Detail from the Hans Erni peace fresco on the front wall of the UN building in Geneva, where the Human Rights Council meets
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Israel’s announcement Monday that it is suspending all relations with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva came just after the 19th session of the Council ended in Geneva, Friday 23 March. The decision capped a divisive debate towards the end of the session that once again pitted Israel and the United States against most of the rest of the council, but the debate received less media attention than usual because it was eclipsed by heated sessions on Syria, Sri Lanka, Iran, Myanmar/Burma and North Korea.
The UN office did not immediately confirm that it had received notice from Israel that it is suspending ties.
The council last week voted 36-1, with 10 abstentions, to send a fact-finding mission to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to study the impact of Israeli settlers on Palestinians. It was one of a number of votes concerning Israel and Palestine.
Austria, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland, among European countries, voted for the measure. Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain abstained. The council has 47 member countries elected for three-year terms; France, Germany, Italy and the UK currently send observers.
Israel’s foreign ministry decided Monday morning at a meeting led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman that “Israel’s ambassador to the UN organizations in Geneva will not appear before the council, answer any of its phone calls or cooperate with Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in any way,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Fixed price for books, six weeks of vacation turned down
Geneva says yes to Wednesday morning school and tightens rules on demonstrations, protests
Just a little piece of heaven, or is that creating a hell: a question of political perspective, with Swiss voting against building more second homes
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The final call was tight, but the Swiss voted for a ban on new second homes, Sunday 11 March, with 50.6 percent in favour a popular initiative from environmentalists to strictly limit them. Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and Jura all voted in favour of the ban, as did virtually all of northern Switzerland and urban areas.
Voters decided five federal issues Dunday, the most hotly debated of which was the second home ban. Canton Valais, the region most directly affected, voting overwhelmingly against it, 73.8 percent of the vote, and in Grisons, another region with many second homes, the vote was also negative, but 57.3 percent (RTS map by canton).
The four other federal voting issues:
- six weeks of vacation, voted down, 66.5 percent against, with not a single canton voting yes
- fixed prices for books (retail price maintenance), voted down, 56.1 percent no
- aid for lower income families to get mortgages, voted down, 55.8 percent no
- redistribution of gambling proceeds, approved, 87 percent yes with not a single canton voting no.
There are also a number of cantonal issues on the ballots. Geneva, with results mostly in, has voted in favour of school on Wednesday mornings for children over age 8. It has also voted for a right-wing proposal to crack down on protests, in particular levying hefty fines on groups that do not keep demonstrators in check. They will now risk up to CHF100,000 in fines, compared to CHF10,000 in the past.
Ed. note: the Swiss federal government’s entire public web site is down at noon Wednesday, so we are unable to provide links
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s Federal Council (cabinet) Wednesday morning approved a package of reforms for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) covering the world body’s governance and quotas. The package was approved by the IMF in December 2010 but is being implemented piecemeal as countries vote. The reforms were designed to give a stronger voice to developing economies and to redress imbalances that reflect an older world economic picture.
Switzerland’s contribution quota initially rose to 1.59 percent from 1.45 percent, but post-reform it will be CHF1.21, and Switzerland drops from the 19th largest contributor to 19th, after Korea and Australia. Its contribution from the Swiss National Bank will, however, increase significantly, from CHF3.6 billion to CHF7.3b, with the reforms doubling the ordinary contributions of countries.
The increase in contributions is the first major one since 1998, says Bern in a statement issued Wednesday, and is designed to more correctly align contributions with economies and financial flows.
Switzerland’s share of IMF votes also falls, from 1.40 percent to 1.57 in March after an initial set of reforms was implemented, and now down to 1.17. The US remains by far the largest contributor, with the largest vote, followed by Japan, Grmany, France and the UK.
Online tax filing: quick, easy and popular in Switzerland
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A small sampling of the Swiss population, 1,000 people interviewed by phone, has shown the Swiss to be happy with government online services, particularly at the commune level, says Bern.
The results of the study commissioned by the federal government, published 18 October, show that 85 percent of Swiss now have Internet access, with smartphones and private connections growing. Older people are using the Internet more.
The growing use of the Internet is no longer translating into a great use of government online services, however, and there is still a tendency to telephone to contact local authorities rather than to try to reach them by e-mail.
The most popular services are online tax filing and various aspects of voting. Some 44 percent of those interviewed said they would like to see the federal and cantonal governments build a health information service, since two-thirds of people go online to look for medical information, but the rate of credibility for information found is very low.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post is reminding citizens who vote by mail, 90 percent of them for federal elections, to mail in their ballots on time. Voters can use fast mail (A) up until Thursday 21 October and slower mail (B) until 18 October, observing collection times on mail collection boxes.
