Geneva, Switzerland

GENEVA merupakan pusat multi-kultur Swiss. Geneva yang terbentang di wilayah Danau Geneva (Lac Leman) menjadi pusat permukiman warga yang berasal dari hampir 180 negara berbeda dan akan menjadi salah satu lokasi Swiss yang digunakan untuk penyelenggaraan Piala Eropa 2008, selain Basel, Berne serta Zurich.

Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman), it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.

Geneva is widely regarded as a global city, mainly because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.
A 2007 survey by Mercer Consulting found Geneva to have the second-highest quality of living in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich). (From wikipedia).

Geneva - The Old Town : A gate at the back of the Parc des Bastions brings you up to a small junction and Rue St-Léger, which winds further up into the atmospheric Old Town, characterized by quiet, cobbled streets and tall, shuttered, grey-stone houses that give nothing away. Rue St-Léger curls up into the oddly split-level Place du Bourg-de-Four, a marketplace since medieval times that was probably built over the Roman forum, these days adorned with a fountain and lined with relaxed terrace cafés. From here, Rue Fontaine descends to the north to Temple de la Madeleine, a Gothic church that has clung on to its Romanesque tower, but if you head up the other way on Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, you’ll come to Place de la Taconnerie, dominated by the cathedral. Tucked on your right is the Auditoire de Calvin, a small thirteenth-century chapel built over a fifth-century predecessor. Following Geneva’s acceptance of the Reformation, refugees flooded into the city from all over Europe and, in the knowledge that most of them spoke no French, Calvin gave this chapel over for the refugees to worship in their own languages – Geneva’s first international building. John Knox preached here in the 1550s (there’s still a Church of Scotland service every Sunday at 11am, slotted between Dutch and Italian), and the austere building also doubled as Calvin’s lecture hall.

International organizations :Geneva is the seat of the European headquarters of the United Nations and of many other inter-governmental organizations, including:The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) , The International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO), The International Labour Organization (ILO), The International Organization for Migration (IOM) The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), The World Health Organization (WHO), etc.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Geneva was the seat of the League of Nations between 1919 and the league's dissolution in 1946. It was first housed in the Palais Wilson, and then in the Palais des Nations, which now hosts the United Nations. Numerous international non-governmental organizations have also elected Geneva as their headquarters. Numerous international non-governmental organizations have also elected Geneva as their headquarters, including: The Airports Council International, The International AIDS Society, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), The International Road Transport Union (IRU), The International Union Against Cancer (UICC), etc

Lake Geneva :Lake Geneva or Lake Léman (French: Lac Léman, le Léman, Lac de Genève) is the second largest freshwater lake in Central Europe in terms of surface area (after Lake Balaton). 60% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40% under France (Haute-Savoie).
The crescent-shaped lake, formed by a withdrawing glacier, narrows around Yvoire on the southern shore, the lake can thus be divided into the "Grand Lac" (Large Lake) to the east and the "Petit Lac" (Small Lake) to the west. View from Montreux : It lies on the course of the Rhône River. The river has its source at the Rhone Glacier near the Grimsel Pass to the east of the lake and flows down through the Canton of Valais, entering the lake between Villeneuve and St. Gingolph, before flowing slowly towards its egress at Geneva. Other tributaries are La Dranse, L'Aubonne, La Morges, Venoge, and Veveyse.

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (in French: Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge) is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide whose stated mission is to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.

The ICRC Headquarters in Geneva.

The often-heard term International Red Cross is actually a misnomer, as no official organization as such exists bearing that name. In reality, the movement consists of several distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the Movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes, and governing organs. The Movement's parts: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international humanitarian law to protect the life and dignity of the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and today it coordinates activities between the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the Movement. On an international level, the Federation leads and organizes, in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Currently 186 National Societies are recognized by the ICRC and admitted as full members of the Federation. Each entity works in its home country according to the principles of international humanitarian law and the statutes of the international Movement. Depending on their specific circumstances and capacities, National Societies can take on additional humanitarian tasks that are not directly defined by international humanitarian law or the mandates of the international Movement.