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Inside Geneva is marking its 100th podcast episode this week. In this episode host Imogen Foulkes looks back at some of the podcast highlights.
This episode starts with an assessment of how humanitarians coped with the war in Syria. 
Jan Egeland, former head of the United Nations humanitarian taskforce for Syria says: "Syria was a real setback where these besiegements, the bombing of hospitals, the bombing of schools, the bombing of bread lines, it was horrific."

Inside Geneva also looks at the lively debate about whether humanitarian aid needs to be decolonised. 
"If we were to think of aid as a form of reparation, as a form of social justice for historical and continuing harm," says Lata Narayanaswamy, from the University of Leeds.
And it delves into the complex discussions over ‘killer robots’. 
Mary Wareham, from the Human Rights Watch adds: "Do you hold the commander responsible who activated the weapons system? There's what we call an accountability gap when it comes to killer robots."
And we ask whether human rights investigations can really bring accountability. 
Chris Sidoti, from the UN Independent Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, told Imogen Foulkes: "I still know that the Myanmar butchers who are responsible for what happened may never individually be brought to justice. But I certainly live in hope that one day they will." 

Help us celebrate our 100th podcast – and let us know what topics you’d like to hear more about. 
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On Inside Geneva this week: part four of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Navi Pillay, she served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2008 to 2014, she started life in racially segregated South Africa. 
 "We grew up under apartheid and we’re realised there’s something very unfair here. Our teachers were afraid to talk about…you know they would teach us democracy in Greece, but not why don’t we have democracy in South Africa."
 She became the first woman of colour to have her own legal practice in South Africa. 
 "It was so lonely, and so scary. I had very little choice, because I went looking for jobs after I’d qualified, at law firms, they were mainly white law firms, and they would say ‘we can’t – you’re a black person, so we can’t have our white secretaries taking instructions from you.’’ 
She served on the international tribunal for the Rwandan genocide – but hesitated when Ban Ki Moon asked her to become UN Human Rights Commissioner. 
 "You have to respond to a call that’s made to you, a trust that people place in you. So if you ask me what moved me from where I wanted to go to this, it was the secretary general saying ‘we need you now’.’ 
Today, she believes the universal declaration on human rights is as relevant as ever – as long as we use it. 
"No state has distanced itself from that treaty. So I see hope in that and I feel these are the tools that civil society has. You have the law, now push for implementation."

Join Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast to find out more. 
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August marks two important days in the humanitarian calendar 
First, the International day of the disappeared.


Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC: ‘I look at my kids, I look at my family, and I say ‘imagine now there is a frontline between us and my son, my brother, my mother, my father, are captured and I can't see them for a year, two, three, four.’’ 


 Inside Geneva hears how the ICRC reunites those divided by conflict, and visits the Red Cross Central Tracing Agency. 


 Anastasia Kushleyko, Central Tracing Agency: ‘I’m calling from the ICRC, I’m calling from Geneva: As of last week he was a POW, he was safe and well. It's always always people are so grateful and mothers, you know especially mothers.’ 


Second, the UN marks World Humanitarian Day on August 30. 20 years after the Baghdad bombing which killed 22 UN staff, Inside Geneva talks to an aid worker deeply affected by that day. 


 Laura Dolci, UN Human Rights: ‘So I had taken him to the airport, together with our child, and the yes it took me in fact many years to be able to use the same elevator in the airport where I last kissed him.’ 


 Laura Dolci, UN Human Rights: ‘The aid worker, the humanitarian worker, the peacekeeper; ultimately it's a human being that decides to put its own being also to the service of humanity.’ 


 Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva 
 
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On Inside Geneva this week: part three of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Host Imogen Foulkes talks to Louise Arbour, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. She arrived in Geneva with a formidable track record.


As a prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, she had indicted Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes. In Rwanda, she secured convictions of rape as crimes against humanity.


"The work I did both with the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda were if anything a vindication for me of the significance of law, of the rule of law, as an organising principle in modern society," explains Arbour. 


Leading the UN’s human rights work was a new challenge. 


"These were very challenging times. 2004, you know, this was in the backyard of 9/11. It was, a new, dangerous, unknown world was starting to unfold with a lot of uncertainties, including on the human rights front."


New strategies were needed. 


"When you arrive in the role of high commissioner for human rights, I think that’s part of the dilemma; how do you use your voice?  Because I think to be the megaphone for the denunciation of injustices at some point becomes counterproductive, because it just illuminates how impotent the system is. It’s like you scream in the wilderness," she said. 


That’s why this dedicated lawyer still tells us to follow the laws, treaties, and conventions we have. 


"If you came from another planet and you just looked at the human rights framework; the universal declaration of human rights, all the treaties, the conventions, the work of the treaty bodies, you’d think you’d arrived in heaven. So why is it not the case?"


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On Inside Geneva this week we take a deep dive into the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. Should the United Nations (UN) help to regulate it? Could it even do that? Across the UN there are different views. 
Tomas Lamanauskas, deputy secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says that "the technology in itself has a huge potential to help us resolve a lot of challenges of today, from climate change, to helping education to, helping in the health sector. It’s just that the question is that as with every technology, this technology has risks." 
"There are real problems with its ability to accelerate disinformation, and enhance bias. We also have to look at those longer term consequences, in areas like lethal weapons and things where there really are real important, almost existential risks to some of these technologies," adds Peggy Hicks from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).
But what about the tech industry? 
 Lila Ibrahim, chief operation officer at Google DeepMind says that "from the very start of DeepMind, since 2010, we've been working on AI and thinking about how do we build this responsibly? It's not something we just tag on at the end of all the research we've been doing."
 Is goodwill from the tech giants enough? 
"The malicious use of AI systems for terrorists, criminal, or state purposes could cause horrific levels of death and destruction, widespread trauma, and deep psychological damage on an unimaginable scale," concludes  Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General.
 Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva 
Join host Imogen Foulkes for a new episode of the Inside Geneva podcast and gear up for a journey into the world of AI to discover how we can responsibly leverage its power for a better tomorrow.
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On Inside Geneva this week: part two of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Imogen Foulkes talks to Mary Robinson, the second person to serve as UN Human Rights Commissioner. Even as a schoolgirl in Ireland, she was already passionate about human rights. 
‘I was a bit of a bookworm, and I found a book with a photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt holding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That iconic photo.’
She became a campaigning lawyer, and then Ireland’s first female president, but still wanted to do more.
‘There was this office of High Commissioner which I was aware of. In fact, I'd seen some of its work in Rwanda, which had been very difficult work. All my knowledgeable friends said ‘you know Mary I wouldn't take that job’.’
Her time as Human Rights Commissioner was challenging.
‘I remember feeling to myself, I'm going to get on top of this somehow. This job is impossible, everything is very very difficult, it's extremely hard work but somehow I’m going to get on top of it. And it got better.’
‘Some governments were critical…’
‘Over and over again, I kept saying to myself ‘I represent the first three words of the charter of the United Nations: we the peoples. That's what I represent. Not the states.’
Today, her commitment is undimmed..
‘Human rights is the answer.  We need to understand that everyone has these core human rights, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That this is who we are.’
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