The Federal Council has presented its plans for Swiss development cooperation (DC) from 2021 to 2024. The plans concern both the projects run by the SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) itself and those that receive financial support from the federal government. All interested organizations were allowed to provide feedback to the Federal Council. We welcome this terre des hommes schweiz, as we see a number of things that the Federal Council needs to improve.
The Federal Council should definitely implement these points:
- We call on the Federal Council to give special priority to the promotion of peace and gender equality. They are fundamentally important for achieving the goals formulated by the Federal Council.
- We demand that the Federal Council strengthen women’s, children’s and youth organizations and protect human rights defenders. Such civil society actors make progress possible in the first place, which will be maintained for a long time. They also do important work to protect the most vulnerable population groups. Without them, we would not be able to achieve the common Sustainable Development Goals.
- Under no circumstances should the SDC withdraw completely from Latin America. Swiss organizations have been doing important work there for decades for people who receive no help from their own state. They are dependent on a foreign presence. The Federal Council, on the other hand, only wants to support projects where Switzerland supposedly benefits directly.
- The Federal Council should finally fulfill its commitment to invest at least 0.7 % of gross national income (GNI) in development cooperation. The Federal Council is currently talking about 0.45 % of GNI. The Federal Council absolutely must improve this, as it is clearly too little. Furthermore, it is not enough to combat climate change with the budget for development cooperation. Additional levies, such as the airline ticket tax andCO2 charges on fuel, are absolutely necessary to stop global warming.
