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Press release
Switzerland is living at the world's expense
06.04.2022, 2030 Agenda
Switzerland is not on course for a sustainable world. That's the verdict from Platform Agenda 2030 in its new report, out today. It is calling upon the Federal Council to show more leadership in the transformation needed.
© Silvia Rohrbach / Plattform Agenda 2030
Switzerland is not on course for a sustainable world. That's the verdict from Platform Agenda 2030 in its new report, out today. It is calling upon the Federal Council to show more leadership in the transformation needed to halve poverty, protect the climate and human rights, and hold the financial sector to account.
Platform Agenda 2030 is a network of more than 50 organisations from the fields of the environment, development cooperation, human rights, sustainable business, gender, peace, housing and work. Seven years after the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in New York it has been taking stock. The verdict? Switzerland is not on course to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are living at the world's expense. Yet to date the Federal Council has not presented any strategy for managing the vital transformation to an economy that respects planetary boundaries. In Switzerland and around the world, people are prevented from exercising their basic rights. Hunger and poverty are rising.
To achieve the 17 SDGs all policy fields must be clearly focused on the Goals and on the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda. We are calling for rapid, efficient action to tackle the deficits that have been identified. Part of this must be a strategy that maps out how poverty in Switzerland can be halved by 2030. Or an ambitious biodiversity action plan that commits enough funding to halting species loss. The financial markets also need statutory frameworks so that investment becomes a factor protecting biodiversity and human rights. And there must be greater engagement to counter militarisation and support human security around the world.
Platform Agenda 2030 is calling on the Federal Council to show more leadership for sustainable development. It must find the courage required to develop solutions that are truly transformational. Cosmetic amendments that merely throw an SDG-hued cloak over business as usual are not enough. Real transformation is needed to make the move to a sustainable society.
Platform Agenda 2030 is presenting its civil society report at the UN High Level Political Forum, that is taking place from July 5 to 15 in New York. In doing so it is offering its own analyses and recommendations for action as a counterpart to Switzerland's official Voluntary National Review, which Federal Councillor Ignatio Cassis will submit to the Forum on 12 July. We invite the Federal Council to work with us in revising the national 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy and the associated Action Plan.
Platform Agenda 2030's civil society report is available online to download
Press release
Tax optimisation at the expense of the poorest
20.10.2021, Finance and tax policy
The agribusiness group Socfin shifts profits from commodity production to the low-tax canton of Fribourg. This tax avoidance goes hand in hand with profit maximisation at the expense of the population in the affected regions in Africa and Asia.
The rubber plantation of the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) in Liberia covers about 4500 hectares of land.
© Brot für alle
A report by Bread for all, Alliance Sud and the German Network for Tax Justice on the tax strategy of agribusiness corporation Socfin reveals how multinational companies can shift profits from countries where they produce commodities in Africa and Asia to tax havens like Switzerland. These strategies are highly unjust, even if they may comply with OECD rules. Tax avoidance of this nature is tantamount to extracting profits at the expense of people in the countries of production.
Download the Report: Cultivating Fiscal Inequality: The Socfin Report
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Press release
Yes to responsible business!
26.10.2020, International cooperation
Dear reader, please vote "Yes" to the Responsible Business Initiative on 29 November – for the sake of people and the environment, to protect human rights and nature!
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Press release
The climate crisis must not undermine development
05.09.2019, Climate justice
In a position paper, Alliance Sud presents the links between climate justice and development cooperation and calls for Switzerland to fulfil its financial responsibility and the Paris Agreement.
Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital two meters above sea level, in the monsoon rains on 26 July 2017.
© Abir Abdullah / EPA / Keystone
von Jürg Staudenmann, ehemaliger Fachverantwortlicher «Klima und Umwelt»
Switzerland has assumed international commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015; commitments also exist in the area of development cooperation. In a position paper, Alliance Sud analyses links and trade-offs between these two commitments and calls for Switzerland to meet its financial obligations.
Entitled "Climate Justice and International Climate Financing from a Development Policy Perspective", the paper discusses the purpose and significance of international climate finance in the context of sustainable development. For mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (protection against the effects of progressive climate change) in developing countries, the industrialized countries have committed themselves to mobilize an additional 100 billion US dollars as of 2021. – By ratifying the Paris Agreement, Switzerland agreed to make an appropriate annual. Due to its relative climate responsibility and its global economic strength, this fair share amounts to USD 1 billion per year.
While it is true that development and climate measures in developing countries can complement each other in a certain way, Switzerland must not finance this «climate billion» at the expense of existing development cooperation. This is all the more true as the funds for development cooperation still fall well short of the long-promised 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). Switzerland must fulfil its international (financing) obligations in both areas on its own and on an equal footing.
