive behaviour towards humanitarian organisations, perceived as agents of the social crisis and therefore...
Role of SMEs in African Economies and Challenges faced by them: SME sector is one of the principal driving forces for economic growth and job creation not only in developed but also in developing and least developed economies. This is particularly true for many countries in Africa, where SMEs and the informal sector represent over 90% of businesses, contribute to over 50% of GDP, and account for about 63% of employment in low income countries (UNECA 2005). Despite, SMEs in Africa face many obstacles including corrupt governance structures,...
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Les Facultés de droit, des lettres et de médecine de l'Université de Genève et le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) se sont associés pour organiser un colloque consacré à "Katyn et la Suisse : experts et expertises médicales dans les crises humanitaires". Durant 4 jours, du 18 au 20 avril, la Fondation Louis-Jeantet de médecine accueillera à Genève, historiens, chercheurs et experts du monde entier pour s'interroger sur la question du devoir des humanitaires de dénoncer les crimes de...
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Dans le cadre de leur mission sur des terrains difficiles (pays en guerre, afflux de réfugiés dans des camps de fortune, interventions d'urgence suite à des catastrophes naturelles, lutte contre des pandémies et des famines meurtrières, etc.), les acteurs humanitaires de nombreuses organisations internationales et les membres d'équipes d'entraide spécialisées, sont fréquemment confrontés à des situations dramatiques. Au-delà du choc initial face à la réalité de ces crises et de l'engagement dans...
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Les connaissances médicales sont produites en grande majorité dans les pays développés, et leur application dans d'autres contextes peut poser des difficultés, tant en terme de pertinence que de possibilité économique, logistique ou d'acceptation socioculturelle. Hors, c'est par la formation continue et l'accès à des informations utilisables que l'on peut renforcer les capacités des professionnels de la santé, en particulier ceux qui se trouvent en dehors des circuits habituels de formation que...
This project examines how, in the context of the recent “shift to the left” and the less-than-perfect track record of the "Washington Consensus" in the region, Latin American countries are attempting to negotiate alternative trade regimes, which represent, at the same time, different strategies of regional integration: namely, the Free Trade Areas (e.g., the Free Trade Area of the Americas – ALCA, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement – CAFTA), the Common Southern Market (MERCOSUR), and the Bolivarian Alternative for the...
This project aims to identify interdisciplinary issues (most specifically legal and economic issues) which may prevent or hinder the cross-border exchange of intellectual assets between China, Japan and Switzerland. In view of the extremely high variety and number of intellectual assets which exist and could thus potentially be analysed, the project will focus on two types of intellectual assets (i.e. music content and trade secrets) which are considered to cover diverse and representative aspects of human creativity (the cultural aspect...
In early 2006 the GCSP, with the financial support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, launched a project entitled "The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and International Geneva". The main objective of this project was to assess the implications of the new United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for international Geneva. In particular, it sought to explore how best Geneva-based stakeholders could add value to the work of the PBC, in terms of country-specific operations, norms and standards setting, lessons...
Although a recent policy tool, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are considered by some to be "the most promising innovation since Rio 1992". While PES schemes are flourishing in many countries around the world - ranging from watershed to 'bioprospecting' deals - it appears as though the model has a limited applicability at the global level (the existing market for carbon credits stands out as an exception). Biodiversity loss is an international problem comparable to that of climate change in the scale of global change and the urgency...
This research and action-oriented project, funded by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN), is centred around the current international debate on migration and development. The research team's objective is to provide a better understanding of the potential of highly skilled migrants as agents of development, by focusing on their participation in the production and circulation of knowledge. Considering knowledge as a core catalyst in the struggle against poverty, this project examines the potential of highly skilled migrants from...
In this project supported by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) the research team proposes to adapt several epidemiological simulation programs modelling important humanitarian challenges facing Africa, so that they can be run in a distributed fashion using "volunteer computing" technology. This technology, made famous by projects such as Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI@home), can routinely harness the power of tens of thousands of personal computers for important scientific causes. Members of the public who...
The goal of this research project supported by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) is to study how information pertaining to medical risks and crises is collected, disseminated and used. As demonstrated by recent events (the heat wave in France, the tsunami in south-east Asia, the Chikungunya epidemic in the Indian Ocean), the fact that information is available or being circulated does not necessarily mean that those who need it are properly informed or use it to good purpose. One of the aims of the research project is to...
