The International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva could be closed or relocated due to a lack of state subsidies, AFP reported.
The museum’s director, Pascal Hufschmidt, was shocked when he learned last September that the institution he leads was threatened by budget cuts adopted by the Swiss federal government.
“This calls into question the very existence of the museum,” the Swiss historian, who took over the museum’s management in 2019, told AFP in a recent interview.
Located near the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the museum opened in 1988 It welcomes around 120,000 visitors a year, including students, tourists and diplomats, who can learn about the main stages in the history of humanitarian aid.
The museum houses a collection of around 30,000 objects, including the first Nobel Peace Prize medal, awarded in 1901 to the founder of the Red Cross, the Swiss Henri Dunant, and the French politician Frédéric Passy.
Since 1991, the museum has received an annual subsidy of 1.1 million Swiss francs (1.2 million euros) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which represents about a quarter of its total budget. But the budget reduction plan approved by the government in September last year foresees the museum being placed under the management of the Ministry of Culture.
Hufschmid said that this “transfer will lead to a significant reduction in the subsidy”. This is because the Ministry of Culture only allocates its financial support to a certain number of museums, and then after a selection process. And when a museum is selected, the aid it receives is usually “between 5 and 7% of its costs, which in this case would be around 300,000 francs,” Hufschmidt explained.
“I suddenly realized that from 2027 we would be facing a structural deficit and would have to close,” the museum’s director says. Hufschmidt is putting pressure on Swiss political circles to save the institution, leading to a proposal for nationalization.
Some observers have raised the issue of changing the museum’s location, suggesting that it be moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Photo: French Society for the Relief of Military Wounded of the Army and Navy. The oldest poster of the museum’s collection. It announces the foundation of the Société de secours aux blessés militaires and its recognition by Napoleon III as a public utility institution. — Unknown, Paris, 1866. © International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva.
We acknowledge The European Times for the information.
