Campaign calls for racism-free electioneering
Swiss anti-racism groups have urged politicians not to play the racism card during this year's electoral campaign.
They say they are alarmed by the rise in racist propaganda in the run-up to October’s general elections and have urged candidates from all parties to sign up to an anti-racism charter.
The Fairness Campaign – launched on Friday – is the brainchild of the Swiss Forum against Racism, which represents over 30 anti-racist organisations.
It says there has been a blatant rise in the use of discriminatory imagery and references in electoral campaigns since last summer.
Campaigners say black asylum seekers have been particularly targeted, and they have urged parties not to single out specific cultural, ethnic and religious groups.
“We’ve noticed that politicians have started using populist arguments concerning the law on foreigners and naturalisation and making discriminatory or even racist speeches,” Hanspeter Bigler, head of the Swiss Society for Threatened Peoples, told swissinfo.
The rightwing Peoples’ Party has been accused of inciting racial hatred by means of a controversial poster campaign depicting asylum seekers in Switzerland.
Charter
The Forum has urged candidates from all political parties to endorse a charter pledging to respect international human rights conventions, such as the United Nations Convention Against Racism, ahead of the general election.
“Politicians need to know that there are certain regulations and parameters that cannot be crossed,” Bigler explains.
“And it’s not just the right-wing politicians. There are xenophobic tendencies in all the parties and that’s why we have to make them aware of the rules they have to obey.”
Bigler said a survey would also be carried out among all politicians as part of the campaign.
The study will look into issues of racism in relation to education, employment rights, civil rights, police violence and minority groups. The results are due to be published ahead of the election on October 19.
The extent of unease over asylum seekers in Switzerland came to a head last November, when nearly half of Swiss voters supported a proposal by the People’s Party to tighten asylum laws.
The initiative would effectively have closed the door to 95 per cent of asylum seekers.
swissinfo with agencies
Anti-racism campaigners have called on politicians not to target specific ethnic, religious or cultural groups in their campaigns ahead of general elections in October.
They say they are alarmed by the rise in racist propaganda since last summer.
The campaign calls on politicians to sign-up to an anti-discrimination charter.
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