Holenweger case tests tougher anti-corruption laws in country already considered one of world’s best at fighting bribery
Ed. note: AP (here, picked up by Business Week) late Saturday published a second, lengthy article about the implications of the case, which provides a balanced picture
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The case against former high-flying Tempus Bank executive Oskar Holenweger in Bellinzona, Ticino, in Switzerland’s Criminal High Court, ended Friday 15 April, with the judge’s decision expected 21 April.
The charges of setting up funds for French company Alstom to bribe foreign officials, against the friend of right-wing political leader Christoph Blocher, drew less international media attention Friday than did Switzerland’s reputation, based on an incorrect report that until 10 years ago Switzerland had no law against bribery.
Source: 2010 Transparency International report on perceived transparency and accountability for corruption (click on image to view larger)
Headlines of “Switzerland stakes its reputation on …” imply that the country has until recently done little to fight bribery, when the opposite is true: Switzerland in 2006 was named the top country in the world for fighting bribery, in a ranking by Transparency International.
The group’s 2009 report on progress (pdf) made by the 38 countries signatory to the 1997 OECD Convention on Bribery shows that only four actively enforce it, one of which is Switzerland.
And in its 2010 report on international perceptions of transparency and accountability, Switzerland and Australia shared 8th place with notes of 8.7 out of a possible 10, although Switzerland’s score slipped from 9 the previous year.
Media reports say, wrongly, that bribery was legal in Switzerland until 10 years ago
The implication that Switzerland is weak in this area is unfortunately based on a misunderstanding, reported by Associated Press (AP) and widely disseminated via the Internet by AP’s largely North American member newspapers, including Yahoo News.
Even Maclean‘s, the respected Canadian news magazine, picked up the AP sentence: “Prosecutors hope the high profile trial of a Zurich private banker that ended Friday will send a message to Europe and beyond: Switzerland — where bribery was legal until a decade ago — is getting tough on corruption.”
Forbes was one of the rare AP clients to run a shorter version of the AP story, with the editors opting to leave out the misleading sentence, although it, too, picked up the “Swiss reputation at issue” headline.
Bribery was not legal in Switzerland: what changed in 2000, when the OECD’s 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery entered into force in Switzerland was the first of three key stages to tighten legislation.
The crime, previously punishable by fines, became a criminal level offense, punishable by time in prison as well as a fine. The difference is comparable to that in Switzerland between tax avoidance, a non-criminal offense subject to fines, and criminal tax evasion, with the risk of prison.
Responsibility for complex corruption cases involving bribery of foreign officials was shifted from cantonal governments to the federal government.
Significantly, before 2000, a bribery case would generally go before the courts only if a victim filed charges; as a criminal offense, police and other authorities have for the past decade been required to pursue suspected criminals and press charges.
In a second stage, companies became criminally liable in 2003, not just individuals.
A third stage involved tightening accounting requirements for greater transparency.
Switzerland has been slowly but steadily building up its tool kit against corruption since 2006, based in part on recommendations from the OECD and Transparency International.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ofcom, the communications arm of the Swiss government, is the first federal department to offer e-bills with e-payment details provided directly to your bank account, ready for your approval. The system went into effect 1 April.
The department is the first in the federal system to offer the easier, faster and less error-prone complete payment system, but other government offices will soon follow and the entire federal billing system will include e-billing by the end of 2012, making a paper-free payment system possible.
The new bills (sample: Faktura_FR, pdf, in French) eliminate the e-banking need to fill in lengthy data such as reference numbers, client account numbers and amounts. The information is provided and the person paying simply approves payment and decides on the date. The bills can be sent to your bank’s e-banking system and from there to you, or they can be sent to your accounting department.
Libyan crisis brings foreign minister to UNHRC meeting
US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe speaking with the press 25 February 2011 during the Special Session of the Human Rights Council on Libya. (photo, US Mission, Eric Bridiers)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both attending the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva starting Monday and a plenary session of the Conference of Disarmament. Russian media reported Sunday that the Americans and Russians were discussing the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the two on the sidelines of these sessions.
