Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has highlighted the extreme fragility of international law, which focuses on the prevention of all wars and the protection of universal human rights, which the bodies of the United Nations should in turn guarantee. Because of the veto power of the world’s largest nuclear state, measures could not be taken either to end the war or against the sanctioning of war crimes.
Instead, the UN, whether through its General Assembly or the Security Council, limited itself to rhetorical resolutions. There is an even greater urgency today to strengthen the UN and its peacebuilding bodies, including a systematic reform of the United Nations (for example, the abolition of the nuclear states’ veto power) and its peacebuilding means. Of all these tasks, peacebuilding is something Switzerland could contribute considerably more to, not only in terms of international cooperation (IC), for which just CHF 11.45 billion has been earmarked, according to the key figures of the 2025 to 2028 financial plan (just under a third of the armed forces allocation), or for tasks such as humanitarian mine clearing or the search for missing persons, which Switzerland is involved in and which have become particularly topical as a result of the war against Ukraine. But also, and more importantly, it could provide more in terms of military peacebuilding, i.e., support for UN peacekeeping missions intended to prevent the escalation of conflicts in crisis regions, ensure the population’s security, and enable civilian peacebuilding.
Switzerland is active in Lebanon, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Mali, Kashmir, and Western Sahara, albeit with a total of just 280 military observers or so. In this respect, it could significantly expand its commitment in two ways. Firstly, with physical troops, which it makes available to the UN for its key missions, as it does with KFOR in Bosnia. Secondly, with ongoing substantial financial support for UN peacekeeping missions, which, as UN Secretary-General Guterres notes with alarm, are suffering more and more drastically from underfunding, thereby hindering even the most minimal tasks.
All in all, it is about time to launch a new blue beret bill. Although Switzerland has been a member of the UN for more than twenty years, it has not expanded its participation in UN peacekeeping missions or blue beret operations. And so it is finally time for a shift in priorities in how the armed forces are structured. In many respects, we should attach more value to international solidarity.