Swisspeace, established in 1988, is a Basel-based institute that claims to advance effective peacebuilding through research, training, and policy engagement. This NGO  collaborates closely with the Swiss government, particularly the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), to support Switzerland’s peace diplomacy and mediation efforts.

In 2024, total income was approximately  CHF 7.5 million – CHF 2.3 million was provided by Federal ministries and governmental bodies – including Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), and Canton of Basel-Stadt.

Dr. Jakob Kellenberger has been board President since 2013, and earlier served as State Secretary and Head of the Directorate of Political Affairs within the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 1992-1999. He was then President of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2000-2012. The NGO lists fourteen board members.

Many of the activities and projects undertaken by Swisspeace are highly politicized, reflecting ideological prejudices and biases that can interfere with the organization’s stated objectives. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the biases are highly visible. In one of many examples, in October 2023, Swisspeace director Prof. Laurent Goetschel referred to Switzerland’s decision to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization as a “mistake.” Similarly, the NGO’s projects include participants linked to terror groups.

One recent Swisspeace project that highlights these issues ostensibly focuses on Palestinian child rights. Launched in 2024, participants include the Hamas-linked Islamic University of Gaza, Birzeit University, An-Najah National University, and Al-Quds University. Funding is provided by the Swiss Botnar Foundation. (As is the case with a number of Swisspeace projects, details, including the budget and duration of the project, are not transparent.)

The stated objectives are:

“to strengthen the field of children’s rights in Palestinian Universities by establishing the ‘Palestinian Universities for Child Rights Advancement’(PUCRA) program through a participatory process. The overall objective of this project is to select partner universities for the PUCRA Program and co-create an academic program that strengthens the field of children’s rights at Palestinian universities through knowledge production and dissemination. By building on existing initiatives in the field of children’s rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the program will focus on research, teaching, and outreach activities, involving not only universities but also local communities, civil society, and policy makers. The ultimate aim is to enhance knowledge on children’s rights and promote its wider dissemination across different sectors in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

It is important to note that accusations related to children and human rights are central themes in the political warfare and demonization campaigns directed against Israel that accompany the conflict. These efforts involve terror-linked NGOs that seek to include the IDF in the UN CAAC (Children and Armed Conflict) monitoring process.

The Swisspeace project has many dimensions that suggest that it is part of this campaign, including the terror links of the Palestinian university partners that are reflected in a number of activities:

The Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

IUG was founded by the future leader and founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

• According to a September 2020 report, multiple senior members of Hamas “have held teaching or administrative positions at the IUG,” its students have been recruited to Hamas’ military wing, and its facilities were “exploited for developing and storing weapons.”
• During the war in Gaza following the October 7th attacks, the IDF identified that the university was being used by Hamas for gathering and carrying out attacks against Israeli forces.
• A 2019 U.S State Department report refers to IUG as the “Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza.”

An-Najah National University

• In April 2025,  An-Najah National University and Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGO Defense of Children-Palestine (DCI-P) signed a “strategic Partnership to Advance Child Justice and Rights in Palestine“.” DCI-P spearheads the campaign to include the IDF in the UN CAAC (Children and Armed Conflict) annex as a grave violator of child rights (for more information, read NGO Monitor’s report “Terror-linked and anti-Israel NGOs Exploit Children in Campaign to Blacklist the IDF”.
  • In October, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated DCI-P (and another five Palestinian NGOs) a “terror organization” based on evidence that it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” The MoD charged the NGOs with diverting humanitarian funds from European donors to the PFLP and for recruiting members into the terror group.
  • On February 13, 2024, the Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that Germany ended funding to DCI-P and the other Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGOs. German NGO Weltfriedensdienst (WFD) stated, “at the beginning of 2024, on the instructions of the German government, we had to end our cooperation with Al-Haq and with Defense for Children International – Palestine as part of the project work in the Civil Peace Service at short notice.”
  • As the record demonstrates, DCI-P erases or minimizes violent attacks perpetrated by Palestinian teenagers in its accusations against the Israeli Security Forces. Similarly, the NGO rarely acknowledges that many of these Palestinian teens are affiliated with designated terrorist organizations – in blatant violation of the international legal prohibition on the “recruitment and use” of children by armed groups and a clear violation of their human rights (see annex below).
• Al-Najah National University hosts several student groups affiliated with Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
• Hamas’ student group gained almost half of electoral votes in 2023 elections for the university’s student union.
• According to a report published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in 2007, Al-Najah is known for “terrorist recruitment, indoctrination and radicalization of students…via various student groups,” in particular, the Hamas’ student group. The institute notes that “some of the most notorious Hamas terrorists have held senior positions in the al-Najah [Hamas] faction.”

Birzeit University

• Birzeit University is a major venue for student organizations affiliated with Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Following the May 2022 student council elections in Birzeit, Hamas’s Al Wafaa’ Islamic bloc celebrated a landslide victory with 28 out of 51 seats.
• On July 21, 2024, media sites reported that Israeli security forces foiled a “significant terror attack” orchestrated by “Hamas representatives on the student council at Birzeit University.” Reportedly, “an assault rifle and thousands of dollars in cash provided by Hamas were also seized.” A similar planned attack was reportedly prevented in September 2023.
• On December 8, 2023, the Birzeit X account posted, “On this day 36 years ago, the first intifada started from Jabaliya camp, and later spread throughout all of palestine; portraying a perfect example of national unity in the face of the oppression.”
• Also, since 2016, DCI-P (see An-Najah National University section) and Birzeit University partner “to promote and protect children’s rights in Palestine.”

Al-Quds University

• Al-Quds University hosts multiple student organizations affiliated with Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
• According to Meir Amit research institute, in November 2023, the Hamas’ Islamic Bloc student group posted materials inciting Palestinians in the West Bank to  “resist by running over [Israelis],” “resist by throwing Molotov cocktails,” “resist by stabbing,” “resist by firing at checkpoints and soldiers,” and by attacking transportation and communications infrastructure.

Examples of DCI-P Whitewashing Palestinian Teens Carrying Weapons