Risks due to natural hazards and exposed populations are increasing, especially in coastal areas, and mountainous regions, where more people continue to live. Natural disasters create humanitarian crises and seriously impact poverty alleviation goals. Earthquakes and tsunamis continue to cause the highest number of deaths but more common hazards, especially flooding, landslides and debris flow – affect great numbers of people and their livelihoods. Nonetheless, natural resources management and natural barriers are often not included...
This text exists in French only.
Cette conférence porte sur les questions d’internationalisation économique, de développement humain et de gouvernance en Asie ; le cas du Vietnam sert de référence au débat. Cet évènement a eu lieu au mois de Décembre 2006, date anniversaire de la proclamation par le gouvernement vietnamien, il y a vingt ans, d’une orientation économique nouvelle, le Doi Moi, ou Renouveau. Depuis, ce pays est devenu un modèle, de transition progressive réussie vers l’économie de marché, de croissance économique...
War and conflict know no linguistic boundaries. Language specialists often play an essential role in intelligence gathering before and during a conflict. Ending a conflict and delivering emergency and humanitarian aid across language barriers represents a major challenge, for which few of the organizations entrusted with operations in the field are linguistically well equipped. This problem is compounded by a chronic shortage of interpreters in zones of crisis and war willing to work in the line of fire or in areas of natural disaster....
The Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the South Centre, and the Global Economic Governance Programme at the University of Oxford, are jointly implementing a project supported by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) to advance research and policy dialogue on trade, global economic governance and developing countries.
Globalisation, under appropriate conditions, holds the promise of growth and prosperity. Yet for many in the developing world, and for those concerned about sustainable development,...
This text exists in French only.
Genève internationale est une mine d’or d’informations... souvent invisibles. Elle pourrait cependant servir d’observatoire des changements planétaires: en devenant un terrain privilégié pour exercer, en situation réelle, des journalistes du monde entier (du Sud comme du Nord) à la couverture des enjeux globaux. Cette démarche aurait plusieurs impacts : 1) large diffusion de ces enjeux ; 2) visibilité internationale de Genève et de ses acteurs; 3) réseau mondial de journalistes sensibilisés aux...
Access to good quality health information is a key component of any health system. With the emergence of information and communication technologies, new tools have become available to facilitate the compilation, publication and access to such data. However, these new tools also present new challenges. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to gauge the reliability of health information on the web. In addition, the fact that there exists a variety of data must be acknowledged and encouraged.
It is at present not clear whether...
The number of protected areas in the world has increased rapidly over the past few decades and is currently in excess of 102,000. The question of their ecological and social sustainability is one of the main challenges to global environmental governance today.
Historically, most protected areas were created under the assumption that, for conservation to be successful, humans had to be excluded from these areas. Many studies have presented evidence that this approach was ineffective. Starting in the 1970s, a new approach...
Post-conflict peacebuilding and reconstruction represents a major challenge for the international community and for war-torn societies. This thematic is rife with conceptual and terminological ambiguities, however, which inhibit understanding of the challenges inherent in such contexts and also of the actions undertaken by decision-makers and practitioners. The increasing gap between theory and reality requires an interdisciplinary and empirical study on the significance and relevance of various notions of peace-building, so that the needs...
Increasing the availability of environmental goods and services (EGS) through market liberalisation is seen as exemplifying the potential "win-win" relationship between trade and environment. Lower costs induced by lower or zero tariffs and non-tariff barriers would allow World Trade Organisation (WTO) Members to economise on resource/energy use and to increase their access to new technologies and know-how. At the same time, WTO Members would be able to comply with better environmental standards and adequately implement multilateral...
This project, supported by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN), aims at conducting research on the conditions of, and the factors that contribute to, the detention of international "irregular migrants," The transnational movement of people is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, a fact dramatically underscored in the final report of the UN Global Commission on International Migration, issued in October 2005. According to the report, the number of international migrants has more than...
Public health research is carried out in increasingly complex and challenging environments. Such research while having the potential to benefit communities and populations also has the possibility of harming individuals who take part in this research. The responsibility for protection of research participants lies not only with the ethics review committees and the sponsors of research, but also with the investigators and all those who are part of the research team. Numerous guidance documents exist, but there is limited experience and...
Over the last four years, WFUNA has organised a series of Seminars aimed at demystifying the Human Rights Commission. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, WFUNA has considered the defence and promotion of human rights as an intrinsic part of its mission. March 2006 witnessed the replacing of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights with a standing Human Rights Council, indicating a major step forward for the advancement and protection of human rights worldwide. WFUNA therefore decided to collaborate...
