Switzerland Today
Greetings from Lausanne!
Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Friday.
In the news: more Swiss Olympic medals, climate activism, a global ranking of patents and Guy Parmelin in Berlin.
- Switzerland picked up three more medals at the Beijing Winter Games today. Lara Gut–BehramiExternal link won the women’s super-G and Michelle Gisin (photo above) took the bronze medal, coming 0.30 seconds behind her team-mate’s winning time. Jan Scherrer also won bronze in the men’s snowboard halfpipe.
- A record number of international patents were filed last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Switzerland was again ranked eighth place in the annual patent rankings published by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The total number of patents filed by the Alpine nation was up by 6% compared with 2020.
- A visiting delegation from Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders in Geneva showed an interest in dialogue with the international community, saidExternal link a senior Swiss diplomat who met the 11-member group on Thursday. He said they realise “that they must take the first step” to unblock more aid desperately needed in the war-battered country.
- A dozen climate activists have been given suspended finesExternal link in Lausanne for taking part in a demonstration in 2019 where they blocked a street in the city centre for six hours.
- Swiss minister Guy Parmelin is in Berlin today meeting Germany’s Education and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger. Discussions are due to centre on research, training and innovation and the European Union’s Horizon Europe research funding scheme. Researchers and officials at Swiss universities and Swiss industry are worried about Switzerland’s inability to fully participate in the EU Horizon programme. This follows Switzerland’s decision in 2021 to pull the plug on a draft treaty binding it more tightly to the European bloc.
Fancy a weekend break in a Zurich slammer?
If you are over 18, live in Zurich and don’t mind prison food or confined spaces – the cantonal authorities may have the ideal weekend break for you.
They are organising a test run of the new Zurich West prison and are on the look-out for volunteers who can do time between March 24 and 27.
So far, the idea of doing porridge to experience real prison conditions has seized the imagination of 600 volunteers who have signed up online for one of the 241 places.
Those who are chosen as pretend jailbirds will have to surrender electronic devices, including mobile phones, and will be offered halal, vegetarian or meat menus. Strip searches on arrival are optional and successful applicants cannot transfer their ‘get into jail’ pass to anyone else.
Prison director Marc Eiermann told the Le Temps newspaperExternal link that volunteers should not expect a “holiday camp” but would be free to leave at any time.
He added that the pilot project should be a good way of “ensuring the proper functioning of daily operations and allowing wardens to familiarise themselves with the facility”.
The prison opens officially to real inmates in April.
Twenty per cent discount offered to women in Geneva to compensate for gender pay gap.
Geneva city council has decided to grant female residents a 20% discount for entries to sports and cultural venues. The measure aims to compensate gender pay gaps.
The council adoptedExternal link a motion on Wednesday evening. The Geneva Administrative Council must now implement the decision.
Supporters say the proposalExternal link, which was backed by politicians on the left, and several officials from the Centre and MCG parties after lengthy debate, is a good way of compensating for wage inequalities. Parties on the right, however, argued that by correcting one injustice politicians were creating another.
Almost 2,200 people are homeless in Switzerland, according to federal data.
It’s estimated that 150 million people worldwideExternal link are homeless. Despite the country’s wealthy reputation, Switzerland is no exception. Just under 600,000 people are thought to be affected by poverty. And every winter, as temperatures drop, emergency shelters can’t meet the demand for warm beds, sparking a regular debate on the number of people living on the streets.
Homelessness is a difficult phenomenon to address and quantify. But a new studyExternal link on homelessness in Switzerland carried out in 616 communes (out of 2,142) in 22 cantons on behalf of the Federal Housing Office has provided some first numbers. Researchers calculated 2,200 people are living on the streets and an additional 8,000 people are threatened with losing their homes.
Homelessness mainly affects residents in large Swiss cities and towns, while the threat of losing one’s home is also present in smaller municipalities and rural areas. There are more homeless people in Swiss-German cantons than in French- or Italian-speaking parts of the country. The most common causes of homelessness and risk of homelessness are over-spending, debt and drug problems, as well as “social factors and migration,” the report said.
However, there are question marks over the federal statistics. Alain Bolle, director of the Protestant Centre in Geneva, which looks after homeless people, says the total is very much underestimated. He said a University of Geneva study had reported 700 homeless in Geneva alone last March.
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