There are increasing signs that the SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is planning to reduce or completely eliminate its involvement in Latin America. As one of 24 organizations, terre des hommes schweiz is calling on the Federal Council to abandon this step. Decades of successful development work are thus being put at risk.
An open letter to Federal Councillor Cassis and the entire Federal Council (slightly edited version)
Dear Federal Councillor Cassis
Dear Members of the Federal Council
At the annual conference of the SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on June 29, 2018, you, Federal Councillor Cassis, announced in your speech a thematic and geographical prioritization of the SDC. In conjunction with the article in the NZZ am Sonntag of 17 June 2018, in which well-informed sources report on a planned gradual withdrawal of SDC cooperation with Latin America, this announcement is causing great concern among the undersigned Swiss civil society organizations.
Programs enjoy high recognition
The SDC’s presence and programs in Latin America, namely in Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti and Cuba, enjoy high recognition both in the countries concerned and among the international community in general. The long-term commitment, which targets the fundamental causes of poverty, stagnating development, fragility, human rights violations and violence with innovative strategies and approaches, is highly appreciated and is urgently needed, especially in view of current developments in the region.
Economic statistics belie the reality
The undersigned organizations, some of which have been active in various Latin American countries for decades, observe with great concern the serious human rights violations, the socio-political conflicts and the massive criminal, structural and political violence that are bringing the region, and Central America in particular, to the brink of a humanitarian tragedy.
The political crisis in Nicaragua has cost the lives of over two hundred people in recent weeks. In Honduras, thousands of people, especially young people, die every year as a result of criminal and political violence. Colombia is also at a critical point where it remains to be seen to what extent the Colombian government can implement the peace agreements negotiated with the FARC-EP and ensure development, stability and the security of the Colombian population throughout the country.
It is also known that the qualification of many Latin American countries as middle-income states overlooks the fact that some regions have enormously high and in some cases rising rates of poverty and extreme poverty.
Withdrawal would be a fatal signal
At present, many states are once again increasingly prioritizing their national interests and withdrawing from international bodies and agreements. In our view, the SDC’s withdrawal from an entire continent, justified by Switzerland’s short-term economic and migration policy interests, is in line with these worrying trends at global level.
Against this backdrop, it seems to us that the SDC’s withdrawal from Latin America would not only be a bitter loss of urgently needed expertise and support, but would also send the wrong signal from Switzerland in terms of global politics.
International credibility at stake
We are convinced that this new strategic orientation not only runs counter to the principle of solidarity and openness towards the world enshrined in the Federal Constitution and Switzerland’s long-term interests in a peaceful and just international order, but also jeopardizes the trust in Switzerland as a credible player on the international stage, which Switzerland has built up over the decades through long-term commitment and solidary relations with other countries.
Support where there is effective added value
For the reasons outlined above, it is important to the undersigned organizations that Switzerland continues to be involved wherever its support provides meaningful and effective added value in the fight against poverty, violence and human rights violations. We therefore kindly ask you to refrain from a one-sided linkage with Switzerland’s short-term economic and migration policy interests in the discussions on the future orientation of IC and, in this sense, to refrain from a gradual withdrawal of the SDC from Latin America.
Contact:
Alice Froidevaux, Guatemalanetz Bern, c/o Reformed Churches Bern-Jura-Solothurn, OeME-Migration, Altenbergstrasse 66, P.O. Box, 3000 Bern 22
