GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Connecticut is about to become the 17th US state to abolish the death penalty, with both houses voting for a bill to ban it and the governor announcing 11 April he will sign the bill. Five states have abolished it in the past five years, says Human Rights Watch: New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, and Illinois. The group, which has a worldwide campaign against the death penalty, notes that another 13 states that have the penalty on the books have not used it for at least five years.
Human Rights Watch applauds the new bill, but points out that 11 prisoners in Connecticut have still-valid death sentences because it will not apply retroactively. “The failure to make the change retroactive is contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 15 states that if a law reduces a criminal penalty, all offenders should benefit from such a reduction, even those who committed their offense before the reduction. However, when the US ratified the treaty in 1992, it included a reservation that it would not adhere to this provision.”
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old Italian clocked doing 209kph, with an average speed of 200kph, had his license confiscated and he is banned from Swiss roads, say police in canton Graubuenden. The man was spotted by police on the A13 between the border and Landquart, where the speed limit is 120kph.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Alberta, Canada is talking about rats again, a topic that comes up every now and again when the rat-free province finds another pet rat in someone’s home. The nub of the problem appears to be the fear of what can happen when two rats get chatting, or worse: “A pair of rats sheltered from weather and predators could produce as many as 15,000 more rats every year,” reports the Toronto Star. Three pet rats were recently reported and they face either euthanasia, says the Star, or deportation to another province, one such as British Columbia where rats are not banned.
A group that has undertaken rat removals to other provinces has had death threats in the past, and it is not yet clear if they will take on the current job.
National Geographic in 2003, looking up from the US at Alberta, which was celebrating 50 years of being rat-free, noted that there were probably 150 million or more rats in the US. The article pointed out that while attitudes had changed somewhat since 1919, when eminent specialists said rats served no useful purpose, about the only one the authors could come up with was this: “To be fair, rats have made an incomparable contribution to laboratory sciences.”
But banning them forever, it pointed out, would mean being forever vigilant in Alberta.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A man has been told he cannot do two hours of breathing exercises in a square in the Belarus city of Baranovichi, the Moscow Times reports, citing human rights agency Vesna. “But the Baranovichi administration rejected the tongue-in-cheek request, saying it violated several clauses of the law on rallies, Vesna reported, without elaborating.”
The government of Alexander Lukashenko who has been president for 17 years, has been the target of critics from inside and outside the country for attempting to stop dissent, an argument that was given force earlier this month when a new law went into effect that tightens restrictions on public rallies.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich’s Occupy Switzerland protesters left their weeks-long Lindenhof home Tuesday morning 15 November, with some 30 of them taken to a police station before being released. They were held briefly by police for refusing to leave, but the cleanup action by police otherwise occurred without any problems, peacefully, say city authorities.
The protesters have now moved to the City Church at Stauffacher, which has already been welcoming them during the day. They will stay at the church until 5 January, report local media.
Protesters who have camped out at Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park in New York were removed by police Tuesday morning. Tuesday evening Swiss time a judge backed the move and the city’s right to ban the protesters from the area.
Ed. note: Herbi Ditl on flickr has an album of shots from the Occupy movement in Zurich, some of which have appeared on GenevaLunch.
Lucerne's famous weeping lion, the Loewenthal, was carved in memory of the Swiss Guards who died in the 1792 Paris storming of the Tuileries. It is widely seen as an unofficial symbol of Swiss neutrality and is one of the country's most popular site for tourists. (photo, Wikipedia)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government, in a bid to underscore the country’s neutrality, has proposed a new law that would make it illegal for companies based in Switzerland, including holding companies, to use mercenaries anywhere in the world. The new law would oblige security companies to register with the government details of their activities abroad. Bern says it has opted for a registration approach, rather than an authorization system, in the interests of efficiency and simplicity: firms’ activities will be noted, checked and if necessary, prohibited, with a system of fines and prison sentences for breaking the law.
Bern said in a statement issued Wednesday that the law, open for consultation by interested parties as of Wednesday 12 October, “would apply to firms based in Switzerland that offer private security services abroad or that have activities in Switzerland linked to such services. Companies with their head offices in Switzerland or which control security firms abroad (holding companies) would also be covered by the law.”
Specifically, the new law would prohibit:
- direct participation in hostilities (mercenary work) in cases of armed conflict in other countries
- recruiting, training and making available security personnel for participation in hostilities, as an intermediary or directly
- supplying, from Switzerland, any security services that seriously breach human rights.
