Over 200,000 signatures for more development aid

«It doesn't take much. But it takes so much». It was under this slogan that over 60 Swiss non-governmental organisations – development organisations, environmental and women's associations, trade unions and churches, youth and human rights organisations – jointly launched the «0.7% – Together against Poverty» petition. It calls on Switzerland to take the Millennium Goals more seriously and to increase development aid to 0.7 per cent of gross national income in order to promote those goals. Switzerland's ODA has stagnated at just under 0.4 per cent, amounting to no more than 0.37 per cent in 2007 (see box).

The petition was handed over to the authorities on 26 May during a colourful day of action. «We ourselves were surprised by the high number of signatures», Alliance Sud Coordinator and Campaign Management Member Bastienne Joerchel told the press. She ascribed the success to the very extensive involvement of broad sectors of Swiss society and the fact that development cooperation enjoys very solid support amongst the population. «The wish for a more generous Switzerland that shows greater solidarity is widespread», said Bastienne Joerchel.

House of Representatives for status quo

Yet a majority in the House of Representatives, the large chamber of Parliament, was unimpressed by the high number of signatures. In June it discussed the two most important credit lines for Switzerland's development cooperation programmes over the next four years as well as possible spending up to the year 2015. A small majority of the Parliamentary Advisory Commission had taken up the demand formulated in the NGO petition and moved a motion for an increase in ODA to 0.7 per cent by 2015. Yet the House of Representatives rejected this by a vote of 82 to 101. Even a compromise motion for an increase to 0.5 per cent by 2015 was rejected by a narrow majority. It was decided to let development aid stagnate at 0.4 per cent – in other words, a level that Switzerland has been reporting since the start of the 1990s. Should the Senate also follow this decision, it would be a case of wealthy Switzerland turning its back on the Millennium Goals and sidelining itself internationally. This contrasts starkly with Switzerland’s promise made at the Millennium+5 Summit at the UN in New York, where it had held out the prospect of an increase in spending as of 2008.

Change in the public mood

It is noteworthy that no one in the large chamber questioned the work of development cooperation in principle. The new four-year credit line was accepted with no dissenting votes, even though it was somewhat higher than the previous one and will mean bigger annual increases than in most other areas of government spending. This is remarkable because in recent years development aid had been sharply criticised in some parts of the media and by some politicians as «useless», «harmful» and «counter-productive». The shift in public opinion is attributable to the «0.7% – Together against Poverty» campaign. It has triggered a wide-ranging discussion of development aid and Switzerland's obligations and garnered widespread public acceptance. This has been borne out by the comments in most newspapers, which found the decision of the House of Representatives to be outright shoddy and inadequate.

Hopes pinned to the small chamber

The Senate – or small chamber of Parliament – will be discussing development aid in the autumn. Given the pressure generated by the NGO petition, the Senate could well revise the decision taken by the House of Representatives and come out in favour of increased development aid and greater commitment to the Millennium Goals by Switzerland, in a manner befitting one of the world's wealthiest countries.

Pepo Hofstetter, Alliance Sud

Tight-fisted Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the big winners of globalisation. Its corporations are active all over the world; taxes are low and its banks manage some one-third of all assets worldwide. Yet when it comes to development aid, it is increasingly lagging the other industrialised countries.

In 2007, Switzerland spent 2017 million francs on development aid, or 3 per cent less than in 2006. This amounts to a 0.37 per cent share of gross national income (2006, 0.39%). If we subtract asylum spending (9% of ODA) and debt forgiveness (3.5%), the figure comes to a paltry 0.32 per cent.

Switzerland's tightfistedness clearly sets it apart from the other industrialised countries. OECD statistics show that Switzerland is slipping constantly in the international ranking of the 22 OECD donor countries. In 2001 it occupied 7th place, in 2004 8th place, and by 2005 had fallen to number 11, reaching the 13th slot in 2007.