The two met in Munich in early February to exchange the Instruments of Ratification that put the new Start treaty into place.
The situation in the Middle East and in Libya in particular are expected to be the focus of any bilateral meeting, which Itar-Tass reports was initiated by the Americans.
Lavrov will address the UNHRC, the first time a Russian foreign minister will address the council. Itar-Tass reports that “Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, when commenting on Lavrov’s upcoming trip, said, ‘While in Geneva, Lavrov will hold talks at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.’” He is reportedly scheduled to meet Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Tuesday.
The UNHRC last week recommended to the UN General Assembly that Libya be stripped of its membership in the Geneva-based body, for gross abuse of human rights.
Links to other sites: Itar-Tass, Ria Novosti, The Voice of Russia, US Mission in Geneva
First 4,600 of 30,000 Chinese evacuated, citing threats and violence towards them
Libyan rights group in Geneva reports wounded in hospitals have been executed
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tunisians have been streaming over the border from Libya as violence there continues, joined by growing numbers of people from other countries, reports the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) Thursday 24 February. The group has voiced concerns about the very few sub-Saharan Africans or Asians leaving Libya, despite the large number employed there, saying it fears for their safety.
The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) says Tunisia and Egypt have both agreed to keep their borders open to people fleeing the violence in Libya. It is working with the Ministry of Defense in Tunisia to set up a camp for the 10,000 people expected to cross the border this weekend.
China announced Thursday evening that 4,600 Chinese have been evacuated from Libya, the largest evacuation ever by Chinese authorities, and the start of efforts to get some 30,000 Chinese nationals “out of the riot-torn country”. Xinhua, the government news agency, quotes one of the first workers who arrived Thursday morning in Shanghai, Xie Guangfu, as saying “‘The situation is very critical there. People broke into houses, threatening and robbing us with knives and guns.’”
The IOM in Geneva says that 6,700 Tunisians have fled across the Ras Adjir border point in three days and large numbers of Egyptian and Chinese migrant workers arrived at the border Tuesday night. “Some 850 Egyptians are today travelling onwards to Djerba airport accompanied by IOM staff and Red Crescent volunteers. Two planes sent by the Egyptian government will transport them home,” the IOM said in a statement.
Some 830 Chinese workers arrived on buses rented by the Chinese consulate in Tripoli, and from there they were taken to Tunis.
“IOM staff say that those arriving at the border are mainly coming from Tripoli. They include embassy staff and the ambassadors of various countries, who have decided to quit the capital. But they are concerned that there is no evidence of large numbers of migrant workers from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia leaving Libya for either Tunisia or Egypt.
“Large numbers of Sub-Saharan irregular migrants in Libya work informally in the service sector or as manual labour. Poorly paid and in irregular work, it is unlikely they have the resources to rent vehicles to get to border areas and reach safety. ‘Of the tens of thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans and South Asians working in Libya, only a handful have managed to reach the border so far. This is probably because they do not have the resources to pay for transport,’ says Laurence Hart, IOM’s Chief of Mission for Libya.”
Hospital executions in Tripoli, says human rights group
Geneva newspaper Le Temps reports Thursday evening that the Libyan Human Rights League, based in Geneva because of a ban on independent organizations, has received information that protesters who were taken to hospitals in Libya with injuries have been executed and doctors who object are being threatened.
Ice hockey in Geneva, not always smooth sailing
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva-Servette Hockey Club (GSHC) has snapped back at unnamed critics who, say the club owners, have been making damaging and incorrect innuendos that the GSHC is not transparent about its finances and that recent changes have caused problems with the team.
The city and canton have been slow to move on projects agreed to in 2010 to renovate the existing Vernets ice rink, before building a new arena for 2015, says the club.
