Switzerland’s image at stake in current multilateralism crisis, says Geneva politician

The Radical-Liberal politician is calling for a major conference on the future of multilateralism, international organisations and NGOs to be held in Switzerland. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss government's reaction to the current crisis in multilateralism is not congruent with what is at stake for International Geneva, says the head of the Geneva Government. In her opinion, Switzerland's image risks being weakened.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“The international ecosystem is by far not just about Geneva. It’s part of Switzerland’s essential role,” says Nathalie Fontanet in an interview published in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Monday. Despite the “attack on the values that define the international organisations and NGOs” hosted in Geneva, she says she has “heard no reaction or commitment [in relation to] the threats to multilateralism”.

+ US withdrawal from WHO puts global health in jeopardy

The Radical-Liberal politician is calling for a major conference on the future of multilateralism, international organisations and NGOs, international humanitarian law and fundamental rights. “Switzerland would be the ideal place to reflect on these issues with different countries and players,” she says, but “it’s not a canton or a cantonal minister who can think about these reforms alone”.

Essential reforms

Fontanet considers the current period to be “extremely worrying in terms of the loss of values”. Yet, she says, “the values now being called into question are those on which Switzerland and Geneva were built, those of Henry Dunant, of the Red Cross, of humanitarian law, of solidarity with countries in need”.

+ Swiss foreign policy ‘unchanged by US decisions’

With the financial withdrawal of the United States, which supports international organisations in Geneva to the tune of 25%, these organisations and NGOs must reform, as no country will be able to make up for the withdrawal of American funds, says Fontanet. “They will have to refocus on priorities” and “will also have to collaborate better, and work together on certain missions”.

The international sector carries considerable weight in Geneva. The canton is home to 40 international organisations and 476 NGOs. Added to these are the staff of the 183 states represented by permanent missions.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch 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, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].