Hundreds of racism cases documented in 2022 in Switzerland

A demonstration against racism and police violence in Lausanne, April 2, 2022. © Keystone / Jean-guy Python

Cases of racial discrimination are on the rise in Switzerland. In 2022, 708 cases of racial discrimination were reported across the country, 78 more than the previous year, according to an annual report compiled by counselling centres. 

As in the previous year, the cases of discrimination recorded by the members of the Network of Counselling Centres for Victims of Racism occurred most often in the workplace (133 cases) and in the education sector (116 cases), according to a report by the Federal Commission against Racism (FCR) and humanrights.ch, published on Sunday. Other areas heavily affected are local administration (96 cases), the neighborhood and district (82), as well as the private sector (67). This uptick in numbers reflects an increased willingness of the population to engage against racism, according to the report. 

The increase in the number of reports in education specifically can be explained by a greater awareness of the students concerned and their relatives, according to the annual report. They also reflect the greater attention paid by the institutions to racist incidents and the fact that they report them more, says Gina Vega, head of the Network of Counselling Centres for Victims of Racism.

For example, one school principal approached a counselling centre after seeing an increase in racist incidents. These included insults to young people with a migrant background, right-wing extremist symbols in the toilets and the word “nigger” carved on a door. In one class, a discussion about these incidents became heated after the teacher said the same word.

The most common grounds for discrimination were anti-Black racism (276 cases) and xenophobia (275 cases). Last year, a United Nations working group expressed concern “about the prevalence of racial discrimination and the human rights situation of people of African descent in Switzerland”. This is most often manifested in the form of unequal treatment, insults or denigrating treatment.

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Other forms of racism, however, are common and deserve an equally important place in the public debate, she adds. For example, there were 47 cases of anti-Arab racism, as well as 44 cases of anti-Muslim racism and 40 cases of hostility toward Asians. The cases assessed in the report represent the “tip of the iceberg,” its authors warn. Many racist incidents go unreported.