20 minutes 17 February quoted Socialist Rémy Pagani, head of Geneva’s buildings and construction department, as saying that “At the moment the club’s project, which is supported by the city for a cost of CHF14 million, is stuck in the finance commission because the club has not yet presented its accounts.”
Simon Brandt, a centre-right Geneva politician, a week earlier accused Pagani of making empty promises to the club, saying it had nothing to worry about because Geneva would support it, even though the project doesn’t appear in the budget.
A meeting 8 March between the club, the city and the canton must see these projects move ahead, GSHC says, in order for its finances to become healthier: the club needs more VIP seats to be able to pull in additional revenues from these.
Chris McSorley and Hugh Quennec, the two Geneva-Servette owners, sent out to journalists a lengthy press release 17 February stating their position: the club’s accounts have been completely open to Geneva auditors, they insist, the Foundation’s finances are managed separately from the club’s and no players have been paid out of the foundation’s money, responding to accusations that have been made, mainly in Geneva’s political arena.
The complete release, in French, is below.
It shines a light on the murky side of Geneva politics as much as on the club’s business. McSorley told GenevaLunch in October that while relations with the city and canton are good, the process of getting and keeping essential financial support is not always easy. This becomes clear in Thursday’s statement, where McSorley and Quennec note that:
- work agreed foreseen in June 2010 agreements with Geneva have not been carried out. As a result, the club’s CHF3 million deficit has not diminished, despite strong demand for VIP seats.
- Work planned for 2011, including work not done in 2010: GSHC has received no confirmation about when work will begin.
- The new arena for 2015: the club is still waiting, despite the June 2010 agreement that the Vernet site will be used, for the credits to be approved and deposited to carry out the studies necessary to move the project ahead.
GSHC press release, 17 February 2011
Le Temps and NZZ will be publishing US cables on Switzerland, from WikiLeaks
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss newspapers Le Temps (registration required) and NZZ will publish, in French and in German starting next week, selected cables from the 5,814 that WikiLeaks collected. The two negotiated an agreement to receive the entire collection and several journalists from the two publications are meeting this weekend to determine which to publish.
The cables cover the period from 1978 to 28 February 2010.
Le Temps explains its decision: “It normally takes several decades for the reality, on which we want to shed some light, to surface.
Thomas Déruns
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Chris McSorley’s message Monday 31 January to his team and supporters was grim: the acclaimed top forward for the Geneva-Servette Hockey Club, Thomas Déruns, 28 and Swiss, is moving to Bern. By Tuesday the club’s site sported a video that drew a large number of fans, with teammates’ reactions to Thomas leaving.
Déruns has been “one of its key players” for some 10 years, says McSorley, but the GSHC was obliged to let him move to SC Bern “in order to reduce the structural deficit of the club in the short and medium term if it cannot balance its budget which is amongst the four smallest of the League.” The player “has been in a position to negotiate a new contract for four or five seasons in the last few months,” McSorley’s statement notes. “The GSHC is no longer able in its current situation, to match the offers made by other clubs of the LNA (national league A).”
GSHC’s tight budget looked like it would get help from Geneva in the form of an improved and enlarged arena before the current 2010-2011 season opened, which would have let the team sell more VIP seats and get more sponsors. McSorley, who has been careful to speak well of Geneva authorities’ efforts to improve the aging (1958) Vernets arena, which has been in the political hot seat in Geneva politics, issued these remarks in a statement published on the team’s web site Monday:
UN Flag
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 65 countries of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament are meeting in Geneva this week, with one big item on the agenda. It’s the same one that’s been there for 15 years: how to start the talks again. The CD has been notoriously stalled since 1996, but it remains what US Ambassador Rose Gottemoeller referred to as the “only standing multilateral negotiating forum for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation agreements,” noting that as such “It remains a vital institution for all of us.”