Security firms would be obliged to respect the International Code of Behaviour of 9 November 2010 in agreeing to avoid all offensive action and recourse to lethal forms of violence, except in cases of self-defense or to save the life of another person.
Switzerland was famous for supplying the world with mercenaries, notably during the Rennaissance, but its neutrality has been recognized internationally since the Treaty of Paris in 1815 and the 1848 Constitution bans military alliances.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Australia’s minister for agriculture, Joe Ludwig, has suspended shipments of live cattle to 11 abattoirs in Indonesia after disturbing film footage surfaced showing severe mistreatment of the animals. He has also opened an investigation into the supply chain, from shipment to slaughter and demanded an immediate end to the use of Indonesia is Australia’s biggest market for shipping live animals.
Austrlia’s public reaction was swift, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, with web sites for two animal protection agencies crashing due to an overload of traffic, and 35,000 signatures gathered in just five hours for a total ban on the trade. Indonesia is Australia’s largest market for live cattle shipments. The value of the trade, according to the Jakarta Globe, is A$320 million ($342 million).
Indonesia’ vice-minister of agriculture, Bayu Krisnamurthi, asked “Please respond to the video proportionally”, reminding Australians that the two countries are not at the same level of development. He “stopped short of calling for the immediate punishment of any abattoirs found guilty of mistreatment of cattle, reportedly saying the first step would be to provide them with guidance”, reports the Australian newspaper.
Links to other sites: ABC Australia programme on cattle shipments (alert: disturbing graphic images), BBC, Jakarta Globe, Sydney Morning Herald
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – France’s police unions are calling it “a huge process for absurd results”: the country’s new law against appearing in public fully veiled goes into effect today. The law has little support from police groups, according to Paris newspaper Le Monde, and Muslim groups are increasing their calls for protests against the law.
France Police notes that “you don’t fight religious extremism with ordinances.”
Sixty-one persons were reported by France 24 to have been arrested Saturday when they tried to take part in a protest march, fully veiled.
photo, Valais police
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in three French-speaking cantons have ordered staff not to divulge professional, and in some cases, too much personal information on social networks, including Facebook, Swiss public radio RSR has learned.
Police in Valais, Neuchatel and Fribourg have given staff directives, and in Valais police officers who are too active on social networks risk disciplinary action.
Geneva, Vaud and Jura, the other French-speaking cantons, have not followed suit.
Limiting social network use for other groups considered in UK, US
The moves are part of growing concern about some groups using social networks, although the Swiss police department decisions contrast with growing use of social networks by law enforcement agencies in the US, according to CNN Money in 2010, albeit use for professional purposes.
Elsewhere, the Daily Mail in the UK in 2010 reported that a police force had fired eight officers who were found chatting to friends on social networks while on duty. Civil servants in many parts of the UK have been banned from using social networks at work and risk being fired if they post what are considered inappropriate comments from home. A ban on teacher-student interaction on social networks is under consideration in Connecticut, in the US.
International sports, cricket
Doha, Qatar, (GenevaLunch)- The Anti-Corruption Tribunal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) handed out long bans to the three Pakistani players involved in spot-fixing during the 2010 Tests against England, 5 February. Captain Salman Butt was banned for 10 years, five of which are suspended. Mohammad Asif for seven years, two suspended, and Mohammad Amir for five years.
The charges include deliberately bowling “no-balls,” the equivalent of foot faults, and allowing “maiden overs” in which the batsman does not score any runs.
The cheating was linked to a massive betting scam, uncovered by UK tabloid The News of the World. Some cricketers have said the trio should have been banned for life but there is also some sympathy for 18-year-old fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who looked one of the best young players before the scandal broke.
The trio, along with agent Mazhar Majeed are also likely to face criminal charges of corruption.
Links to other sites: Yahoo Cricket, Times of India, Telegraph
Nobel peace prize winner reportedly “detained”
Cairo is the scene of continuing protests against the government of Hosmi Mubarak, in power for 30 years, and as protests appear to have spread to Alexandria and Suez, the government has clamped down on the Internet, severely disrupting access to it throughout the country. The government has banned crowds, but thousands are taking to the street despite the ban.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, who has opposed the government, returned to Egypt Thursday, saying he would join in the protests and Friday afternoon he is reported to have been “detained”. Media in Cairo say police are using tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, BBC, Guardian, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Spain 2 January joins Britain, Italy and France in making its indoor cafes, bars and restaurants no-smoking areas, as part of a ban on smoking in all public enclosed spaces. The outcry by bar owners and smokers in a country where one-third of the population smokes has been loud, but the government points out that similar bans in other parts of Europe have not had the disastrous impact on business that was feared, in the long run.
