Selected results 2015
Through its international cooperation work, Switzerland promotes democracy and a market economy in a number of countries. SDC and SECO projects and programmes achieved a wide range of outcomes in 2015.
Thanks to its expertise and firm commitment to human rights, Switzerland is able to position itself as a credible actor in dealing with conflict sources and in peacebuilding.
African Great Lakes region
In the African Great Lakes region, the SDC assists municipal land registry authorities through a programme to safeguard land tenure in northern Burundi. Local people now find it easier to obtain land tenure. Where necessary, village groups are invited to participate directly in the settlement of conflicts over land. To date, more than half of some 850 conflicts over land have been successfully resolved by setting up reconciliation committees and employing mediation, and the land in question returned to its original owners.
Afghanistan
Switzerland’s continuing engagement in 12 partner countries and regions considered “fragile” has helped them transition to a longer-term development perspective, while at the same time improving the living conditions of the population.
In Afghanistan, SDC support for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and civil society has helped strengthen human rights, in particular those of women – as evidenced by the perception of more than 1000 Afghan women who claim they now feel more sheltered from conflict in 29 provinces throughout the country. Finally, thanks to SDC support, which has also helped make the justice system more effective, more than 300 adults, including 60 women and over 100 minors, who had been held in custody without trial or wrongfully detained have now been set free.
Haiti
The political and legal reforms supported by Switzerland have led to better representation of minorities and the development of higher legal standards.
In Haiti, for example the SDC is assisting the government in tackling the issue of slow-moving judicial procedures and prolonged preventive detention. Imprisonment conditions have already improved considerably for the more than 9,000 detainees who received legal assistance.
