Parliament Committees Approve Swiss UNRWA Payment


(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The foreign affairs committees of the Swiss parliament have backed – with conditions – the government's plan to donate CHF10 million ($11.2 million) to the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

This content was published on June 22, 2024 - 12:00 3 minutes Keystone-SDA

On Friday the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate accepted the donation by 7 votes to 5, after the House of Representative's committee did the same a week ago. Both committees are calling for the money to be used exclusively for urgent needs.

At the beginning of May, the government decided to provide CHF10 million to alleviate the most urgent needs of the suffering population in Gaza. UNRWA's emergency appeal for Gaza at the end of April called for some CHF1 billion.

+ Read more: the allegations upending UNRWA's work in Gaza

A motion to instead give the money to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN World Food Program was rejected by the Senate committee. Neither of the two organisations have enough staff on the ground to make a real difference; only UNRWA is equipped to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza, a majority of the committee said.

The minority argued that the Palestinian relief organization had a fundamental problem of trust. Other organisations were just as capable of helping in the Gaza Strip, they said.

Several states temporarily suspended payments to UNRWA in January, after accusations that the aid organisation's schools in the Palestinian territories incite hatred against Israel and glorify terrorist attacks. Israel's government also claimed that several UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023.

+ The“Colonna report” and its impact on UNRWA's reputation

A UN investigation found that UNRWA was, on the whole, maintaining its neutrality well, but that improvements were needed. According to the Swiss government, the decision to release fresh funding for UNRWA was based on an analysis of the UN report and on consultations with other donors.

Many other states had resumed payments by the time of the Swiss decision. Parliament however requested that the foreign affairs committees be first consulted before the money was released.

The CHF10 million for UNRWA comes on top of aid payments of CHF56.2 million approved by ministers in April for the humanitarian needs of countries in the Middle East.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dos

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here , and if you have feedback on this news story please write to ... .

External Content Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you. Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

Email

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

I consent to the use of my data for the SWI swissinfo newsletter.

Deeply Read More Science Switzerland says it can't afford to take part in Copernicus programme Read more: Switzerland says it can't afford to take part in Copernicus programm More Workplace Switzerland How Switzerland plans to tackle its labour shortage Read more: How Switzerland plans to tackle its labour shortag More Culture Switzerland wins Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Read more: Switzerland wins Eurovision Song Contest 202 More Workplace Switzerland Owning a home is becoming increasingly difficult in Switzerland Read more: Owning a home is becoming increasingly difficult in Switzerlan More Life & Aging Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen mulls Venice-style tourist entry charge Read more: Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen mulls Venice-style tourist entry charge Most Discussed More Debate Hosted by: Katy Romy June 9 votes in Switzerland: how can healthcare costs be reined in?

On June 9, Swiss voters decided on two initiatives aimed at capping the cost of healthcare in the country. Have your say on the issue here.

Join the discussi Jun 5, 2024 75 Likes 79 Comments View the discussi More Debate Hosted by: Bruno Kaufmann How can democracy be enhanced in schools?

How can we improve democracy education to better prepare students for civic engagement?

Join the discussi May 24, 2024 10 Likes 36 Comments View the discussi More Debate Hosted by: Elena Servettaz Should politics be kept out of sporting and cultural events?

Cultural and sporting events are being increasingly politicised. Is this a problem?

Join the discussi May 28, 2024 17 Likes 16 Comments View the discussi More Debat Ne More Swiss roads are too congested, say survey respondents

This content was published on Jun 22, 2024 The survey on traffic perceptions comes a few months before a controversial vote on motorway expansion.

Read more: Swiss roads are too congested, say survey respondent More Three people missing after landslide in Switzerland

This content was published on Jun 22, 2024 Three are missing after heavy rains caused a landslide in southeastern Graubünden, police have said. One woman was rescued alive on Saturday.

Read more: Three people missing after landslide in Switzerlan More Hindujas found guilty of exploiting servants at Geneva villa

This content was published on Jun 22, 2024 Four members of the billionaire Hinduja family were found guilty on Friday of taking advantage of poorly paid servants at their Geneva villa.

Read more: Hindujas found guilty of exploiting servants at Geneva vill More Swiss resort of Zermatt off-limits due to flooding risk

This content was published on Jun 21, 2024 The banks of the Rhône river were being closed off to the public Friday due to flooding, and it was not possible to reach Zermatt by rail or car.

Read more: Swiss resort of Zermatt off-limits due to flooding ris More More Swiss railway stations to be made accessible for disabled travellers

This content was published on Jun 21, 2024 As a target to finish adaptations by the end of 2023 was not met, the conversion of dozens of stations and stops is continuing this year.

Read more: More Swiss railway stations to be made accessible for disabled traveller More Nestlé remains the most valuable Swiss brand

This content was published on Jun 21, 2024 Other Swiss brands, including Rolex, Zurich Insurance and UBS, were shown by the brand report to have grown in value.

Read more: Nestlé remains the most valuable Swiss bran More Exiled Belarusian author receives Swiss literary prize

This content was published on Jun 21, 2024 As winner of the main prize, Sasha Filipenko, who lives in Basel, nominated Maud Mabillard as the sponsorship prize winner.

Read more: Exiled Belarusian author receives Swiss literary priz More Actress Zendaya plays tennis with Federer in Zurich

This content was published on Jun 21, 2024 To promote their collaboration for the Swiss sportswear brand On, the two celebrities played a nominal round of tennis outside its headquarters.

Read more: Actress Zendaya plays tennis with Federer in Zuric More Largest Swiss health insurers found new association

This content was published on Jun 20, 2024 Switzerland's largest health insurers have founded a new industry association which will begin work at the start of 2025.

Read more: Largest Swiss health insurers found new associatio More Birth rate in Switzerland hits all-time low

This content was published on Jun 20, 2024 The number of children per woman in Switzerland reached an all-time low in 2023 at 1.33, below even the 2022 level of 1.39.

Read more: Birth rate in Switzerland hits all-time low

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at ... .

MENAFN22062024000210011054ID1108360247


Swissinfo

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.