Kofi Annan
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The Global Humanitarian Forum set up in 2007 by Kofi Annan, former UN director-general, is being audited by the Swiss government, reports TSR. Switzerland has contributed CHF500,000 in 2009 and is scheduled to pay another half million this year once the audit is completed. The decision to carry out a financial review was taken by Bern in September 2008. The forum’s “strategic focus” is the human impact of climate change, with its “centrepiece” a 23-24 June conference in Geneva, scheduled to host 400 world political and business leaders.
Switzerland is one of the main contributors to the organization, along with France, Germany, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. The city and canton of Geneva also contribute to the organization’s budget. Switzerland provided startup funding of CHF1.3 million in 2007, and it paid the forum CHF1m in 2008.
[...] to the difficult financial straits of the organization. The Swiss government in May 2009 ordered an audit of the GHF after paying half of its annual CHF1 million contribution. The forum has also been supported by [...]