Swiss voters elect a new parliament 23 October, a political event that occurs every four years.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Left in France over the weekend won control of the Senate, putting the brakes on President Sarkozy’s programmes and promising a tough fight for the 2012 presidential campaign. The latest in a series of strikes over economic reform measures comes Tuesday 27 September when teachers’ unions stage a walkout.
Primary school teachers who are striking must announce their participation 48 hours in advance and the rate varies between 20 and 54 percent, according to the unions, reports Le Monde (Fre).
French ministers are meeting Wednesday to review the 2012 budget, which includes cutting 14,000 teaching posts. If the job cuts go through it would bring to 80,000 the number of teachers lost from 2007 to 2012, while the number of students has steadily increased, points out the French daily.
Immigrants becoming Swiss: waiting in line for the ceremony to begin (photo: Ellen Wallace)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The 23 October 2011 elections in Switzerland are now likely to include a right-wing popular initiative (citizen-launched vote) to limit immigration and re-negotiate the Schengen accord with the European Union.
Swiss citizens vote on several popular initiatives a year. This latest one is being launched by the UDC Swiss People’s Party, which voted 396-0 Saturday 28 May at a meeting in Einsiedeln, not far from Zurich, to protect the Swiss economy from what it sees as too great a burden imposed by foreigners immigrating into or working in Switzerland.
The UDC is known in German as the SVP.
Job quotas for frontaliers would be introduced
Frontalier, or cross-border workers are targeted as well: the initiative seeks to re-introduce quotas by country and to limit the numbers of jobs that can be held by workers who live across the border in France, Germany, Austria and Italy. Figures published 26 May show the number of cross-border workers, especially in the Geneva area, growing significantly in the first three months of 2011, after a lull.
The UDC’s declaration Saturday deplores the negative impact on the economy of immigrant workers, while nodding in passing at their contribution to the economy.
“This problematic situation is the result of the free movement of persons with the European Union, a lax approach to family regroupings, the presence of many clandestine people and the increase in the number of asylum seekers,” says the UDC declaration Saturday. “According to forecasts by the Federal Office of Statistics, the population will continue to grow massively until 2035, thanks to immigration. As many as 10 million people could soon be living in Switzerland, if the different scenarios that have been laid out are to be believed.”
Swiss natural population growth, and international immigration: the federal gov’t forecasts
Ed. note: these are part of a series of federal maps, not including one showing inter-cantonal migration. This explains the difference between total growth in cantons such as Vaud, and the sum of natural growth and international migration. Note that the figures are per thousand, so in percentages, natural growth in Vaud, for example, is 1.8 percent, compared to international immigration, which is 8.6 percent. Read more…
Update 30 Novembr Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Lausanne-based IOC (International Olympic Committee) is reportedly asking the BBC to share with it proof that Issa Hayatou accepted bribes in the 1980s and 1990s. Hayatou is president of the Cameroon Football Association and a member of his country’s Olympic national committee. The bribe was mentioned on the BBC Panorama show that aired Monday evening 29 November.
The bribes scandal that Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officials said in mid-November they hoped would not affect the selection process 1-2 December of World Cup host cities now threatens to overshadow voting, at least in world media. Swiss-German media over the weekend revealed details of what appears to be three more Fifa officials who also accepted bribes for their votes in the World Cup selection process.
Six officials were sanctioned 17 November for accepting bribes. Swiss sports officials have said they are reviewing the situation to see if laws were broken, given that Fifa is a Swiss-based non-profit organization.
Ricardo Teixeira, Brazil, Nicolas Leoz, Paraguay and Issa Hayatou, Cameroon were Monday 29 November named by Tagez-Anzeiger as the three officials mentioned by SonntagsZeitung on Sunday.
Crime rate low, but insecurity an issue; de-centralization carries day on higher taxes for wealthy: voters strongly refuse initiative
Geneva rejects longer shopping hours, Vaud town says yes to Lake Geneva public access
Update 2, 21:10 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss media and political parties are scrambling Sunday evening 28 November to analyze the significance of a solid majority of voters approving the right-wing UDC (SVP, Swiss People’s Party) popular initiative to automatically expel foreigners found guilty of serious crimes. Fifty-two percent of voters went to the polls and approved the foreign criminals initiative by 52.9 percent. Not a single canton accepted parliament’s alternative counter-initiative. French-speaking cantons, with the exception of bilingual but French-majority Valais , rejected the UDC proposal, but all German-speaking and German-majority cantons voted for it except the city of Basel.
Voters also resoundingly rejected a Socialist popular “fair taxes” initiative that would have obliged some cantons with low taxes for wealthy people to raise their tax rates. It failed by 58.5 percent.