Links to other sites: CNN, El Pais (Spa), GoSpain on About.com
Israeli mine survivor’s uncomplicated prose begs for clearer political thinking
Daniel Yuval, age 11, addresses Geneva followup meeting to Cartagena Summit on implementing the Mine Ban Treaty
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Daniel Yuval is 11, an Israeli sixth grader who is in Geneva to make one thing perfectly clear to the world: it should get rid of its landmines and not another single child should be hurt by one. He appears to be getting the message across, both at home in Israel and further afield.
Daniel was enjoying the thrill of his first snow 6 February 2010, playing on a hillside in the Golan Heights with his father, older sister and a younger brothers, when he stepped on a landmine. He lost a leg to it, but gained a power for speaking out against landmines, which is literally moving mountains where adults have been able to achieve far less.
A bill was submitted 10 May 2010 to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, by 73 members, to establish a national mine action authority to manage the clearance of non-operational minefields. The bill followed Daniel’s address to the Knesset, asking them to take action.
Daniel Yuval during a break in Geneva, 29 November 2010
Israel is one of the 20 percent of countries that have not signed the Mine Ban Treaty. The 1997 treaty was implemented in 1999 and 156 States are signatories. Its web pages note: “The Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. It is the most comprehensive international instrument for eradicating landmines and deals with everything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction.”
Israel and landmine groups estimate it has 260,000 mines.
Some 20 medical operations and 10 months later, with a prosthesis in place, Daniel has caught up on his schoolwork and is getting good grades, his father says. And he’s able to run faster than some of the kids in his class, Daniel says enthusiastically.
Daniel was in Geneva 29-30 November, brought by Roots of Peace. He gave a powerful speech (speech text in full) as part of the first followup meeting to the Cartagena Summit that took place in Colombia in November 2009. His audience included Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland’s foreign minister, and Jakob Kellenberger, head of the ICRC (International Red Cross).
Daniel and Jerry White, founder of Survivor Corps, who also lost a leg on the Golan Heights when he was 20, will receive the 2010 Roots of Peace Global Citizens Award. Roots of Peace seeks to make sacred sites mine-free and safe for pilgrims and other visitors.
The pair spoke to GenevaLunch about Daniel’s experience and its impact on the current state of the Mine Ban Treaty. Daniel has been learning English for six months and hopes to perfect it so he can address the United Nations.
Spice is illegal in Switzerland (photo: wikipedia)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The real thing, marijuana, does not have a good relationship with the law, and now fake versions of the illegal substance have also run afoul of US authorities. The federal DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) 24 November posted a notice in the Federal Register that chemical copycat products will be temporarily banned starting in 30 days. Five “synthetic cannabinoids” will be banned, including brand names Spice, Red X Dawn and K2, products with plants that are laced with chemicals similar to THC, which gives marijuana its buzz.
Fifteen US states and several European governments have also banned some of the products on the market. Spice, used as both a brand name and a generic term, is on Swissmedic’s list of abused substances, banned in Switzerland, as are lesser known variants.
Ireland is one of the most recent countries to outlaw the products. Read more…
Weather forecast for holiday weekend: little rain, relatively cool
Dawn 28 July, Swiss Alps
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - The best place to watch firework 1 August 2010 might be Lake Geneva, about the only place in the region not suffering from dryness and fireworks bans.
Canton Vaud announced Wednesday 28 July that fireworks are banned, effective immediately, although communes will be allowed to go ahead with their national day explosive festivities, under the close supervision of fire departments.
Fireworks on the lake are allowed, the canton notes.
Weekend weather for the holiday: western Switzerland should have temperatures of 12-25C through Sunday, with only small amounts of rain on Thursday and Sunday, otherwise dry and sunny to slightly overcast. For current and local weather, be sure to check GenevaLunch’s weather page, provided by the Swiss national weather bureau, MeteoSwiss.
Click on images to view larger
The only cloud in the sky at dawn Wednesday - not much rain there!
The sun rose and the moon set at nearly the same time in the Alps 28 July
Cancel your plans for a Swiss Alps barbecue near the woods this weekend
Train tracks under repair in Goms Valley, canton Valais: green forest but very dry undergrowth
Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Storms that briefly dumped rain on the southern Alps Monday were not enough to avoid a ban on fires, announced Wednesday 14 July by canton Valais officials.