Globalisation and the related growth in trade provoke socio-economic as well as environmental consequences. There currently exists a need to shed new light on international responsibilities relating to the environmental impacts of consumption and related trade patterns. The relationship between consumers in developed countries and affected citizens in developing countries merits careful examination. This is all the more urgent due to the emergence of new challenges such as:
- The increasing separation of the sites of...
During the last twenty years, the growing environmental awareness worldwide has resulted in the development of a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). Today’s MEA’s cover many dimensions of sustainable development, including oceans, endangered species, biodiversity, climate change, ozone layer, chemicals and hazardous wastes.
Even though this impressive “body” of environmental law has been signed and ratified by a large number of countries, it remains far from fully enforced, due to the lack of adequate...
Created in 1950 to solve the problem of European refugees in the wake of World War II, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has subsequently grown to become a global operation that currently addresses the needs of over 19 million people. Beginning in the 1970’s, UNHCR experienced a sudden expansion in its role in the developing world, where large-scale humanitarian crises set in motion an evolution of norms and standard setting with regard to refugee law and exposed the organisation to new challenges. In...
This text exists in French only.
Depuis plus de vingt ans, le monde connaît de profonds bouleversements économiques, politiques et sociaux. Si la mondialisation a eu un impact non négligeable sur l’expansion des marchés, des services et des capitaux, il est également reconnu que ces développements ont accru dans de nombreux cas les disparités sociales, à la fois entre pays et au sein des pays, et ainsi engendré de nouvelles formes d’exclusion.
L’unité de recherche TECFA (Université de Genève) et le programme STEP...
The AFRICA@home project aims to provide worldwide distributed computing resources for the benefit of computer modelling of malaria epidemiology. This interdisciplinary project is a partnership between the University of Geneva (UniGe), the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI), two Geneva-based NGOs, a Geneva-based international organisation (ICVolunteers), CERN and the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar, Senegal.
Malaria causes about 500 million clinical attacks each year, and over a million deaths, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa....
The objective of the project is develop a cost guide with user interface to assist Parties to the UN/ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) with its implementation and to offer an analysis of possible cost-saving options. The guide would also aid countries considering accession to the Protocol to rapidly evaluate the costs of their potential obligations thereby potentially speeding up the take-up and diffusion of PRTR systems around the world.
The use of emission inventories was mandated by Agenda 21 (Chs....
Can governments in partnership with the private sector and non-profit organisations promote peace and sustainable development? This is the primary question of this project.
This research will examine whether, and under what conditions, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be conceived to include criteria for peace and sustainable development. This would include considerations for sustainable management of resources, equitable access to these resources for both women and men affected by the PPPs, as well as their safety, the security...
This two-year multidisciplinary project, approved by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) in 2005, will promote sustainable development by enhancing the capacities of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to assess, design and implement effective national wildlife trade policies. Well-designed wildlife trade policies can play an essential role in protecting biodiversity, reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
A key aim of this project is to improve the availability of...
Marine turtles, a common heritage of humankind, are seriously threatened throughout the world. Some global solutions have been developed, implicating international actors in common strategies covering the worlds' oceans. The islands of the south-western Indian Ocean and particularly Madagascar are areas of high concentration and migration for five endangered species. Several research and conservation programmes for marine turtles exist in this sector, but none are devoted to them in the area of Maintirano (which is covered by the...
The aim of this project is to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex role that armed non-State actors (NSAs) play in the landmine problem and to propose concrete recommendations for including them in efforts to ban landmines and cooperate in mine action.
Although NSAs have always existed, in the last twenty years the international community has become acutely aware of their importance in achieving universal compliance with human rights law and international humanitarian law. This is particularly true for the norm prohibiting...
The first Israeli-Palestinian international academic conference on water was held in Zürich in December 1992. It served as a prelude to the "water" component of the Oslo accords.
The conference represented the starting point of a long series of cooperative projects between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at addressing water-related issues in a context of shortages and conflicts over appropriation questions.
In parallel to the negotiations and official cooperation between authorities and governmental institutions of both parties...
Countries committed themselves to the attainment of "universal access to reproductive health for all by 2015" in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). However, considerable literature shows unequal use of reproductive health services by population sub-groups. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, the international community set goals and targets to promote improvements in development and health. Three out of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are related to different aspects of reproductive health. In...
