In 2023, humanitarian aid in Ukraine remained a key focus for Green Cross Switzerland (GCCH). Our efforts centred on ensuring the safety of drinking water in war-affected areas, as the conflict has caused contamination that poses serious, sometimes life-threatening risk, particularly for children and the elderly. Once again, we are committed to providing effective humanitarian aid in rapidly changing conditions.

The region surrounding Chernobyl has been a priority for GCCH since its inception. Even before the war, the situation there was already precarious. While the contaminated areas in Ukraine are relatively distant from the front lines, they remain vulnerable to missile strikes and other acts of war. As a result, we have shifted our focus in the region from development aid to humanitarian aid.

In Vietnam, we successfully continued and expanded our project work. Decades after the Vietnam War, the effects of Agent Orange still result in hereditary genetic disorders and severe deformities, while support for the victims remains inadequate. GCCH continues to play a vital role in providing ongoing assistance, particularly in orthopaedic care. It is absolutely crucial that artificial limbs and orthopaedic supports are adjusted regularly, especially in the case of children to accommodate their growth.

In 2024, we are prioritizing the expansion of psychological support services. In Ukraine, the psychological toll of the war is becoming increasingly severe, particularly for children and young people. Through our therapy programme, we are bringing light into this darkness. In Vietnam, where people with disabilities are frequently excluded from society and even from family life, we are also working to broaden psychological and social support for those affected by Agent Orange.

The GCCH team would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of our aid projects this year, helping us provide meaningful support to countless individuals.

You can read the full Annual Report here.

Today marks the 38^th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 26 April 1986 Green Cross Switzerland (GCCH) was set up eight years after the tragedy as the Swiss branch of Green Cross International, which had been founded in the previous year by figures including Mikhail Gorbachev and Roland Wiederkehr. The two events are closely linked. One of the reasons why Green Cross was established as a complement to the International Red Cross was to support those affected by human-made disasters such as Chernobyl.

With its devastating consequences for humanity and the environment that can still be felt to this day, Chernobyl is symbolic of the kind of human-made environmental catastrophes that GCCH has been helping to manage for the past 30 years. Ever since we were set up, we have focused our efforts on tackling the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in the hardest-hit parts of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. We are one of just a handful of NGOs to still be working in the region to the extent permitted by the circumstances brought about by the war in Ukraine.

As with all GCCH’s activities, this support remains geared towards quickly providing people with the help they need to help themselves for a long-term impact. Thus the international Social and Medical Care and Education (SOCMED) programme is one of our foundation’s main priorities. It is designed to give people resources to make a lasting improvement to their lives through their own efforts. From 1995 onwards, for example, therapy camps were set up in contaminated areas – initially in Belarus and then in Russia and Ukraine. This was followed from the mid-2000s by the establishment of Family Clubs to help women and girls improve their lives independently over the long term.

In addition, GCCH has worked for the regulation and destruction of chemical weapons. In Vietnam, we have supported the victims of the herbicide mixture known as Agent Orange since 1998. Its use during the Vietnam War continues to have disastrous consequences even now. SOCMED likewise plays a major role in our project work in Vietnam. GCCH also helped provide urgent relief in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster (2011) and has been involved in numerous projects in various other countries (including supporting victims of a poison gas attack in Iraq in 2008 and, in 2015, cleaning up an area of Tajikistan heavily contaminated by uranium mining).

In the late 2010s, GCCH concentrated its activities more on project work in the Chernobyl region and in Vietnam. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the organisation provided information, training and advice to support the people in its project countries and helped to develop the Condair Cube for monitoring air quality indoors.

The current environment is dominated by the war in Ukraine, i.e. by the restrictions that it is imposing on project work in Belarus and by the temporary suspension of work in Russia. Via the local organisation Green Crystal, GCCH is now providing humanitarian aid to those in Ukraine affected by the war. Besides food, clothes, medicine and equipment for purifying contaminated drinking water, this has also, since earlier this year, included psychological counselling for children, young people and adults traumatised by the war.

Thanks to successful fundraising efforts, GCCH has built up financial reserves over the past few years and is now gradually increasing its expenditure on projects – for a future free from contamination.

Contact for press enquiries:
Martin Bäumle
+41 (0)79 358 14 85