Conditions in much of the canton are very dry and as of now all open-air fires, except home barbecues, are banned.
It will take three days of rain to lift the ban, and with Wednesday predicted to be the hottest day of the year, with no rain in sight, the ban is likely to remain in place for some days.
Three fires broke out Monday, due to weather conditions, in Fully, Brigerbad and Muenster.
A fourth fire, near the Dents de Nendaz, is suspected to have been started by a cigarette thrown from a small plane that passed over the area shortly before the fire broke out.
The euro bounced back briefly but then dipped again after hitting a four-year low Wednesday 19 May, with investors concerned about market regulation. Berlin sparked heated discussion and provoked irritation in other European capitals when it went solo, without forewarning, on a decision to ban naked short selling (“selling shares that are not owned or borrowed,” – FT).
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters
France to follow suit
Update 23 April 10:00 The Belgian parliament was to vote Thurday 22 April on a ban on clothing that does not allow the wearer to be fully identified. If approved, Belgium would become the first European country to ban full-face veils such as the niqab and the burqa in public places. The vote was set aside, however, when the prime minister resigned after a key member of his coalition government pulled out.
Although the measure is supported by the parliament, critics say the ban is an attack on human and civil rights. If approved, the ban would become law in July 2010.
The vote comes a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered legislation to prohibit such clothing in public spaces in France. Sarkozy told a cabinet meeting 21 April that the veil “hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society.”
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera English, BBC Video
Bluefin tuna (photo, ©2010 WWF/Canon Manu San Felix)
[WWF video] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Atlantic bluefin tuna’s last reasonable chance for survival as a species has taken a beating: its defenders have been defeated in a critical vote at a Cites meeting in Doha, Qatar. A clear majority of nations of the Cites pact of countries, which regulates trade in endangered species, voted 18 March against a ban on bluefin tuna fishing.
The Cites head office is based in Geneva.
Gland, Switzerland-based World Wildlife Fund for Nature, which has campaigned for a ban to allow stocks to recover from over-fishing, says 72 countries in Cites voted against the ban, while 43 voted for it and 14 abstained.
Libya calls on Malta to leave the Schengen area, “another form of colonialism”
Malta issues temporary visas to Libyans to avoid Swiss ban
Update 2 13:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss-German media SF has obtained a copy of court papers filed 16 March by canton Geneva showing it agrees to compensate Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of Libya’s leader, and to offer an apology for a leak from the police department. The canton has not officially confirmed or denied the report, in line with its notice in February 2010 that it would not issue any statements until Max Goeldi, a Swiss businessman serving a four-month prison term in Libya, is free. (Ed. note: the canton is holding a press conference at 16:00 as a result of the SF revelation)
The leak to which the court papers refer allowed “unflattering” photos of the man to be published in the Tribune de Genève newspaper after he was arrested in the city in July 2008. The papers filed by the canton, seen by Swiss news agency ATS, note that since it is clear the leak came from a state employee, the cantonmust take some responsibility. It asks the court to determine the share of responsibility and costs to be borne by the Tribune. It also insists that the Tribune must publish the court decision, at its own cost.
Libya has demanded that the European Union also apologize, for not issuing visas to some of its citizens, Spanish newspaper El Pais reports Libyan ambassador to Spain, Ageli Abdussalam Breni, as saying.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, who heads US troops in northern Iraq, has told his soldiers they risk being court-martialed for becoming pregnant or impregnating another soldier. The decision was made, he told his 22,000 troops, because every soldier is needed. “Anyone who leaves this fight earlier than the expected 12-month deployment creates a burden on their teammates. Anyone who leaves this fight early because they made a personal choice that changed their medical status – or contributes to doing that to another – is not in keeping with a key element of our ethos,” he told troops.
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a call to abolish the death sentence, as a new US report shows that its use is decreasing there and that several states are considering ending its use. The 20th anniversary of the international death penalty treaty was marked by Pillay’s appeal in Geneva. The treaty calls for the universal abolition of capital punishment. Pillay’s office says that 140 countries no longer carry out the death penalty, and 72 countries have ratified the treaty’s Optional Protocol, which bars the death penalty.
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a monitoring group in Washington, DC in the US, shows in its annual report that 106 death sentences were issued in the US in 2009, down from a post-1976 high of 328 in 1994.
