Switzerland to boost its support to the world’s children

Carol Bellamy, executive director of Unicef, is to receive additional funding from the SDC Keystone Archive

The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), Carol Bellamy, has received promises of more funding from Switzerland during a visit to the capital, Bern.

The pledge was made by the director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Walter Fust. He said government contributions “should equal at least private donations [to Unicef] by the Swiss public.”

Currently, the Swiss government pays SFr17 million annually towards Unicef’s regular budget, while Switzerland’s Unicef committee – a non-governmental organisation which collects private donations under Unicef’s banner – contributes SFr18 million.

The joint contribution makes Switzerland one of the top 10 contributors to the New York based organisation. In addition, the Swiss government contributes an average of SFr5 million annually to several specific Unicef projects in various countries.

Fust said Switzerland wanted to channel more of its assistance into projects aimed at reducing discrimination against girls in education in developing countries. According to Unicef’s figures, 110 million children in developing countries have no access to primary education, and of those 60 per cent are girls.

One project financed by the Swiss government is a “youth parliament” in Albania. Sixty per cent of young people between the ages of 14 and 18 participate in the project which is aimed at providing first-hand experience of democratic decision-making.

Bellamy’s talks with Fust and the Swiss foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, also covered a special UN summit scheduled for September in New York. The meeting is to assess the level of progress made since the adoption of a declaration to protect children’s rights in 1990.

Bellamy said the 1990s had seen some successes improving children’s health, especially with the near eradication of polio and a reduction of iodine deficiencies which are largely responsible for mental diseases in developing countries.

However, there was “little movement” in other areas, Bellamy told swissinfo. “The percentage of school-going children in developing countries hasn’t been improved, and there was no progress on poverty related issues such as malnutrition in children and the number of women who die during pregnancy.”

by Markus Haefliger