Although local authorities in developing countries often play a significant role in fostering construction projects and related activities, information and knowledge about their potential for promoting decent work (including the creation of employment) in such a sector through good policy-making and strategic allocation of public resources is still poorly understood. Publications on decent work have not acknowledged the potential role of local authorities but focused on the private sector. In addition, many development and aid agencies have...
The project, approved by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) in 2005 relates to the current debate on the common themes of migration and development: how can countries of origin profit in the best possible way from the human, social and financial capital represented by their citizens established abroad?
The contribution of migrants to the development of their country of origin cannot be dissociated from their statute, standards of living and integration in the host country. Consequently, this project proposes to examine...
The overarching goal of this project is to analyse links between poverty, health, and the environment, and provide policy makers with research results to advance the Millenium Development Goals and World Summit of Sustainable Development Implementation Plan. The project aims to contribute critical input to deliberations at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) to be held in Bangkok, Thailand between 17-25 November 2004. The Congress will attract more than 3,000 participants (scientists, policy makers, practitioners, politicians,...
Increasing the coverage in the supply of water and sanitation facilities in developing countries is essential in overcoming poverty and in reducing water-related diseases. The positive health impacts vary considerably depending on the quality of the water and sanitation services. It is also clear that the costs of different alternatives vary widely according to local conditions. Therefore, knowledge of the costs regarding water supply and sanitation, in addition to knowledge concerning environmental, institutional, social and political...
This study of field-based practice in humanitarian negotiations analyses the factors that prevent and enable successful humanitarian negotiations ongoing in four countries, all facing humanitarian emergencies. It aims to establish common understanding and good practice for future policy-making and capacity-building in humanitarian negotiations.
A comparative typology of humanitarian negotiations that also draws distinctions between humanitarian and other forms of negotiations will serve to develop questionnaires and interviews. The...
Coordinated by the professor Fenneke Reysoo of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, in partnership with the Gender & Health Research Department of the World Health Organisation (WHO), this project aims to conduct research on the various aspects of the sexual behaviour of youths in Francophone Africa. The result of this research will contribute to the establishment of training materials in French that will allow health service providers to develop services based on the respect for rights and gender rights, particularly for young...
This project is coordinated by Ms Nathalie Mivelaz, of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), in collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the Institute of architecture of the University of Geneva, UN-HABITAT, the UN Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace, and several North-American universities. Based on the example of the Olympic Games, the goal of the research will be to examine the phenomena of forced evictions during the preparatory phase for the Games. The research team will...
Coordinated by Ms Cynthia Cannady of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the Hautes études commerciales (HEC) of the University of Geneva, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), the Swiss Tropical Institute and the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), this project aims to develop a model to reinforce developing countries' capacity to protect and improve their results in health research and development (R&D;)....
Access, use and sharing of information and knowledge are keywords of the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003 in Geneva (WSIS Phase I). WSIS Phase II in November 2005 in Tunis is recognized to be the platform for the development of concrete measures for the implementation of the WSIS Geneva 2003 Plan of Action.
Following the WSIS call for the development of pilot projects in education and capacity building, the proposed project aims to develop a...
This project aims to examine new configurations and new management techniques used by multinational corporations in the organisation and management of their international value chains, in order to better understand different types of cooperation between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and very large corporations worldwide.
This project is coordinated by Ms Yvonne Apea, of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), in collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) and the Département of political economy of the University of Geneva. It is designed to analyse and help developing countries to better understand available choices and strategies to advance their objectives and defend their trade rights via the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Dispute Settlement System.
This project aims at finding practical solutions for expanding social security coverage in Africa. The objectives of the project are: to analyse on a comparative basis public efforts and community-based social protection systems; to identify and carry out a typology of the various mechanisms used in this area, to provide an overview of ways in which social protection could be extended, based on a combination of public and private efforts; to promote the research results in countries where the existence of community-based social protection...
This project is coordinated by the professor Yves Pedrazzini of the Urban Sociology Laboratory (LaSUR) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, and the Small Arms Survey of the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS). The project concerns urban planning policies in contexts of urban violence and insecurity. Building on case studies in Barcelona and Bogotá, the project will analyse private and public initiatives that are undertaken to respond to the security needs of citizens,...