Background on local and national Swiss votes 29 November, GenevaLunch
Update 16:40 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss voters turned Sunday voted to ban the construction of new minarets in the country, with 57.5 percent of voters approving the initiative and 42.5 percent opposed to it. The vote went along language lines, with Swiss Germans voting for the ban and French speakers voting against, although cantons with both languages, such as Valais and Bern, voted soundly to support the ban.
The result is widely seen as a slap in the face to the government, which has strongly opposed the initiative. But it will also be read as a vote against the current situation of Muslims in Switzerland, say most Swiss media. On the one hand, approving the ban will send a signal that the Swiss are worried about “creeping Islamization”, a phrase that was used by the UDC (right-wing People’s Party) during the campaign, and on the other hand, a signal that Muslim ghettoes are not acceptable, reports Swissinfo. The Muslim population has increased by about 350,000 and is now around 4.5 percent of the Swiss population, according to Swissinfo.
Switzerland set to continue arms exports
Voters rejected by 68 percent, early results indicate, a popular initiative to stop Swiss arms exports.
Geneva says yes to Ceva regional transport, Vésenaz tunnel
The years of debate are over for Ceva, the regional transport system that would link Geneva to Annemasse. Voters approved by nearly 62 percent a CHF113 million credit that will allow the project to go ahead. They also approved the covered tunnel for Vésenaz.
Map of incoming results on TSR: “la carte”
Russia’s decision to continue its ban on the death penalty was praised by the Council on Europe and media in Europe Thursday and Friday. The country’s Constitutional Court 18 November decided to continue indefinitely a country-wide moratorium on the death penalty, in place since 1999, which was scheduled to end in January 2010. Its rulings must be followed by all Russian courts, according to the Moscow Times. The government and the Kremlin have said they did not want executions begun again. Ten years ago the court decided that executions could take place only if all Russian regions had trials by jury in murder cases, and the last of the regions to implement this has been Chechnya, which is slated to start them in January.
Links to other sites: die Welte, Moscow Times, Ria Novosti
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The international football federation, Fifa, has handed Argintina’s football coach and former superstar Diego Maradona a CHF25,000 fine and a two month ban on participating in any football-related activities. Maradona’s outburst at the qualifying match between Uruguay and Argentina 14 October 2009 in Montevideo. Maradona, who was interviewed for 40 minutes by Fifa’s disciplinary committee, apologized to Fifa and the football world. The ban runs from 15 November-15 January 2010.
The only exception: DFEA (Swiss foreign affairs) employees can still visit Facebook
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The second most visited web site in Swiss government offices, a January 2009 investigation showed, was the social network Facebook. Government employees were invited to show a bit of restraint in May and they did cut back somewhat, but Facebook remains the fourth most visited site at work – and the volume of downloads has increased in most departments.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Media reports in Switzerland that Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi was planning to ask the United Nations to discuss the dismemberment of Switzerland, with its neighbours taking linguistically related areas have turned out to be accurate, but with the wrong date.
The UK government is reviewing its policy for people entering or transiting the country, and some individuals suspected of being involved in violence in the wake of Kenya’s elections in December 2007 may be on the list of those banned. Some 20 people have been refused entry since 2006, UK High Commissioner to Kenya, Robert Macaire, told a press conference Tuesday 4 August. “We are looking at our policy to conform to the global policy not to allow people who incite to violence from entering our country,” His comments followed a meeting with Kenya’s immigration minister. Macaire says most of those banned are business people who are suspects in corruption cases.
According to AllAfrica/DailyNation, his remarks come “in the wake of heightened activity” at the ICC (International Criminals Court) in The Hague, as it reviews the report of Kenya’s Waki Commission, which investigated the violence.
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Valais becomes a no-smoking, at least in public, canton Wednesday 1 July. Cafe and rstaurant owners, who vehemently opposed the move, are coming around to the idea, says their representative association. Gastrovalais says that 60 percent of restaurant and cafe owners now support the change in the law but more out of resignation than conviction. Eighty percent of the group, which fought to keep the law from being passed, was originally opposed to the change.
Background on smoking bans in Switzerland: “No smoke without fire in Neuchatel”, 16 June 2009, GenevaLunch
Related: Le Nouvelliste, Fre
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Vaud 1 September 2009 will join the growing ranks of Swiss cantons that ban smoking in public areas. The final discussions in the cantonal parliament concluded today 23 June and the law will now go into effect.
