Geneva Centre for Security Policy

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation established in 1995 under Swiss law, originally created as Switzerland's contribution to NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. It is recognized as a Partnership Training and Education Centre (PTEC) and is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025. Headquartered in the Maison de la paix in Geneva, the GCSP shares its building with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), and DCAF (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces). The GCSP is governed by a Foundation Council comprising 55 member states and the Canton of Geneva. Its principal funder is the Swiss government, with other member states and institutional partners contributing through seconded faculty, scholarships, and program support. The centre is directed by Ambassador Thomas Greminger, who took up his post in May 2021. The organization operates through five main departments. Executive Education offers open-enrollment courses, customized programs, and a FlexLearn methodology reaching participants from over 165 nationalities. The Diplomatic Dialogue department runs the International Security Dialogue and Mediation and Peace Support tracks. The Research and Policy Advice department, led by Dr. Tobias Vestner, conducts analysis on topics ranging from arms control and disarmament to transformative technologies. The Global Fellowship Initiative and Creative Spark round out the organizational structure. The GCSP's work on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies is concentrated in its Transformative Technologies cluster and the Polymath Initiative, founded and directed by Dr. Jean-Marc Rickli (Head of Global and Emerging Risks). Key AI-related initiatives include the Geneva Process on AI Principles, which bridges the gap between ethical principles for military AI and their operational implementation, examining responsibility, equitability, traceability, reliability, governability, and lawfulness across legal, technical, ethical, and military dimensions. In 2023, the GCSP held a roundtable on the nexus between AI and nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3), with support from the Future of Life Institute and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and has continued this focus into 2024 and 2025. The GCSP also collaborates with the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee on human rights-centred approaches to AI use in counter-terrorism, and has made formal submissions to UN bodies on lethal autonomous weapons systems.