The Ageing and Life Course unit of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Geneva Interfaculty Gerontology Centre, in association with institutions in eight countries, are collaborating in a research project aimed at tackling a substantial, yet hidden, societal problem: elder abuse. The aims of the project are: 1) To develop and validate universal and reliable screening tools to facilitate the detection of elder abuse cases by primary health care professionals; 2) To build the capacty of primary health care (PHC) workers...
A crucial vulnerability faced by the international community in the near future will be access to fresh water in sufficient quantity and of adequate quality to meet increasing and more diverse needs of a growing world population. Mountains have always held a privileged relationship with water as the sources of the world's greatest rivers and as the home of the great reserves of water held in glaciers. Major global forces nevertheless threaten these mountain reservoirs. Climate change is predicted to modify quantities of water available as...
The conference brought together scholars and practitioners to discuss, from the standpoint of developing countries, selected issues of the negotiation process itself, in multilateral bodies and in bilateral dispute settlement. It took place on November 6 and 7, 2003 in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Building.
The United Nations University, the Information Systems Interfaces Research Group, the Universal Networking Digital Language (UNDL) Foundation and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) have combined their efforts on a project aimed at facilitating multilingual and multicultural communication on the Internet. The UNL (Universal Networking Language) is an artificial, formal and non-ambiguous language; it is independent of natural languages. The role of the UNL is to act as an intermediary. Unlike computer translation...
The main purpose of this research is to develop a framework of analysis and innovative proposals for guiding the different actors involved in migratory movements, namely States, international organisations, policy-makers and societies of origin, transit and destination of migrants. This comprehensive study will evaluate and describe, from both an interdisciplinary and an empirical perspective, the two main components of the migratory phenomenon: economic migration (work) and political migration (asylum). This study aims at providing a...
This project aims at studying the conditions under which genetic databases can be established, kept, and used in an ethically acceptable way. The technical possibilities for automated analysis of large DNA sample collections and the bio-informatic processing of the resulting data have developed dramatically during the past several years and are constantly being improved. Protecting the data available in such databases has consequently emerged as a highly complex ethical issue in the arena of health policy. The ethical issues become even...
The 18th conference "Enviro Info" will be held in Geneva from 21 to 23 October 2004 and will cover a wide range of topics relating to environmental information systems. This conference focuses on information exchange among scientists, public administrations, private and public companies involved in environmental information processing, as well as environmental informatics end-users. For more information, please consult the French version or the website of the conference: http://www.enviroinfo2004.org. The GIAN will sponsor the development...
This project aims at providing ministries of health in the least developed countries of WHO's EURO area (Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe) a model for using the "HealthMapper", a tool for decision-making as regards public health. HealthMapper is a geographical information system developed by the WHO that collects and analyses information on diseases and possibilities for treatment according to criteria such as geographical site, medical coverage, accessibility to care centres, environment and climatic factors. For more...
This research project promises to generate important information on the desirability of particular labour market institutions and on the conditions in which these institutional configurations are sustainable. The project team will analyse the structural determinants (economic, social, cultural and institutional) as well as the socio-economic outcomes of "social dialogue regimes," i.e. socio-political regimes in which workers have the freedom to establish organisations of their own choosing, negotiate collectively over working conditions and...
Employment and job creation is becoming an essential ingredient of any crisis response program, a fact that experience has highlighted in many crisis contexts and diverse urgent situations on a world scale. This critical area manifestly requires further research. This project will analyse the employment and related social and economic aspects of armed conflict, socio-economic crises, and natural disasters. It aims to provide a better understanding of the challenges for sustainable development and more equitable social relations, in light of...
Micro-finance is an anti-poverty strategy that can make a tangible contribution to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty by 2015. However, contrary to ideas expressed by promoters of that strategy, with few exceptions, most micro-finance institutions do not fully recover costs and remain dependant on contributions from donors. This research project aims, firstly, to analyse the characteristics of an efficient, poverty-oriented micro-finance institution and determine whether all existing institutions are indeed...
The Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (Unige) and the Institute of Legal Medicine (Unige) have joined their efforts under the GIAN to undertake research in the area of human rights as it relates to issues of health and mental health. This research will determine the current level of knowledge and awareness among health students and professionals on the issue of the right to health and mental health and determine future training needs...
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) organized information briefings targeting prospective members of the peace-building and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan, as well as other persons who had a professional interest in the current developments in Afghanistan. The principal objective of the sessions was to provide practical information to prospective mission members on the cultural context in Afghanistan.
