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Switzerland’s development aid budget is small and therefore must consider the quality of projects rather than quantity. Like many other countries, Switzerland does not attempt to replace local know-how, but rather to encourage it. This type of aid focuses on providing expertise and ensures funding is spent in the countries where the projects are carried…
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June 24, 1859: 24,000 bodies and 40,000 injured lie on the plain of Solferino in Italy after battle. Horrified by the carnage, Henry Dunant draws up principles aimed at cutting down on the barbarism of war. The idea for the Red Cross is born. Four years later, the first Geneva Conventions are signed, with Switzerland…
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Until 1848, Switzerland was basically a league of independent states. Alliances, conquests and the Reformation helped shape the Swiss ability to co-exist with four languages and cultures. Switzerland is today the federal state with the longest experience of co-habitation, giving it a certain expertise. 15,000 inhabitants in canton Appenzell Inner Rhodes. This population has its…
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A small country with few natural resources, Switzerland has to be smart to be relevant – in the political world too. Thanks to concepts such as federalism – encouraging co-habitation – and humanitarian law – proposed by Red Cross founder Henry Dunant – as well as backroom diplomacy and development aid, Switzerland has managed to…
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Swiss neutrality, born during Europe’s Wars of Religion and recognised by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, allows Switzerland to play a mediation role. Geneva, where the League of Nations and then the United Nations have been based since 1919, is one such place where it acts regularly as a go-between. But since Switzerland joined…
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The “Peace Team” overcame enormous difficulties to get to Bad Ragaz in eastern Switzerland to compete in the United Nations-supported International Swiss Under-16 Cup. It was unsure whether the mixed squad, which is made up of nine Israelis and nine Palestinians, would make it to the four-day tournament, which finishes on Sunday. Several Israeli players…
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Barras told swissinfo that the fighting was also harming the population and wrecking a nation that had finally become a symbol of religious co-existence for the region. swissinfo: The last few Swiss wanting to get out of Lebanon left a few days ago. How well did the evacuations of nationals go? François Barras: I wouldn’t…
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This is especially true in the south of the country, where the heaviest exchanges of fire between Israelis and Hezbollah militia have taken place. According to the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the situation in Lebanon is nothing less than a humanitarian emergency. The organisation estimates that almost one million people –…
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But he tells swissinfo that the current definition of neutrality should be reworked to take into account the changing nature of war. By launching a massive attack against Hezbollah militia forces in southern Lebanon, Israel has helped reignite the debate about Swiss neutrality. On Wednesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told the Le Temps newspaper…