One of the first speakers when the conference opened Tuesday 25 January was Pakistan’s Ambassador Zamir Akram. Pakistan, he said, is more firmly than ever determined not to agree to negotiations on an FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treat) because major powers continue to allow a waiver to “our neighbour”, a not very veiled reference to India, that “will further accent the asymmetry in fissile materials stockpiles in the region, to the detriment of Pakistan’s security interests.”
Fissile material is necessary to build nuclear bombs.
Gottemoeller, came down hard on Pakistan, albeit barely indirectly, in her presentation to the group Thursday.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – An employee of Credit Suisse was jailed some time ago for suspicion of selling stolen data from his bank to German tax authorities, Tages Anzeiger reports.
According to TSR, which has picked up the story, a straw man, or intermediary, initially suspected and arrested in 2010, hung himself in his prison cell in Bern. Details remain sketchy, however, but it appears that the men were traced after a German lawyer accidentally included some information about them in correspondence with lawyers for customers of the bank whose names were on the CDs with the stolen data.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council is proposing to raise the cost of train tickets by 10 percent and to double the annual road tax for which drivers now pay CHF40, for an autoroute sticker.
The price increases would cover the long-term infrastructure of the road and rail systems, says the council.
Today’s budgets for the heavily used systems do not cover the cost of the rail infrastructure as well as the need to expand the system due to the continually growing population of passengers, the federal transport department argues.
The council’s proposals, which will need to be fleshed out and then opened to public consultation, are in response to a popular initiative “for public transport” and will serve on the ballot as a counter-proposal.
There is clear agreement that more money is needed to expand the public transport system, but as TSR points out the real question is who will pay.
Links to other sites: Bern’s proposal with details of road and rail traffic forecasts, reaction of ATE (transport and environment association, which is sponsoring the popular initiative)
Source: Swiss Department of Transport, Energy and Communications
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s financial system managers have set up a financial crisis unit: the federal finance ministry, the central bank and the bank supervisory body Finma have signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) in line with a 2010 directive from the government in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The steering committee for the unit will meet at least once a year to create a set of crisis management tools and “as often as necessary” in the event of a crisis. The new committee will be relatively autonomous, with the head of the Federal Department of Finance responsible for deciding on the timing of informing the full seven-member ruling Federal Council of the need to take measures, but he or she must inform them immediately when “risk assessment reveals the likelihood of exceptional measures having to be taken by the authorities”.
Canton Geneva in the distance and the city of Geneva with its jet d'eau fountain
Update 17:00 / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating institution, at the end of 2010 gave the canton an AA-/stable rating. The full report, in English, was made available this week by the canton. S&P’s assessment for Geneva was mostly upbeat: “The rating on the Republic and Canton of Geneva in Switzerland reflects Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ view of Geneva’s very stable, predictable, and supportive institutional framework; the canton’s recent sustained solid budgetary performance; and its large debt reduction since 2006.”
S&P’s notes that while the canton has finished paying out for the losses of BCG that resulted from a mismanagement scandal in the 1990s, a weakness is its “still sizable unfunded pension liabilities, even though a reform of public pension pensions is under way”.
The forecast for Geneva is relatively bright, with a short-term dip in the tax revenues that make up the bulk of the canton’s resources, expected to fall by 13 percent in 201o compared to 2009 as the impact of the economic recession is felt. But S&P’s expects this revenue to pick up again in 2011-2012, “even if at a low pace. Despite management’s strong commitment to control costs, this expected trend in tax revenues will likely result in a slightly negative operating margin over 2010-2012.”
Source: Standard & Poor’s, reproduced with permission
Economic profile of Geneva shows wealth, higher wages, far higher than average foreign population
S&P’s report profiles the city using a rich set of statistics that include these details:
©2010 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Russia's Lavrov, US's Clinton kick-started the new Start Treaty talks in March 2009 in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The US Senate has ratified a treatycovering US-Russian nuclear arms and handed the Obama adminstration one of the few foreign policy triumphs in almost two years. The vote 22 December was 71-26 and included 13 Republican senators who joined the entire Democratic caucus.
