The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed to Switzerland, one of its main donors, to help it overcome its financial difficulties that have recently led it to announce major layoffs.
“The interest-free loan” of 200 million Swiss francs (205 million euros) that Switzerland granted the ICRC in 2020 to help it mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world, “will be included in these reflections”. he added he. He confirmed information revealed on Sunday by the weekly SonntagsZeitung.
Switzerland, whose contribution to the ICRC totaled 166 million francs last year, is the organization’s third largest contributor, behind the United States and Germany.
Inflation and Declining Generosity
Like other organisations, the ICRC is suffering from rising costs linked to inflation and diminishing donor generosity, particularly as Kiev’s allies are spending heavily on helping Ukraine push Russia back . But the ICRC’s operating budget, which is financed by voluntary contributions, increases every year. Its initial request for funds for 2023, in the amount of 2.8 billion francs, hit an all-time high.
Faced with the ICRC’s financial difficulties, its governing bodies approved on 30 March a comprehensive cost reduction plan of 430 million Swiss francs for the period from 2023 to early 2024, bringing the organization’s overall budget to 2.4 billion of francs.
As a consequence, some 1,800 people -out of a total of 20,000 employees- will lose their jobs in the coming months, a figure that does not take into account those who could be affected by the reduction in the number of missions and the hiring freeze in certain trades . Of the organization’s 350 sites around the world, 26 will be closed and others will see their resources greatly reduced.
Faced with these budgetary pressures, voices are being raised within the ICRC to reduce humanitarian assistance activities and concentrate on basic missions, such as protecting victims of the conflict, visiting prisoners and locating the disappeared.
Source: BFM TV
