Alliance Sud criticizes the Federal Council’s decision to increase emergency aid for Syria and other crisis countries. As necessary as this is, it is a short-term measure to save these funds for long-term development cooperation.
Alliance Sud press release from September 18, 2015
Today, the Federal Council announced in a media-effective manner that it intends to increase emergency aid for Syria and other crisis countries. This is urgently needed. However, Alliance Sud criticizes the decision to save a large proportion of these funds for long-term development cooperation as short-sighted.
Today’s decision was foreseeable: Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter had already pointed out several times in the media that more money was needed for humanitarian aid in crisis situations. Today, the Federal Council decided to apply for an additional CHF 70 million for emergency aid operations in Syria and other crisis-stricken countries. For Alliance Sud, the development policy working group of Swiss aid organizations, emergency aid in crisis areas is extremely important. It therefore welcomes the increase announced today, but sharply criticizes the fact that the Federal Council is playing off emergency aid against long-term development cooperation.
This is because the funding is to be provided to a considerable extent at the expense of the budget for long-term cooperation. In 2015, savings of up to 20 million in development cooperation are planned in favor of the additional crisis aid decided today. It is also expected that a further 20 million will be cut from development cooperation in 2016. However, the FDFA does not wish to comment on this for the time being.
“It is cynical and short-sighted for the Federal Council to increase crisis aid while at the same time cutting back on long-term development cooperation,” emphasizes Mark Herkenrath, Managing Director of Alliance Sud. Emergency operations can save lives and are indispensable in the current crisis situation, but only long-term development cooperation can tackle the causes of poverty and need. Additional emergency aid must therefore be financed in addition to development cooperation. “If the Federal Council wants to make savings in development cooperation today, it will have to spend more money on short-term crisis operations tomorrow,” warns Herkenrath.
Despite this, the Federal Council has already announced massive savings in development cooperation in recent weeks. Its current draft budget for 2016 envisages cuts of around CHF 60 million in the SDC’s development cooperation. Around CHF 8 million is to be cut from cooperation with Eastern Europe and around CHF 20 million from Seco’s economic development cooperation. The increase in crisis aid agreed today is likely to mean further cuts in development cooperation.
For further information:
Mark Herkenrath, Managing Director Alliance Sud, tel. 078 699 58 66
