Swisspeace: Switzerland must continue funding UNRWA
Published: Monday, Feb 5th 2024, 02:10
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According to the Swisspeace peace foundation, Switzerland should continue to fund the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The accusations against some employees are regrettable, but no reason to question the entire organization, said Director Laurent Goetschel.
"I do not believe that Switzerland should suspend funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)," Goetschel said in an interview with Le Temps published on Monday. "It is regrettable that employees were involved in the terrorist acts of 7 October and the individuals must be punished," said the Swisspeace director, "but that is no reason to call the entire organization into question."
There is currently no alternative for the education and health of the Palestinian population, said Goetschel. With regard to the states funding UNRWA, he added: "If they had wanted to reform it in the past, all they had to do was do it."
Switzerland waits
UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 regional staff of being involved in the October 7 attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.
In response, a dozen countries, including major donors such as the USA, Germany, the UK and Sweden, have announced that they are suspending their funding for the aid organization. Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, had issued an urgent warning on Thursday to stop funding the aid organization. Switzerland is awaiting further information before making a decision on its support for UNRWA, as the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs announced at the end of January.
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