The treaty governs strategic nuclear weapons between the former Cold War foes and reduces each side to 1,550 nuclear warheads as well as providing verification procedures.
The new treaty replaces one that expired in December 2009 and is the result of a series of talks sparked by a March 2009 Geneva meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Hillary Clinton. The talks in Geneva in December 2009 were shrouded in secrecy, prompting much media speculation about the likelihood they would indeed result in a treaty.
The ratification of the Start treaty has been portrayed as being much more important in its symbolism than its actual content, say some observers, because it sends a strong signal to other countries that the USA can be relied on. The two countries still have 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The federal police and foreign affairs departments have agreed to back the Swiss attorney general’s office to press charges against a prominent Geneva politician at the request of Libya. The two departments announced Thursday 18 November that Libya had formally requested that charges be pressed against Eric Stauffer, president of the Mouvement citoyens genevois (MCG), for “outrage” (insults) against a foreign government.
The foreign government in question must file the request with the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department before Swiss authorities can act on it.
Stauffer, who has recently had a number of conflicts with authorities in Geneva, has backed his party’s use of a poster featuring Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi in campaigns for the 28 November popular referendum on sending foreign criminals back to their home countries.
Data on 4,000 cases turned over to US shows bulk of suspected fraud cases confirmed
UBS New York headquarters
Whistleblower Birkenfeld, former UBS employee
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government has handed over data on some 4,000 “cases” related to suspected tax fraud and UBS bank accounts, to the US government, Bern confirmed late Tuesday morning 16 November. The US has definitively dropped its John Doe case against Swiss bank UBS as a result of the terms of their treaty that covers the cases now being fulfilled, says Bern.
This is the first time Switzerland has provided a number for the cases handed over by the end of August 2010 under the terms of a US-Swiss treaty signed in August 2009.
Virtually all the cases requested are therefore considered by Switzerland to fulfill the terms of fraud necessary for the Swiss to provide assistance to the US. Data for up to 200 additional cases may be handed over to the US Justice Department, depending on the outcome of appeals in Switzerland.
The US government has, as a result, definitively withdrawn its John Doe summons against Swiss bank UBS, ending the saga and court case against the bank that began in 2007. Former employee Bradley Birkenfeld, arrested by US authorities in 2007, provided the government with data on a number of individuals and Swiss bank accounts held by Americans who had not reported them to the IRS, the US tax authority. A US Senate committee hearing into the matter saw senior UBS officials giving statements, and the US filed charges against the bank.
The two countries agreed in a treaty signed in August 2009 that an independent body of Swiss experts would review some 4,450 cases to see if the fraud suspected by the US could be confirmed to the point where Swiss authorities would turn over data to the US. AN initial 250 cases were dismiseed, but by September 2010 all the cases had been reviewed.
Background:
“Switzerland, US sign revision to UBS client agreement (update)“, 31 March 2010, GenevaLunch
“Birkenfeld, man behind US case against UBS, says US did a deal“, 27 August 2010, GenevaLunch
GenevaLunch photo album, Gotthard base tunnel, April 2009 below the ground and October 2010, piercing the hole
Noise, dust, the weight of the Earth press down on men who doggedly dig our tunnels
Gotthard base tunnel workers celebrate in front of the huge tunneling machine after final bit is pierced 15 October 2010
Gotthard Pass, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Those of us who spend our lives above ground are hard pressed to imagine what it is like to descend into the bowels of the Earth every day to clock in for work. The past two months have had the public imagination focused on the hellish side of that work, watching 33 Chilean miners trapped underground by a mining cave-in.
Friday 15 October another face to that work was shone to the world, when 17 years of drilling deep inside the Swiss Alps resulted in the final hole between two tunnels being pierced.
The workers shouted, cheered, splashed champagne and carried the ultimate symbol of comradery, their beloved statues of St Barbara, patron saint of mine safety, from one side of the tunnel hole to the other.
