Federal Council to conclude a headquarters agreement with the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF)

Created in Geneva in the autumn of 2014, the GCERF is a public-private partnership that supports local initiatives aimed at preventing members of vulnerable groups from becoming radicalised and being recruited by terrorist groups and networks. The GCERF focuses its efforts on measures that can be taken at the level of civil society and the private sector. It strengthens the resilience of local communities beset by burgeoning radicalisation and serves as a central platform for the coordination of development cooperation, conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts. Because the GCERF is located in Geneva, it is ideally positioned to leverage synergies with local organisations, the UN and other international actors based in Geneva. Switzerland is providing CHF 5 million to support the GCERF in its first four years.

On the basis of the Host State Act, the Federal Council decided to conclude a headquarters agreement conferring on the GCERF the same privileges and immunities normally granted to intergovernmental organisations.

The aim of GCERF is fully in keeping with Switzerland's foreign policy priorities of preventing terrorism and addressing its causes.  Indeed, within organisations such as the United Nations, the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), the Council of Europe and the OSCE, Switzerland has called for a comprehensive and effective approach to preventing and combating terrorism. Convinced that terrorism can only be effectively combated through an integrated and balanced approach, Switzerland bases its position on the four pillars of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy: tackling the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, preventing and combating terrorism, building countries’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism, and ensuring respect for human rights. The GCERF offers a major opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Address for enquiries:

Information FDFA
Bundeshaus West
CH-3003 Bern
Tel.: +41 58 462 31 53
Fax: +41 58 464 90 47
E-Mail: info@eda.admin.ch

Publisher:

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs