Deputy director exits amidst controversy over NGO activities in Israel-Palestine
Andrea Studer, Deputy Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, is leaving her post at the end of August.
The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed information from the French-speaking Swiss public television, RTS, on Thursday without commenting on the reasons.
According to RTS, the departure is connected to the activities of Palestinian and Israeli non-governmental organisations. Following the terrorist attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7, the FDFA subjected eleven Swiss-funded organisations, six Palestinian and five Israeli, to an inspection.
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The inspection focused on compliance with the code of conduct at the Swiss foreign ministry and the anti-discrimination clause in the contracts with the non-governmental organisations. According to the findings, three Palestinian organisations did not act in accordance with the rules, as Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced in November.
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When asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency, the Swiss foreign ministry did not comment on whether Studer’s departure was related to the findings of the investigation. The deputy director was in charge of the Middle East dossier at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
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