Agenda 2030
Alliance Sud advocates Swiss policies that are coherent across all issues and systematically aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda. Approved in the autumn of 2015 by 193 Heads of State, this framework for a new "world domestic policy" lays out 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They stand for fair and lasting balance between the social, environmental and economic fields – today and for future generations. Responsibility rests with both North and South; global and national interests ought not to be played off against one another. Together with Swiss non-governmental organizations, Alliance Sud monitors Switzerland's compliance of the SDGs.
Financing for development
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, spending on official development assistance came under pressure throughout the world. The private sector is expected to fill the resulting gap, and even investments of dubious developmental utility are to be counted as Official Development Assistance (ODA). At the same time, the cost of caring for asylum seekers is being charged ever more frequently to development budgets. Alliance Sud is analysing and monitoring this trend with a critical eye.
Climate and environment
Alliance Sud advocates a Swiss environmental and climate policy that respects the limits of our planet and atmosphere. The basis for this lies in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement, which strives to limit global warming to 1.5-2.0°C over the pre-industrial level. Not only must Switzerland reduce its CO₂ emissions to zero by 2040, it must also acknowledge its share of responsibility for the causes and effects of global climate change. The global South needs support in coping with the consequences of climate change. Alliance Sud is calling on Switzerland for a major financial commitment above and beyond traditional development assistance; climate financing cannot be at the cost of poverty reduction, education and health.
Finance and tax policy
Alliance Sud advocates for a Swiss tax and finance policy that is in harmony with sustainable world development. As a member of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, it strives to combat worldwide tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and multinational enterprises, as tax flight undermines democracy and well-being worldwide. Switzerland bears very special responsibility in this regard, being still the world's largest offshore financial centre and a prominent tax haven. Alliance Sud militates in Switzerland for effective regulations on financial markets designed to promote the fair distribution of resources worldwide and contribute substantially to halting the economic exploitation of countries in the South.
Trade and investments
Alliance Sud analyses the rules of international trade and strives for them to be made more equitable. Negotiations in the multilateral framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are being increasingly supplanted by bilateral free trade agreements or partnership agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) or the Trade in Services Agreement TISA. Both are attempts initiated by industrialized countries to further deregulate markets and limit the capacity of States to defend their own interests. As pertains to investment protection agreements, Alliance Sud also champions not only the protection of human rights, environmental standards and the inclusion of the Sustainable Development Goals, but also the compliance and monitoring of them.
Business and human rights
Alliance Sud is part of the broad coalition of Swiss non-governmental organizations that jointly launched the Responsible Business Initiative in the spring of 2015. In previous years, Government and Parliament had refused to take legislative measures to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in force since 2011. These guidelines call for sustained improvement in corporate observance of human rights by means of an appropriate smart mix of voluntary measures and statutory regulations.
