The Churches promote the UNO” “

After Caritas and the aid organization of the other confessions (cf. Sir Europe no.10/2001), the Christian Churches are campaigning for a convinced yes to Switzerland’s membership of the United Nations, on which Swiss citizens are being called to vote in a referendum on 3 March. The Churches share the aims of the United Nations, say Msgr. Amédée Grab, president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, and Pastor Thomas Wipf, president of the Council of the Federation of the Evangelical Churches of Switzerland, in a joint document drawn up by the Commission of Justice and Peace and the Institute of Social Ethics of the Federation of the Evangelical Churches of Switzerland. The document has the title “The Churches and the UNO”. “It’s true that the UNO is not perfect – admit Grab and Wipf – but it remains the only forum for being able to achieve an improvement at the world level”. Thanks to her own experience as a multicultural country, Switzerland “could make a valuable contribution to the United Nations – says the document – in the promotion of co-existence between peoples based on such values as peace, justice and sustainable development. How can we shirk this responsibility which is also a duty we have to the world that surrounds us?”, ask the leaders of the two Churches. Hence the appeal to citizens to examine what is at stake in the forthcoming referendum. The “globalization of values”. The Swiss Churches are favourable to the United Nations because, as the document explains, they discover in the world organization a series of aims and values that belong to the Christian heritage. The first point of contact is the common concern for human rights, summed up in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, of 1948. The two ecumenical meetings of Basel (1989) and Graz (1997) reaffirmed the commitment of Christians to justice, peace and the safeguard of the creation. Of course, in spite of the UN, the world is still bedevilled by scores of conflicts, but – ask the Churches – “what would have happened in Kuwait, in East Timor, in Kosovo and in so many other states afflicted by war, if the UN had not existed?”. The second common front of commitment concerns the “globalization of values” and in particular of peace. The Churches are committed to the search for a universal common good capable of uniting all peoples into a single community. The United Nations, affirm the Swiss Churches, “have a central role to play in this process, since even the less privileged States are able to express their own rights and make their voice heard”. But being only a “permanent observer” does not permit Switzerland to have an impact on the highest decision-making levels of international policy. “It’s not possible to remain on the sidelines”. Another aspect of Swiss neutrality is now more than ever a characteristic that the UNO has made its own, points out the document: the duty to succour the victims of war and oppression. “Switzerland – the Churches affirm – can no longer look on while the UN intervenes against aggressors or States that systematically violate human rights”. “If only for considerations of ethical character – they add – it no longer possible to remain on the sidelines”. Here another particular aspect emerges: the support for international sanctions. Since 1990 Switzerland has in fact supported such measures decided by the United Nations. Even the fear of a loss of national sovereignty is downplayed by the document. On the contrary – declare the Churches in this regard – joining the UN would enable Switzerland to participate in international decisions and contribute to the formulation of proposals at the highest levels. Outside the UNO, Switzerland simply deprives itself of a slice of sovereignty. Some remarks are devoted, lastly, to the costs of membership. To the current 470 million Swiss francs paid annually to the UN, Switzerland would have to add a further 50-60. In fact, what Switzerland already earns thanks to the presence of the offices of the United Nations in Geneva far outstrips what it would be obliged to spend on UN membership, points out the document.