to help countries achieve their sustainability goals and to guarantee the UN’s relevance in new thematic areas. Within the UN development system, a range of measures are already being implemented in the area of peace and security and in management. Coherence between the individual spheres of activity is crucial to their success. The UN needs to pool its strengths more to ensure it can fulfil its core mandate, in particular the prevention of violent conflicts. Responsibility for this lies not only with the UN, but also with the member states themselves. They are the ones who make progress possible through their active involvement, political will and willingness to compromise within the governing bodies, committees and processes. As a host state, Switzerland benefits from the presence of various international organisations across the country. Geneva plays a special role here as the European headquarters of the United Nations and innovative lab for reformed multilateralism. Through its approach based on dialogue and cooperation between government, business, civil society and the scientific community, Geneva has successfully positioned itself as a leading venue for debate on current and future challenges. The CERN headquarters in Geneva strengthens the city’s potential as a global forum for sharing science and technology applications. The network of contacts, which can be used to create thematic coalitions, is also valuable for Switzerland’s foreign policy. With its expertise and institutions, such as the three Geneva Centres, Geneva provides important impetus in Switzerland’s priority areas of the enforcement of human rights and respect for international humanitarian law. At a multilateral level, opportunities also arise to coordinate foreign policy with like-minded states and groups of states, develop strategic partnerships and enter into new cooperation arrangements in order to achieve the necessary majorities to get Switzerland’s concerns heard. Greater use should be made of the potential for more strategic cooperation with states of comparable size and with similar foreign policy positions to secure accomplishments such as the rule of law, democracy and human rights in the rules-based multilateral order. Objectives > 7.1 Switzerland will strengthen the UN reform efforts. It will work in specific alliances that strive to protect civilian populations in armed conflicts and that call for greater accountability and transparency in the Security Council’s working methods. > 7.2 Switzerland will utilise its strategic partnership with the ICRC to enforce international humanitarian law and will support an effective International Criminal Court. It will campaign for increased cooperation between the World Bank and the UN to counter the root causes of fragility and violence. > 7.3 Switzerland will utilise the opportunity to contribute to the work of the G20 as a guest country and strengthen its ties to this forum. > 7.4 Switzerland will strengthen its attractiveness and competitiveness as a host state. The focus will be on the universalisation of diplomatic representations, the holding of international conferences and peace talks and on Switzerland’s positioning as a venue for discussing future challenges. > 7.5 Switzerland will pursue more thematic, issue-specific and regional diplomatic initiatives with like-minded states and groups of states. 32 Geographical level