The Federal Justice and Police Department Sunday evening issued a notice that the government will set up a working group before the Christmas break to begin looking at how the foreign criminals vote can be implemented. In its statement it noted that:
“The working group will have the task of examining open questions and drafting a proposal as to how the initiative can be implemented, which the FDJP can subsequently put to the Federal Council. Ultimately it will fall to parliament to decide how the initiative is to be implemented in the form of a federal act. The Federal Council will also be counting on the sponsors of the initiative to keep the pledge they made before the vote to contribute constructively to producing a solution that is compatible with the constitution and international law.”
Sunday and late shopping in Geneva fails while La Tour-de-Peilz says yes to public lakefront
Voters also settled a number of cantonal and communal issues. In the Lake Geneva region: Geneva voters rejected later shopping hours while in canton Vaud the town of La Tour-de-Peilz voted in favour of making the Lake Geneva waterfront accessible to the public.
What the foreign criminals vote means
Bern and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Sports Office Director Matthias Remund is reported by The Guardian in the UK to be looking at the possibility of investigating Fifa, the international football body, in the case of the recent scandal over World Cup football votes. Fifa is a Swiss non-profit based in Zurich, and Remund told the newspaper he is looking into whether or not Swiss laws have been broken.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - UBS shareholders have sent a strong measure to the bank’s directors and executives: they approved a remuneration package in a non-binding vote, the first time the issue has been put to a vote. But 40 percent of shareholders present said “no” and 5 percent abstained, for an approval rating of only 55 percent. Shareholders traditionally vote far more heavily in favour of items placed on the agenda by the board.
A moment of black humour came when Kaspar Villiger, chairman of the board and former finance minister for Switzerland, was asked by a small shareholder how much time his predecessor, Peter Kurer, had spent teaching him the ropes of his new job, for which he was presumably emminently qualified. Kurer was paid an additional CHF1 million for the handover, according to figures in the annual report. There was laughter when Villiger replied that his wife had asked him the same thing when she read the annual report.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A US official in Geneva says that the United States “is very concerned” over the possibility of Iran becoming a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Iran is one of five countries presenting themselves for four seats. The vote will take place 13 May. The other countries vying for the Asia region seats are: Thailand, Qatar, Malaysia and the Maldives.
Iran would like the seat, says the official, “for legitimacy.” But the US is worried that the council, still struggling to leave behind the tattered reputation of its predecessor organization, the UN Human Rights Commission, will be weakened by the presence of a country with Iran’s poor record on human rights. The US was highly critical of Iran in February when it came up for its UPR (Universal Periodic Review). This is a regular assessment each country undergoes by others, of its human rights performance.
Fortunately, says the official, who asked not to be named, the other candidates are anxious to have council seats.
The US is not alone in arguing against admitting Iran.
A group of llamas and goats from an Australian circus that were stolen from the pound where police put them has been the big news story in Ireland Friday and Saturday 2-3 October, although more than 50 percent of eligible voters did turn their attention to the referendum on the European Union long enough to vote. The votes are being counted at Dublin Castle Saturday morning with 516 accredited media organizations from around the world in attendance. Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Meanwhile, unaware perhaps of the key vote, a group of three goats and five llamas “ran wild” on the M50 motorway near Dublin Thursday noon after their gate at the Australian Circus Sydney, staying at Tallaght, was left open. Police took in the errant animals and put them in a pound, demanding €5,500 for their return. During the night hard-working thieves took the animals, reports the Irish Times: “The thieves traversed eight fields, opened up ditches and travelled two kilometres on foot to the shed where the animals were being kept.” The owner, who says he did not know where the animals were being kept by police, suspects animal rights activists. He says the tamed animals are worth at least €2,000 each, but are useless except to circuses.
Links to other sites: Irish votes live on Irish Times
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Voters in canton Vaud decide Sunday 27 September if they want to create a single canton-wide police force that combines the existing cantonal police and the various municipal forces. Lausanne’s voters will also decide where to put two new stadiums that the city wants to build.
On the same day in Geneva, voters will decide yet again on smoking in public places, and they will vote on whether or not to lower taxes. Also on the ballot: a change in the annual automobile fee. The city wants to penalize carbon dioxide-emitting passenger cars.
Details:
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has officially received nearly 55 percent of the vote in recent elections, according to official tallies published Wednesday. The winner will nevertheless be declared officially only in several weeks. The European Union reacted sharply, saying that one-quarter of the votes could be fraudulent, a criticism Karzai angrily rejected. World leaders are divided over how to react to allegations of fraud from several quarters. Al Jazeera, BBC, Yahoo News/Reuters