The workers who have drilled, transported, and built casings for the Gotthard base tunnel, operating at depths that sometimes reach nearly 2 km underground, have seen the light of day, or at least of the other side of the Alps underground, and it’s no small feat.
Gotthard base tunnel workers line up to return to the surface at the end of their shift
In April 2009 I spent most of a day in the tunnel with a small group of journalists. The atmosphere was very different from that of today, 15 October, when the tunnel was pierced and lights were shining everywhere, champagne was flowing.
The high level of security and professionalism observed all the time by everyone struck us immediately, and it was contagious. Taking a series of elevators down that far is daunting and while the men were friendly they, too fell quiet as the machines pulled us far below the surface and into the true heart of the Alps.
Comradery, faith remain important for workers
Unlike today, with TV crews and other women joining the workers and champagne in abundance, there are two strict rules Down Below: no women workers and no alcohol. No women in tunnels is the rare exception to equal rights legislation largely because safety is an overwhelming priority and any distractions, including alcohol and women, that might add to the risk, are taboo.
It was deafeningly noisy, all the time, and while helmets dim the sound, the vibrations from the huge tunneling machine never disappear.
Lighting is either weak or glaring and, the sense that you are in a place far beyond the reach of help if anything goes wrong never really leaves you.
Waiting, watching as cracks appear, a moment of nervousness after 17 years of steady work
The workers joke, like any construction workers, and those who have found jobs in this tunnel are some of the best in the world: it’s clear they know their business and they don’t spend their days worrying.
But the statue of St Barbara, in her niche, gets a nod from passing workmen on a regular basis.
The tunnel is a masterpiece of engineering, which we will look at later but Friday 15 October, it’s time to cheer the workers who go Down Under every day to shave a couple hours off European north-south travel time for the rest of us, starting in 2017.
Gotthard base tunnel
They’ve poked a huge hole in the Alps, and the mountains are still standing. Pretty soon, we’ll take it for granted.
Links to other sites:
“The New Gotthard Rail Link”, pdf, brochure by Alp Transit, in English, including technical descriptions
TSR video of the piercing of the tunnel
Zurich airport and airline Swiss, left out in the cold by Germany
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government will appeal the decision against it 9 September 2010 by the European Tribunal over the use of air space in southern Germany. The tribunal ruled that flights from Zurich airport may not use a corridor in southern Germany, backing a lower court decision in 2003, when Switzerland took Germany to court over their bilateral transport agreement.
The argument will now go to the European Union Court of Justice, the highest court that can handle the case.
Bern says in a statement issued 13 October that it remains convinced the German regulations put into effect in 2003 constitute an excessive constraint for Zurich airport’s capacity and that it discriminates against the airline Swiss, the main one affected by the decision.
The argument is over restrictions by Germany on inbound night and weekend flights to Zurich, which have effectively forced them to be abandoned or fly low over some of the most populated parts of Zurich. The German border is some 20 km from Zurich. The two countries have also been trying, unsuccessfully to date, to find an out of court solution to the problem.
En route to the Chuv with a broken leg
Lausanne, Swtizerland (GenevaLunch) – Vaud’s cantonal university group of hospitals, Chuv, will double its surface area by 2020, the canton announced 4 June. The cantonal development plan will be open for public consultation this autumn, but the outline of it, just released, shows Chuv scheduled to have nine new buildings and taking up 20 hectares, twice the space it currently has. Short-term plans include two new buildings, one to house a staff cafeteria and the other an outpatient oncology treatment centre. The two will cost CHF30 million.
The old development plan dates back to 1961 and no longer meets federal land planning requirements. The population whose medical needs Chuv must meet has grown from 500,000 in 1980 to 700,000 in 2010 and it is expected to reach 800,000 by 2025. The growing older population will require more hospital treatment, with 19 percent of the population in Vaud over the age of 65 by 2025.
The occupancy rate of beds was 94 percent in 2009, but close to 100 percent in some units.
