Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
What worries you the most? Is it consuming unethical chocolate linked to child labour, or the possibility of your internet conversations being monitored by the secret services? Well, today's top stories from Switzerland cover a bit of both.
But first, let’s take a look at the news.
In the news: frozen Russian assets, train strikes and new definition of rape.
- A Swiss Senate commission has rejected a series of motions from the House of Representatives urging the Swiss government to commit to allowing Ukraine to use frozen Russia assets for reconstruction. These funds, frozen as part of the international sanctions against Moscow, are causing division in the Swiss parliament.
- Train strikes in Germany are expected to result in numerous cancellations for cross-border passenger services in Switzerland as well. Swiss Federal Railways has announced suitable replacements for cancellations on Swiss segments.
- Switzerland will enforce new definition of rape from July. The new criminal law on sex offences, with a revised definition of rape (“no means no”), will come into force on July 1.
Swiss chocolate: the best in the world? Not for children in Ghana.
Despite assuring that combating child labour is one of its main priorities, Lindt’s supply chain in cocoa plantations in Ghana has faced child labour accusations by Swiss public television, SRFExternal link.
An investigation by SRF’s programme “Rundschau” revealed that many children in the Ghanaian villages where Swiss chocolate company Lindt & Sprüngli sources its cocoa, frequently miss school days. Children as young as five are forced to work as cheap harvest labourers instead of attending school.
While Lindt is not the only company affected by this issue, the Zurich-based chocolatier sources cocoa from approximately 80,000 farmers in Ghana – making it one of the most important buyers of cocoa in the country.
In response, Lindt wrote that the systemic factors leading to child labour are very difficult to influence. However, Ghanaian journalist Kwetey Nartey finds that “the monitoring by the chocolate company is inadequate.”
Online state surveillance: Swiss conversations could be intercepted by secret services.
Do you remember when former CIA technical assistant Edward Snowden leaked details of extensive internet surveillanceExternal link by American intelligence in 2013?
The scandal led to a heated global debate on online privacy and in 2016, federal intelligence law was put to a vote in Switzerland too. At that time, the Swiss government promised that the Swiss would not be affected by comprehensive surveillance of internet traffic. However, a recent investigation by Swiss newspaper RepublikExternal link proves otherwise.
Republik reports that Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) automatically analyses messages, emails and online searches that pass through the Alpine country. When certain keywords are identified, the specialists carry out in-depth analysis.
The FIS assured that this method is only used for communications originating from or going to foreign countries, but “in a globalised network it’s impossible to identify messages that only contain communications to and from abroad,” writes Swiss newspaper Le TempsExternal link.
So, communications from Swiss residents can be inadvertently intercepted. The FIS said that these communications are deleted after 18 months at the latest. A spokesperson for the FIS denied the information in the article, stating that they “never carry out generalised surveillance of the population or mass surveillance”.
More
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
