Monika Schmutz, Switzerland’s ambassador in Lebanon has categorically excluded providing financial aid to the Lebanese government fearing a corrupt government would spend it inappropriately, according to RTS. Instead Switzerland will send money via aid agencies, as it has already done to the Lebanese Red Cross. The ambassador was in her office overlooking the port when […]
Masks now compulsory at Geneva Airport
This week, Geneva Airport made it compulsory for anyone entering its buildings to wear a face mask. The new rule applies to everyone entering the building, not only staff and passengers. In addition, hands must be disinfected upon entry. Those arriving without a mask can buy one from mask distributors at the airport. The new […]
Swiss court set to drop case on Iranian assassination in Vaud
On 24 April 1990, Kazem Rajavi, Iran’s former ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, was gunned down on his way home to Coppet, a town in canton Vaud near Geneva. A number of years before, after becoming critical of the Khomeini regime, Rajavi resigned from his diplomatic post and become the representative of the opposition National Council of Resistance […]
The shame of John Calvin: will “Black Lives Matter” force Switzerland to acknowledge its own history of human rights abusers?
By Andy Cohen Often referred to as the human rights or humanitarian capital of the world, Geneva has for decades managed to revere an ugly truth in the form of an authoritarian, if not murderous, religious abuser. The legacy of Reformist John Calvin – Jean Calvin in French, born Jehan Cauvin in Picardy – is […]
Swiss government files criminal complaint after crypto spying allegations
Last week, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), filed a criminal complaint over the alleged use of Crypto AG, a Swiss company, to engage in spying activities, according to the newspaper SonntagsZeitung. The complaint, which implicates America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and West German intelligence (BND), was filed with Switzerland’s federal public prosecutor last […]
Swiss government bans large gatherings
In a press release this morning, Switzerland’s federal government announced a ban on all events involving more than 1,000 people. “In view of the current situation and the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Council has categorised the situation in Switzerland as ‘particular’ in terms of the Epidemics Act. Large-scale events involving more than 1000 […]
Geneva regularises nearly 2,400 illegal immigrants
In 2017, the canton of Geneva launched a programme called Operation Papyrus to issue residence permits to undocumented foreigners living in the canton. Not all undocumented foreigners qualified for the scheme. Only those able to prove ten years of residence, if they had no children, or five years of residence if they had children, were […]
Geneva would like to offer Assange refuge
The canton of Geneva could ask Bern to issue a humanitarian visa to Julian Assange, the 48 year old WikiLeaks founder, according to the newspaper Tribune de Genève. Jean Rossiaud, a member of the canton’s parliament and the Green party, is behind the project. Last week he confirmed on Swiss television that he had met […]
Geneva considers more voting rights for foreigners
The government of the canton of Geneva is considering extending voting rights to some of the canton’s large population of foreign residents, according to Tribune de Genève. 41% of the canton’s population are not Swiss. The plan, supported by a majority of a commission (8 votes to 5 with 1 abstention) looking at the idea, […]
Terrorist attack planned in Geneva
A terrorist attack was planned on a fuel storage facility near the airport in Vernier in the canton of Geneva, according to the newspaper Le Temps. Swiss members of the Islamic State group, led by a man with the alias Abu Ilias al-Swisri, planned to blow up the facility in April or May 2019, according […]
