Petition demands multinationals be held to account

The 217,509 signatures were collected within 100 days © Keystone / Anthony Anex

The “Coalition for Responsible Multinationals” has submitted a petition with 217,509 signatures to the Federal Chancellery. It calls on the government and parliament to enact an effective law for corporate responsibility, based on an EU model.

Exactly two years after the vote to hold Swiss companies accountable for their actions abroad narrowly failed – the initiative was accepted by 50.7% of voters but rejected by a majority of cantons – the initiators have submitted a petition to Bern.

As the EU prepares to introduce a law on the responsibility of multinationals, the government must keep the promise it made during the 2020 referendum campaign, said coalition member and former parliamentarian Dick Marty on Thursday.

“If a multinational like Glencore violates human rights or destroys the environment, it’s still not held accountable,” said Chantal Peyer, political advisor to charity HEKS and also a member of the coalition’s committee.

New violations

Since the vote in November 2020, new cases of human rights violations and environmental pollution by multinationals based in Switzerland have regularly been made public, the coalition pointed out. At the end of September, Tamedia newspapers revealedExternal link that Swiss bank UBS was financing Brazilian agribusiness multinationals involved in illegal deforestation.

The world’s leading container shipping company MSC has its ships dismantled in catastrophic conditions on Indian beaches, the coalition said. In addition, new documents reveal how Syngenta concealed the dangers of its pesticide Paraquat.

“Multinational companies must be held accountable for the damage they cause. This is the only way to avoid such problems in future,” concluded Rahel Ruch, director of the Coalition for Responsible Multinationals.