The following sessions took place:
Session...
The objective of this project is to develop new approaches, methodologies and synergies concerning "training for policy dialogue" and the development of an international discussion in the field of education/training, principally focused on youth education (12 to 18 years). Undertaken by the University of Geneva (Unige), the International Bureau of Education of UNESCO and the Summer University on Human Rights, this project is intended for persons involved with national and international policy dialogue on education, as well as with...
The project consisted of a specialised course on trade negotiation, including a trade negotiation simulation, used both for immediate training purposes and for data collection purposes in a research perspective. The course was intended for government representatives who were likely to be involved in trade negotiations. Representatives of the academic community and of the World Trade Organisation Secretariat functioned as trainers/facilitators. Researchers from the academic community were offered the possibility to observe the trade...
Within the GIAN framework and with its support, five institutions and three experts from the UN Commission on Human Rights are cooperating in order to analyse the impact that the lack of enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights can have on the occurrence of torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances, summary executions and other violations of physical and psychological integrity. The project comprises a general analysis, along with an analysis of national situations. It aims to establish synergies between the project's partners...
Prof. Norman Scott of the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS) passed away on 10 March 2004. Professor Scott was former Director of the International Trade Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Associate Professor of Eastern European and Soviet economics at GIIS. Since 1999, he was Director of the Diplomatic Studies Programme at GIIS, and a highly-respected member of the faculty.
The GIAN deeply regrets his passing and extends the sympathy and condolences of its members and staff to his...
This research project on biosafety will focus on issues raised by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety signed in January 2000 in Montreal. The Cartagena Protocol is an important link in the implementation of instruments seeking to protect biodiversity from potential risks brought about by the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is based on the precautionary principle and provides the introduction of safety norms during transport, use and disposal of GMOs regulated in the Protocol. It authorises importing countries to...
The objectives of this conference were to: establish a link between reconstruction activities and measures for disaster prevention in the medium- and long-term; initiate methods for the development of knowledge and tools at the municipality level; and establish a constructive dialogue between leaders, researchers, NGOs and donors in Latin America and Switzerland. Policy recommendations for disaster prevention were made. For more information, please consult the French version.
Cross-cultural communication raises frequently the problem - in particular in the context of international organizations - of the proper understanding of idiomatic expressions, i.e. multi-word expressions whose meaning differs from the composition of the individual meaning of their parts. The importance of multi-word expressions is widely recognized in the domains of translation and terminology. For one thing, these expressions usually cannot be translated literally, and one must find adequate correspondence (idiomatic or not) in the target...
The program aims to develop and implement processes of negotiation in water-scarce contexts where conflicting interests lead to reduced water use efficiency.
Its specific objectives are:
• To identify and analyse conflicts of interest and secondary effects induced by water resource development programs and management systems;
• To develop tools and methods aimed at conciliating divergent objectives related to the utilisation of water and reducing secondary undesirable effects;
• To develop training material on the analysis of...
The capacity of the human mind to accommodate the process of bereavement seems to be a major force in human beings. The process of collective bereavement develops much more slowly than individual bereavement as the paralysing or "gelling" of the process, particularly in situations of survival, has the tendency to inhibit the unfolding of the individual bereavement process, thereby also paralysing social reconstruction. This last phenomenon has important consequences for the relationship between individual and collective memory, on one hand,...
Within the GIAN framework and with its financial support, six institutions have decided to co-operate in an analysis of the effects of globalisation on inequality. This is one of the major questions of our time, at the intersection of politics and economics. The project considers the general impact of globalisation, and also focuses on health, education and social protection.
The Graduate Institute for Development Studies (GIDS) in Geneva, UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) and the Faculty of Economics of...
This research aims at determining to what extent international human rights law, international humanitarian law, national criminal law and, where appropriate, international criminal law apply to the activities of military forces and international transitional civil administrations (ITAs), when one or different international organisations intervene and operate in a State's territory. An additional goal of this research is to determine whether the aforementioned legal regimes should be seen as complementary with one another, or, rather, they...
This project is a partnership comprised of three Geneva-based organizations, and a number of international collaborators (to be identified during Phase 1 of the project). The Geneva-based organizations include the World Health Organization (WHO): Injuries and Violence Prevention Department, the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS): Small Arms Survey (SAS) project and the University of Geneva: Institute for Legal Medicine.
The project aims to document and better understand the public health effects associated with the...