Head of Palestinian Relief Organization finds Swiss stance incomprehensible
Published: Monday, Sep 30th 2024, 19:20
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The head of the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, is "struggling to find his way as a Swiss citizen". Switzerland's attitude towards his aid organization is "incomprehensible", said the Neuchâtel native in Geneva on Monday.
On Friday, the Federal Council announced that it would not be transferring an additional ten million francs to the UN agency this year. This decision goes "against the grain" of the international community, the Commissioner-General of the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) told the media.
With the exception of the USA, all countries that had temporarily suspended their financial support had resumed it. The Federal Council's decision was "incomprehensible, especially for Switzerland" as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions and an advocate of multilateralism, continued Lazzarini. He still hopes that the decision will be "revised".
At the beginning of May, the national government decided to transfer ten million francs to the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency in order to finance the most urgent living needs of the population in Gaza. The Federal Council now does not want to increase this contribution.
He wants to retain flexibility in view of the reduction in credit, the humanitarian situation worldwide and possible natural disasters. And he referred to parliamentary discussions: The National Council had recently decided to stop payments to UNRWA. The Council of States must also vote on this in December.
A report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General came to the conclusion that the Israeli accusations that UNRWA employees were involved in the massacre on October 7 last year could not be proven. However, an ongoing UN administrative investigation had admitted that a connection was possible in nine cases. The people concerned had been released. In a further dozen cases, no or only insufficient evidence was available.
©Keystone/SDA
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