Security Council recommends Switzerland for UN membership

The Security Council today recommended that Switzerland be admitted as a member of the United Nations during the fifty-seventh session of the UN General Assembly, which will convene in New York in September.

"The Council notes with great satisfaction the Swiss Confederation's solemn commitment to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to fulfil all the obligations contained therein," the Council's President, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom, said in a statement at an open meeting in which the Swiss application was considered.

"We look forward to the day in the near future when the Swiss Confederation will join us as a Member of the United Nations and to working closely with its representatives," he added.

Since 1948, Switzerland has been an Observer with the UN. It also hosts a large number of international agencies and organizations, as well as the UN Office at Geneva.

On 3 March, the people and the cantons of Switzerland voted to authorize the country's Federal Council to apply for UN membership. In the country's application, the President and Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation noted that the UN recognizes that a Member State's neutrality does not affect its fulfilment of obligations under the Charter and contributes to the achievement of the purposes of the international organization. As a UN Member State, Switzerland would remain neutral.