Geneva facing an identity crisis?

Verbatim from today’s DEVEX.

PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD FOUNDATION

APRIL 17, 2025. BY HELEN MURPHY

Geneva, once the heart of global diplomacy, is in crisis as the U.S. aid cuts wrought by the White House trigger layoffs, frozen projects, and shrinking influence. Major agencies like WHO and UNAIDS are scaling back, with warnings of deadly consequences.

Swiss off

Once the cradle of international humanitarian law, the city of Geneva is now facing an identity crisis as U.S. aid cuts under President Donald Trump batter the multilateral system it helped build.

“[The Palais des Nations] is starting to have that same smell of death,” quips BBC’s Imogen Foulks. And it’s no joke — layoffs, frozen projects, and shrinking budgets are hitting hard.

Geneva, long the diplomatic engine room of the United Nations, is reeling. The World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, and UNAIDS are all scaling back. “We will do less with less,” said one participant at a recent closed-door summit hosted by France to assess the damage.

Historically, Geneva’s neutrality and prestige made it the go-to city for peace talks and humanitarian leadership. But now? “We are really at the end of the cycle here,” says journalist Philippe Mottaz. “I do not see the status quo coming back.”

The Trump administration’s disdain for human rights norms has accelerated the crisis, writes Devex Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch. Agencies that once counted on U.S. cash are scrambling. UNAIDS warns of millions more AIDS deaths if funding doesn’t return. “We’ll see people die the way we saw them in the ’90s,” says Winnie Byanyima, who leads the agency.

And the cuts are brutal. The International Organization for Migration already axed 3,000 jobs. UNHCR could slash 6,000. Even the famed Geneva International Motor Show — the road show that’s run since 1905 — is leaving town for Qatar. “That’s the way the global winds are blowing,” says Foulks.

Still, Geneva’s reputation might survive. “Geneva … stands for values-based multilateralism,” says one diplomat. But the U.N.’s Swiss hub is undoubtedly shrinking — and fast.

Read: Europe’s peace capital feels sting of Trump funding cuts

See also: UN appeals fall flat in face of Trump’s budget steamroller

ICYMI: UN chief says US cuts make the world less healthy, safe, and prosperous