UNRWA funding remains hot topic in Swiss parliament
UNRWA offers basic services such as healthcare to roughly 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: UNRWA funding remains hot topic in Swiss parliament
A Swiss parliamentary committee has postponed a decision on whether Switzerland should stop funding the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Ständeratskommission vertagt Entscheid zu Zahlungen an UNRWA
Original
The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee decided by 10 votes to 3 to wait until after next week’s UN meetings on the subject, which are chaired by Switzerland, to decide on related parliamentary questions, it was reported on Friday. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis had submitted a corresponding request.
According to the committee, the reason for the suspension on the decision regarding Swiss payments to UNRWA is that international talks in the coming weeks could bring new political and legal aspects to light.
On November 21, the committee will decide on this question on the basis of the additional information, it said.
In September, parliamentarians in the lower house of parliament – the House of Representatives – decided that Switzerland should stop funding UNRWA.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Multinational companies
Azeri fossil-fuel cash cow brings controversy to Switzerland
Is artificial intelligence an advantage or a disadvantage for workers?
What is your experience with AI at work? Have you already used it? Has it helped you work better? Or has it caused you more stress, more work or caused you to lose your job? Tell us about your experiences!
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.