I-DAIR

International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative

We interviewed H.E. Ambassador Dr. Amandeep Gill, former Permanent Representative of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament who was just appointed as the new UN Secretary General Tech Envoy, to speak about the platform for research and access to digital health and AI that he is leading, I-DAIR.

Ambassador Gill is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative project, I-DAIR, based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.

Dr. Gill envisions I-DAIR as a global collective for Digital Health, a dynamic new global platform that focuses on access to digital health and AI for health.

Previously, Ambassador Gill was the Executive Director and Co-Lead of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (2018-2019).

In addition to delivering the report of the High-Level Panel, Ambassador Gill helped secure high-impact international consensus recommendations on regulating artificial intelligence in lethal autonomous weapon systems in 2017 and 2018, and the draft text of the artificial intelligence ethics recommendation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in 2020.

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The Global Research Map of Digital Health and AI

We also spoke with Dr. Mehdi Snène, who heads the team developing the Global Research Map of Digital Health (GRM) at I-DAIR, the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative, and who will be taking over the CEO role at IDAIR.

Dr. Snène is the Research and Development Director of the I-DAIR project at the Global Health Centre. He is a Swiss-Tunisian computer scientist and digital health research leader with a rich clinical, neuroscience and data science expertise.

He founded and directed, since 2012, the Conscious Analytics System Laboratory at the University of Geneva. He has previously led and contributed to a wide range of digital health projects and clinical trials covering medical topics such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancer, and diabetes.

He has developed an award-winning patented medical device, designed to increase the well-being of dementia patients.

Before joining I-DAIR, he was the technical project manager for the Human Brain Project at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a billion euro project funded by the European Union, with more than 130 academic institutions’ partners.

He has a master degree from the Polytechnic School of Grenoble and completed his PhD from the University of Geneva in the area of Computer and Information Systems Security, in 2004.

They have published their first report. Read it here.

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WTO: Seeing the Souls of Trade Negotiators

What a brilliant idea. Soft Power at work.

Revealing, candid, portraits of diplomats. The ones negotiating trade deals and the rules of trade for you, yes you, at the World Trade Organisation, in Geneva.

For a taste of it scroll down. But for the full experience click here.

What I absolutely love about trade is one minute you will be talking about digital trade, and the protection of individuals and of personal data, and the next minute you are talking about migration or about agriculture and farmers. My brain often feels like it is about to explode with how many different areas and different issues we get to be involved in. There is always new topics to get into, which always keeps things interesting. Rebecca Fisher Lamb, United Kingdom

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Faces of Trade

Trade is very important, for development, for the improvement of welfare of the people. This is what makes me wake up in the morning: knowing that I am not just doing something for myself, but for the good of the country and also the world at large. Ditya Agung Nurdianto, Republic of Indonesia

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Faces of Trade

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Looking ahead, global trade rules also need to become a driver for the green and digital transformation – and the WTO should be the platform to make this happen. We need more WTO, not less. Alexandru Zegrea, Germany

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Faces of Trade

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IPU

Inter-Parliamentary Union History

Now, that is a good video explainer.

IPU 133 Years in (just over) 133 Seconds :-)

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Healthcare Coverage and Mortality Around the World

Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?

Americans have a lower life expectancy than people in other rich countries despite paying much more for healthcare.

Our World in Data explores the number of factors which might explain this difference.

Another Survey of Note

Morning Brew’s Salary Transparency Survey

One of the Most Important WHO Reports

Published yearly the World Health Organisation Mental Health Report looks at the state of mental health care around the world. Read the full report here.

World Bank Board Approves New Fund for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR)

World Bank to work together with WHO to set up Secretariat at the World Bank, with WHO as lead technical partner. Read about it here.

Week Ahead

Human Rights Law at the UN

Human Rights Committee Meets 4th July at Palais Wilson

Source: UN

The Human Rights Committee is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties.

The Committee’s work promotes the enjoyment of civil and political rights, resulting in numerous changes of law, policy and practice.

As such, it has improved the lives of individuals in all parts of the world. It continues to strive to ensure all the civil and political rights guaranteed by the Covenant can be enjoyed in full and without discrimination, by all people.

All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how civil and political rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests.

In accordance with the Predictable Review Cycle, the Committee requests the submission of the report based on an eight-year calendar.

The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of ‘concluding observations’.

Human Rights Council

Meets Mon 4 Jul 2022, Palais des Nations - Geneva, Switzerland

The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)

Mon 4 Jul 2022 Geneva, Palais des Nations, Room XIX

10h00 – 11h00
Welcoming remarks from:
• Federico Villegas Beltrán, President of the Human Rights Council (TBC)
• Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (TBC)

On the agenda:

11h00 – 13h00

Item 1: Election of officers
Opening remarks from the Chair of the Expert Mechanism

Item 2: Adoption of agenda and organization of work

Item 3: Study on Treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements, between indigenous peoples and States, including peace
accords and reconciliation initiatives, and their constitutional
recognition.

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#NEW

Our French Language Section

Report on Domestic Violence in Geneva, Switzerland

(translation: it is still bad. training, education of citizens, and housing initiatives to support and host those fleeing untenable situations, that have been started recently by State Counsellor of Geneva, Nathalie Fontanet, are a step in the right direction).

Source: ge.ch

Les femmes en demeurent majoritairement les victimes directes (82%). Sur les six homicides commis en 2021 à Genève, quatre relèvent de la sphère domestique.

La part des violences domestiques dans l'ensemble des infractions pour violences continue d'augmenter et représente désormais la moitié de l'ensemble des infractions pour violences commises à Genève.

Les femmes en demeurent majoritairement les victimes directes (82%). Sur les 6 homicides commis en 2021 à Genève, 4 relèvent de la sphère domestique.

Pour la onzième année consécutive, l'Observatoire des violences domestiques présente les résultats du réseau de prise en charge des personnes concernées par les violences domestiques.

Ces résultats, qui sont issus de la collaboration de 14 entités (institutions privées et étatiques) sont en outre complétés par les statistiques policières.

En 2021, les infractions pénales pour violences domestiques à Genève sont au nombre de 1'698, en baisse de 10% par rapport à 2020.

La part des violences domestiques dans l'ensemble des infractions pour violences continue cependant d'augmenter dans le canton, passant de 48,1 % en 2020 à 50,1 % en 2021.

Les violences domestiques représentent désormais la moitié de l'ensemble des infractions pour violences commises à Genève (3'390 infractions).

Rôle et sexe des personnes

82% des victimes directes sont des femmes et 73% des auteurs sont des hommes.

Parmi la population mineure, 61% sont des victimes directes, dont 55% de filles et 45% de garçons.

Le Bureau de promotion de l'égalité et de prévention des violences (BPEV) est l'organisme chargé de la coordination des actions en matière de lutte contre les violences domestiques.

Depuis 2010, il a développé une campagne de sensibilisation aux violences domestiques auprès de la population genevoise, avec une ligne téléphonique unique dédiée aux violences domestiques (0840 110 110).

La publication La violence domestique en chiffres, année 2021 est disponible ici.

Watch my previous interview with Nathalie Fontanet, Minister of Finance and Human Resources for the State of Geneva, she leads the efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, she is also State Counsellor for Geneva, by the Parti Liberal Radical, a Swiss centre-right party.

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The UN Brief

I-DAIR: Digital Health and AI Impact on…