About the Mission

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to demand great changes in our daily lives and way of working. Online meetings and working from home have become the norm for Geneva’s international organizations, which have regardless continued striving to maintain the functions expected of them while simultaneously working out the responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
 
Geneva is home to the main organizations concerning global health, such as the World Health Organization (WHO); Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. These organizations address and make decisions on such issues as accumulating and sharing scientific data on COVID-19, providing countries with vaccines and other medical supplies, and dealing with diseases other than COVID-19 that are often neglected due to the pandemic, particularly in developing countries. 
 
The COVID-19 crisis has also been gravely affecting the economies and social situations of all countries and regions. In response to the needs of the most vulnerable under the current situation, international humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have been intensifying their activities. Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has focused on issues relating to employment, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been discussing how to promote the smooth international distribution of medical supplies.
 
In various ways, the thirty or so international organizations based in Geneva have all been working to overcome this crisis, both based on their respective mandates and through collaboration. The Government of Japan is also actively contributing to international cooperation to combat the pandemic and our Mission works together with Geneva’s international organizations on a daily basis representing the Government.
 
Due to the high virus case numbers in the Geneva area, and disruption of international travel, meetings between Missions and the secretariats of international organizations take place online in most cases. At the same time, when permissible under the restrictions put in place by the Swiss authorities, some in-person meetings take place if they are judged to be more effective, while taking appropriate risk-management measures.
 
To overcome this crisis, it goes without saying that we need closer international cooperation. Our Mission will do its utmost to promote such cooperation while collaborating with various stakeholders. We look forward to your continued understanding and support. 
 
YAMAZAKI Kazuyuki
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
and Permanent Representative
 
HONSEI Kozo
Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative