Switzerland defends racism record at UN rights council

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

The Swiss Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council has said that an expert report criticising structural racism in the country included “misunderstandings”.

Jürg Lauber said on Monday that while the fight against racism was urgent, a more detailed investigation of the structural racism flagged by a UN working group in January was needed.

Lauber said the findings of the group included “assumptions” and “misunderstandings” which are “not representative of the situation [in Switzerland]”. “Numerous general conclusions seem to be based on only one or several individual cases,” Lauber said. He regretted the fact that discussions with Swiss authorities, which fed into the report, did not last longer.

Echoing the conclusions of January’s report, working group president Catherine Namakula told the HRC that the members of her group were “extremely worried” about attitudes towards policing and justice in Switzerland.

The original 59-point documentExternal link drafted by the group outlined various problems faced by people of African descent in Switzerland, including what it called “shocking reports of police brutality and the expectation of impunity for police misconduct, extending over decades”.

It also criticised an “insufficient recognition” of Swiss ties to colonialism and the African slave trade, which it says is directly connected to the country’s modern wealth, notably through the profits made by banks and industries linked to slavery in the past.

Lauber said that the Swiss Service for Combatting RacismExternal link will publish its report on the situation in the coming weeks.