In the paper, Alliance Sud’s climate policy advisor Jürg Staudenmann criticizes the most recently dispatched draft «Strategy for International Cooperation 2021-2024». The Federal Council envisages to earmark up to CHF 400 million per year in the (stagnating) development aid budget for international climate financing. «It’s cynical to sell the same Swiss Franc to developing countries twice, once as official development assistance, and a second time as climate financing», Jürg Staudenmann said. Because climate-sensitive development projects are not yet «climate projects»; and vice-versa: Mitigation or adaptation measures are not aimed at simultaneously reduce poverty or increase living conditions of the poorest.
The paper presents solutions on how these funds can be mobilized on the basis of the polluter pays principle instead. Alliance Sud calls on the Federal Council and the Swiss parliament to take every step necessary to achieve this as a matter of urgency; for instance in the context of the new CO2-act that is debated in Swiss parliament in 2020.
Download the full position paper in its German and French version
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Press release
Andreas Missbach becomes new Director of Alliance Sud
29.09.2021, International cooperation
The Board of Alliance Sud has elected Andreas Missbach as the new Director. He takes over from Mark Herkenrath, who left Alliance Sud at the end of July. Andreas Missbach will take office on 1 January 2022.
Andreas Missbach
"We are delighted to have attracted a distinguished figure to assume the challenging mission," says Bernd Nilles, Chairman of Alliance Sud and Director of Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund. “Andreas Missbach is the ideal incumbent. His wide-ranging experience, extensive network and strategic mind-set will be a boost to Alliance Sud in its commitment to equitable North-South relations and a Switzerland that is guided by solidarity. Andreas Missbach will be a competent contact person for politicians and the Administration."
Andreas Missbach (born in 1966) is a historian, he has written a dissertation on United Nations climate policy, and from 2001 to 2021 served the Berne Declaration/Public Eye in various fields, most recently as a Joint Managing Director and Head of the Department for Commodities, Trade & Finance.
"I am delighted to work with Alliance Sud for global justice and to strengthen the voice of the global South and of development organizations in Swiss politics," says Andreas Missbach. This is more necessary than ever: whether climate crisis or Corona crisis, it is the poorest population groups who are hit the hardest."
Alliance Sud is the development policy alliance of the following Swiss development organizations: Swissaid, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Bread for All, Helvetas, Caritas and HEKS/EPER. It is also supported by the following partner organizations: Solidar Suisse, Terre des Hommes Switzerland and the Swiss Red Cross. For 50 years now Alliance Sud has championed the causes of a more just world and a Switzerland that shows solidarity.
Further information:
Bernd Nilles, Chairman of Alliance Sud and Director of Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund
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Press release
New members strengthen Alliance Sud
24.01.2022, International cooperation
New members, a new Director and a new Presidency – all signal the dawn of a new era in the 50-year history of Alliance Sud. In the light of growing inequality and a civil society that is coming under ever greater pressure around the world, it is more crucial than ever to have a powerful voice in development policy in Switzerland.
“We are very pleased that Solidar Suisse and Terre des hommes are now two new members that will fully support our shared development endeavours”, says Markus Allemann, President of Alliance Sud and Director of Swissaid. “We are thus deepening the coordination between the leading development organizations and strengthening the voice of the Global South in Swiss politics”.
With the merger of HEKS/EPER and Bread for All at the start of the year, the Alliance Sud member-ship now comprises Swissaid, Fastenaktion, Helvetas, Caritas, Heks/Eper, Solidar Suisse and Terre des hommes. The Swiss Red Cross is also an associate member of the Berne-based association.
The new Director Andreas Missbach too will be breaking fresh ground and harnessing his extensive experience in order to forge ahead with the development of the organization: “Alliance Sud is much more than a lobby organization or an interest group”, he says. “We are a centre of excellence for issues of international cooperation and strive to ensure that Switzerland becomes ”world-compatible”. Without an economy that respects ecosystems and protects the climate system, there will be no world in which we can live; without global justice, there will be no world in which we want to live”.
Alliance Sud represents its member organizations in Parliament and vis-a-vis the Federal Administra-tion. At Alliance Sud, media representatives will find competent professionals capable of furnishing well-founded and differentiated information on matters such as sustainable development, international fiscal and financial policies, trade and climate policy, and corporate responsibility. With its magazine “global”, Alliance Sud provides background information and analyses on Swiss foreign and development policy.
Further information:
Markus Allemann, President of Alliance Sud and Director of Swissaid, Tel. +41 79 833 15 69
Andreas Missbach, Director Alliance Sud, Tel. +41 31 390 93 30
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