Philippa Malmgren, president & founder of Principalis Asset Management, the Canonbury Group, London, and
former Special Assistant to the President of the US for Economic Policy on the National Economic Council; joint presentation, American Int. Club of Geneva and British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce
Location: Ramada Park Hotel, Geneva
Link out: http://www.bscc.co.uk/events
Date: 9 Jun 2010
Start time: 18:30
End time: 20:30
The Oslo Conference on Armed Violence poster depicts conflict and hope
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Each year almost half a million people die as a result of armed violence not related to war, while an additional 250,000 die in armed conflicts. Add to these figures the fact that 60% of homicides in the world involve small arms and light weapons and you can see why armed violence is being called an epidemic of global proportions.
Armed violence, according to Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Store, is a barrier to development, causes human rights violations, fosters impunity and undermines trust in public institutions.
The Minister made the remarks in the framework of the Oslo Conference on Armed Violence. Due to a Europe-wide air travel ban last month, an abbreviated Conference was held in Geneva instead of Norway.
Store joined the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UN high level representatives, and representatives of 60 countries and civil society, to promote adoption of the “Oslo Commitments,” a set of five actions geared to stop violence and foster progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Armed violence globally poses a significant challenge to achieving the goals outlined by the international community in 2000.
The actions to be adopted by states include a better measurement and monitoring of armed violence, appropriate recognition of victims’ rights, improving international cooperation and assistance, and adopting a comprehensive approach to violence prevention.
El Salvador, a country that has struggled against armed violence during the past three decades is one of many to embrace these actions.
Henry Campos speaking in Geneva about the situation in El Salvador
“We have been affected by civil war, by the repatriation of hundreds of street gang members coming from the US who introduced criminal violence to our streets, and by the spilling over our borders of drug trafficking violence that originates in neighboring countries,” said Henry Campos El Salvador’s Vice Minister of Justice and Security.
This Central American nation has taken steps to, according to Campos, “keep moving this agenda forward regardless of who’s in power.”
Like El Salvador, many nations consumed by daily armed violence do not have the sole means to effectively fight its impact, thus the importance of international assistance.
The history of the Mara Salvatruchas, a transnational street gang responsible for spreading violent crime in El Salvador, is a prime example of how armed violence may impede national development. Firearm violence costs the Salvadorian state 11% of the annual GDP, more than twice the budget for education and health.
UNHCR in Geneva says situation dire, Swiss government issues travel black list
Bern / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government Wednesday morning 13 May approved an embargo against Somalia, stopping military exports and freezing assets, as well as issuing a black list banning travel to Switzerland of those on the list. The move comes in reaction to a rapidly deteriorating political situation in Somalia, with the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) issuing an urgent message from Geneva Wednesday morning.
In Geneva the UNHCR launched an urgent appeal for an additional $60,000 to handle a refugee situation that could quickly escalate.
Home sweet home: Bernese Swiss can now vote from abroad, electronically
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss citizens from Bern will be able to vote from abroad electronically in future, from several countries, using canton Geneva’s electronic voting platform, Bern announced Friday 23 April. They join Swiss abroad from Basel, Geneva, Neuchatel and Zurich in having the right to vote from abroad.
Links to other sites: Swiss federal chancellery, swissinfo
New Swiss bank notes delayed to 2012
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – New bank notes for Switzerland will not come out until 2012, instead of autumn 2010, as originally planned. Security features to be added will require additional development and testing time, says the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The high level of security for the current bank notes means there is no urgency, it argues. Switzerland will keep the colours and denominations of the notes currently in circulation, but the new ones will be slightly smaller.
Links: SNB security features on Swiss bank notes, design details of Swiss bank notes, contest new bank note designs by Manuela Pfrunder, who was awarded the job (note: the new notes will not look like these)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council has accepted a parliamentary commission’s proposal that the television and radio licence fee be extended to include virtually everyone and not just owners of TV sets and radios. The council has asked Parliament to prepare a bill for consideration. Current federal broadcasting legislation will need to be revised as well.
