Alliance Sud criticises the Federal Council's decision to increase emergency aid to Syria and other crisis countries. As necessary as it is, it is necessary to save these funds in long-term development cooperation.
Media release from Alliance Sud of 18 September 2015
The Federal Council today 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 criticises the decision to save a large part of these funds in 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 request an additional CHF 70 million for emergency relief operations in Syria and other crisis-ridden countries. For Alliance Sud, the development policy working group of Swiss aid agencies, emergency aid in crisis areas is extremely important. It therefore welcomes the increase announced today, but strongly criticises the fact that the Federal Council is playing off emergency aid against long-term development cooperation.
This is because a considerable part of the financing is to be at the expense of the budget for long-term cooperation. In 2015, savings in development cooperation of up to 20 million are planned in favour of the additional crisis aid decided today. It is also expected that another 20 million will be scrapped from development cooperation in 2016. However, the FDFA does not intend to comment on this for the time being.
It is cynical and short-sighted for the Federal Council to increase crisis aid and at the same time save on long-term development cooperation," stresses 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 save on development cooperation today, it will have to spend more money on short-term crisis operations tomorrow," warns Herkenrath.
Nevertheless, the Federal Council has already announced massive austerity measures 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. Some CHF 8 million are to be saved in cooperation with Eastern Europe and as much as CHF 20 million in Seco's economic development cooperation. The increase in crisis aid decided today is likely to mean further cuts in development cooperation.
For further information:
Mark Herkenrath, Managing Director Alliance Sud, Tel. 078 699 58 66
