Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
What carries you to foreign lands but never leaves your pocket? Hint: it used to be the world’s seventh best travel essential but is now in the top five. It’s the Swiss passport. The new Henley Passport Index has been released and while countries like Japan or the United States are losing spots, Switzerland seems to be on an upward trajectory.
And if you’re not in the mood for traveling and want to enjoy some swimming in Swiss rivers and lakes, be careful, because this year Switzerland has recorded a sharp increase in child drowning.
But first, let’s take a look at today’s news stories.
In the news: Swiss authorities shut small airspace owning to forest fires, the dream of the Winter Olympics and Switzerland’s fight against war crimes in Ukraine.
- Swiss forest fires: hang gliders cause airspace restriction. Swiss authorities have temporarily shut the airspace over a small part of southwestern Switzerland because recreational gliders have endangered the work of emergency teams battling a persistent forest fire in the area.
- Sports minister backs Swiss Winter Olympics. Sports Minister Viola Amherd is in favour of a Winter Olympic Games that are “sustainable, tailor-made for Switzerland and widely supported”. Whether local voters can be convinced is another matter. The past shows that while politicians may be keen on hosting the Games, the locals are less so.
- Swiss Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider discussed the war in Ukraine with her European Union (EU) counterparts, saying that Switzerland is “determined to prosecute war crimes and to provide support to partner authorities or the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
The most powerful passports of 2023 revealed: Switzerland jumps into the top five.
After claiming the title of the most powerful passport in the world for five years, Japan has been knocked off the number one position of the Henley Passport IndexExternal link. Singapore has claimed the crown this summer.
While international mediaExternal link has taken note of this major shake-up in the passport power ranking, the improved prospects of a Swiss passport hasn’t got much attention at home. Nevertheless, Switzerland has jumped from seventh place in 2022 to the fifth in 2023, together with Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway and Portugal.
If you hold a Swiss passport, you will now be able to visit 187 countries without a visa. Historically, Switzerland has been fluctuating between fifth and seventh place, reaching a low in 2010, when it was 10th and peaking in 2006 taking the fourth spot.
At the very top of the Henley Passport Index is Singapore, with 192 visa-free countries, Germany, Italy and Spain rank second with 190 destinations and Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden share the third spot with easy access to 189 countries.
Both the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) have been on a downward trend in the past few years. The US ranked first in 2014, but is now at eighth place. The UK went from the top of the list in 2015 to seventh place in 2020 following Brexit. However, the British passport is now gaining strength, reaching the fourth place in 2023.
Frightening record for summer 2023: in Switzerland more children are drowning than in recent years.
This week Europe has been hit by a major heatwave and with temperatures rising in Switzerland, more and more people are looking for refreshing swimming spots in and out of the cities.
But today a report by Swiss public television SRFExternal link has revealed that in 2023 the Swiss Lifesaving Society has registered more children drowning on average than in the past few years. While three to four children dying in swimming accidents annually is the norm, so far six children have already drowned.
“Because the season will continue for a couple of months, it can be assumed that the number will increase,” said Christoph Merki, a member of the organisation. On top of this, the number of serious swimming accidents for children has increased too.
“We have already registered seven swimming accidents this year,” said Diana Repucci, senior physician at the University Children’s Hospital in Basel. This figure is already higher than last year, and many children end up in the intensive care unit and suffer serious consequences, because “oxygen supply is usually interrupted for a long time”, Repucci told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.
It is still unclear why this sharp increase has been recorded, but Merki explains that one of the risk factors is that drowning incidents can happen very quickly. Therefore, he’s drawing attention to the first bathing rule: never leave children unattended in the water.
More
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
