I welcome you to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Malta to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva. This website is intended to introduce you to the work of the Permanent Mission as it relates to a significant number of international organisations and specialized agencies, present in and operating from, Geneva. For this reason, the Permanent Mission in Geneva seeks to follow up on a number of important issues being addressed in these bodies, particularly those pertinent to Malta’s Foreign Policy Objectives.
It being a platform for global multilateral diplomacy, the United Nations Office in Geneva plays a central role in support of the work of the United Nations. It derives inspiration from the five priority areas identified by the UN Secretary-General in 2012, namely: sustainable development; prevention; supporting nations in transition; building a more secure world and empowering women and young people. These imperatives flow from the eight priorities which UN member states themselves have set via the UN General Assembly, namely: sustainable development; peace and security; human rights; humanitarian assistance; disarmament; justice; development in Africa; drug control; crime prevention and combating terrorism.
Since Independence in 1964 and its subsequent membership in the UN, Malta secured a rightful and respected place within the international community, through landmark initiatives. These include: the initiative on the Law of the Sea, whereby the principle of the Common Heritage of Mankind culminated in the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the adoption of the Convention; the initiative relating to the ‘Question of the Elderly and the Aged’, which raised international awareness on the needs of older people and the impact of ageing on development; the initiative on the ‘Protection of Global Climate for present and future generations of mankind, characterising climate change as the common concern of mankind’; the initiative on ‘the environmental protection of extra-territorial spaces’.
Geneva clusters a number of international organisations and specialized agencies which address issues of global concern. These include, inter alia, the Human Rights Council (HRC) which serves as the UN’s most important global body in promoting and protecting human rights worldwide; the UNHCR which addresses issues relating to the plight of refugees; the IOM which addresses the phenomenon of migration and human mobility in all its aspects; the WHO which addresses all issues relating to global health; the WIPO which addresses issues relating to intellectual property and patent rights; the ILO which addresses global labour rights and conditions; the UNCTAD which addresses trade and development issues particularly in developing countries; the ITU which addresses global telecommunications issues; the Conference on Disarmament which addresses issues relating to disarmament and non-proliferation. Geneva is also the seat of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Of course, these are only some of the bodies active here.
The Permanent Mission seeks to promote Malta’s international multilateral profile, striving in so doing, to raise awareness and garner support for Malta’s interests as well as its concerns, while upholding the principles and values of the United Nations Charter and participating pro-actively in a global vision to bring about a more peaceful and sustainable world for all.