Aid organizations and churches call on Federal Councillor Cassis to act

USAID stop threatens collapse of international humanitarian structures - Switzerland must not remain silent

Dear Mr Federal Councillor

We are following with great concern the recent developments surrounding the United States' decision to stop its contributions to UN organisations such as the World Health Organization and to close the United States Agency for International Development Cooperation (USAID). This has a dramatic impact on global support for the poorest. Countless humanitarian aid and international cooperation programmes run the risk of no longer being able to continue their work. The consequences for millions of women, children, elderly, sick and disabled people in the most precarious regions of the world would be fatal. This is happening at a time when there are more parallel crises and conflicts around the world than ever before.

The United Nations (UN) and the international humanitarian community are providing basic necessities such as medical aid, food, water and shelter. They also provide access to education for millions of children who would otherwise have no schooling at all. Thanks to global health campaigns, diseases such as HIV, Ebola and malaria have been effectively combated and deaths reduced in recent decades.

The global community has committed itself to sustainable development and poverty reduction in the 2030 Agenda and must not remain silent when these goals are at stake. Switzerland has a special responsibility. As the guardian of the Geneva Conventions and home to key UN humanitarian organisations, we must not accept radical cuts in funding, wanton endangerment of human lives and the destruction of development cooperation achievements. We must act now, because tomorrow it may already be too late for millions of people. The humanist tradition of our country obliges us, obliges you, to actively intervene.

We therefore urge you to use all your strength and determination to work diplomatically in favour of maintaining humanitarian structures, particularly within the UN. We also ask you to work on behalf of Switzerland to ensure that wealthy countries fulfil their responsibility towards the world's poorest people and that development cooperation is not further undermined. Switzerland must take a leading role in this global effort.  

We thank you for your commitment in this important matter.

With kind regards

Peter Lack, Director of Caritas Switzerland
Bernd Nilles, Chief Executive Officer of the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund
Walter Schmid, President of the HEKS/EPER Board of Trustees
Pastor Rita Famos, President of the Protestant Church in Switzerland
Bishop Charles Morerod, President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference 

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Header image: Countless programs in humanitarian emergency aid and international cooperation are at risk of no longer being able to continue their work. © Ayaana Publishing