The commission notes that mobile phones and personal computers are also used to receive radio and television broadcasts. It argues that the related administrative costs involved in billing and hunting down freeloaders are now too high.
The Federal Council says that if a greater number of businesses were charged licence fees the annual fee might be cut.
Zurich, home to banking thrillers
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Call them whistleblowers if you believe their consciences have overcome them, or thieves if you think they’ve broken the law. Whatever the label, people who take client data from Swiss banks that employ them, then offer the information to another government, are suddenly back in the headlines.
French officials told Swiss news agency ATS Thursday evening 21 January that France has handed back to Switzerland data stolen by a French citizen. It made the announcement a day after the Swiss Finance Department said it would not provide administrative assistance to countries in cases where stolen information was used. France told ATS it has kept copies of some of the information, for its own investigations.
The data was stolen from British bank HSBC in Geneva, by Frenchman Hervé Falciani. The case came into the public spotlight late in 2009.
Switzerland is reviewing its legislation with an eye to setting clearer limits for handing over data to a treaty partner when it demands assistance in suspected tax fraud cases.
US newspaper says whistleblowers “chipping away” at bank secrecy
Falciani was not the first bank employee to pocket data. American Bradley Birkenfeld stole UBS client data in 2008 and gave it to the US tax authority, the IRS in a case that has had a major impact on the bank’s reputation and which badly strained US-Swiss relations.
To believe the New York Times 19 January, Swiss Rudolf M Elmer has just become the first whistleblower of 2010, a man who “is chipping away at the centuries-old traditions of Swiss banking secrecy,” in line with Falciani and Birkenfeld.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank expects to see a “large profit” of CHF10 billion for 2009, thanks to the rapid rise in the price of gold and currency fluctuations during the year. The valuation of the gold holdings of the central bank rose by CHF7.3 billion during the year, with the price of gold moving between about $800 and $1,200 an ounce (chart).
The bank’s foreign currency positions brought in another CHF2b.
The profits are shared in part with the federal and cantonal governments, some CHF2.5b.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The unfinished business of arms control is being taken up this week in two separate sets of talks in Geneva. Negotiations resume on the Russia-US Start treaty update and, separately, the UN’s Conference on Disarmament.
Russia and the USA begin negotiations again 22 January to agree on a treaty to replace the 1990s-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) which officially expired 5 December 2008.
The aim of the negotiations is to further reduce each country’s nuclear arsenal below levels agreed to in 1991.
Geneva, Switzerland and London, England (GenevaLunch) - The main lesson from 2009′s global financial and economic crises is that we need to recognize a fundamental need to change thinking on global risks and how they are managed, says the World Economic Forum. The Geneva-based group, which hosts its annual Davos meeting of world leaders 27-31 January in the Graubuenden resort, published its Global Risks Report 2010 Thursday 14 January. The reports’ authors call for “an overhaul of current values and behaviours by decision-makers to improve coordination and supervision”, saying that the governance gap remains too great.
The report is published annually, just ahead of the Davos meeting.
This year it points to “the impact of the fiscal crisis and the social and political implications of high unemployment rates in several major economies as key concerns.”
Davos during the World Economic Forum, 2009 (image: WEF)
Update 11:37 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Army has begun preparations for the World Economic Forum in Davos, from 27-31 January 2010, with 200 soldiers dispatched to canton Graubuenden to begin making security arrangements. The army will supply 5,000 soldiers this year, the same as last, and the government will spend CHF1.5 million providing military security for the event. The cost is down slightly thanks to technical improvements, according to Bern.
The army provides security on the ground, including clearances for people attending the event, which pulls in top-level business and political leaders. The Swiss and Austrian air forces provide air surveillance.
Swiss military flights are flying over the Alps frequently this week, noticeable to skiers, but these are regular training flights, the military department confirmed to GenevaLunch. Military training linked to WEF begins closer to the event.
