30.08.2016
The Swiss broadcasting company SRF is once again joining with Swiss Solidarity to organise the “Jeder Rappen zählt” (Every penny counts) fundraising campaign. The event is now in its eighth year; this time, money is being raised for children who have to flee their country alone. From Sunday 18th to Friday 23th December, the glass box-cum-studio will once again be located on Europaplatz in Lucerne.
Over 65 million people worldwide find themselves fleeing war, persecution and extreme poverty. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), half of these are children, almost 100,000 of whom are travelling alone, without parents or other relatives. They all need protecting. Their number trebled between 2014 and 2015. In Switzerland, 2,700 unaccompanied juvenile asylum-seekers were registered in 2015.
Having already suffered violence and hardship back home, child refugees face huge danger and experience high levels of physical and mental stress. The challenges they face are also huge in the country of arrival, for example Switzerland. The “Jeder Rappen zählt” (Every penny counts) campaign raises money to support children and youngsters up to the age of 18 in projects both in Switzerland and abroad. These minors require protection, medical care and education, both while they are fleeing and when they settle in a host country. They have the right to professional psychological support and appropriate support in integrating. And this is where Swiss Solidarity’s partner organisations can help.
Since 2009, people in Switzerland have donated around 50 million francs for forgotten catastrophes in “Jeder Rappen zählt” campaigns. The most recent of these was “Jugendliche in Not” (Youth in need) in 2015. Swiss Solidarity regularly publishes details of how the donated money is spent on its website.
Swiss Solidarity, 1211 Geneva 8
Your donation is tax deductible in Switzerland.
