Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Happy St Nicholas Day! Is the Feast of St Nicholas celebrated where you live? Here’s a reminder from our archives of what the tradition is all about – and Swiss efforts to keep it alive.

Also today, a timeline of Swiss involvement in the Middle East conflict, and a shocking cautionary tale of what can happen if you ask the wrong person to look after your pet while you’re out of the country…

© Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

In the news:  Intangible cultural heritage, the return of a probably stolen sculpture to Libya, and the best railway station in Europe.

• UNESCO has inscribed the Swiss Alpine season and the multinational traditional irrigation practised in Switzerland on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As an exemplary tradition of the Swiss mountain regions, the Alpine season combines skills, customs and rituals related to Alpine farming, the Federal Office of Culture said.
• The culture office has also handed over the marble sculpture of the head of a young woman to the Libyan Embassy in Bern. The sculpture is 19 centimetres high and dates from between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. The object, confiscated during criminal proceedings in 2016 on suspicion that it had come from a looted excavation, probably comes from the archaeological site of the ancient city of Cyrene in present-day Libya.
• Zurich’s main station has once again been voted the best railway station in Europe. Bern took third place, while the five most passenger-unfriendly railway stations are all in Germany, according to the European Railway Station Index.

Illustration; Helen James / SWI swissinfo.ch

The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian war represents the latest chapter in a long-standing conflict in the Middle East. We look at the main milestones – and Switzerland’s positions – since the First Zionist Congress, held in Basel in 1897.

Determining the starting point of the conflict in the Middle East can be a matter of perspective. While some trace its origin to ancient times, or to the late 19th-century Jewish migration, this timeline begins with the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. 

Opting for this starting point, particularly due to the event’s location, underscores Switzerland’s historical connection to the conflict. The Alpine country’s positions and policies through the decades have been marked by a careful balance between neutrality and humanitarian commitment, consistently aligning with the United Nations’ resolutions on the matter. 

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

If you go abroad and ask someone to look after a pet, make sure it’s someone you trust. A Geneva resident got a nasty surprise on returning home after two weeks away.

Stève R., from the Geneva suburb of Carouge, needed back surgery and after the operation spent two weeks convalescing in Turkey at the end of October, newspaper 24 Heuresreported todayExternal link. But when he returned, he was surprised to find his three-room flat, where he had lived for 23 years, occupied by a family of five – two adults and three children!

It turns out the acquaintance, to whom he had entrusted the house keys to do him a favour and look after his pet lizard, had signed a subletting contract with the family behind his back. What’s more, all his personal belongings and furniture had been removed from the flat. According to local newspaper GHI, the family had paid several thousand francs to the acquaintance, who has since disappeared.

Stève R.’s lawyer, Igor Zacharia, filed a criminal complaint for breach of trust with the public prosecutor’s office – which refused to evacuate the family. “I was told to lodge an application with the Leases and Rents Tribunal,” Zacharia said. “My client also contacted the owner of the flat, the Carouge Real Estate Foundation, who initially told him they couldn’t do anything until the court ordered the evacuation.”

Zacharia says his client is now condemned to being homeless. He is staying with friends and has to move two or three times a week, despite being disabled as a result of his operation, he said. Stève R. tried to move back in on November 5 by ringing the doorbell of his own flat, but the occupants called the police, who refused to let him in.

“Everyone’s passing the buck,” Zacharia said. The public prosecutor’s office says it has no authority to evacuate the current occupants. As for the Carouge Real Estate Foundation, it has lodged a complaint and launched a claim, but it will take at least three months before the situation changes. The lawyer has therefore lodged a complaint against his client’s acquaintance as well as against the family occupying the flat.

Neighbours in the building concerned don’t seem happy with the situation either and have even launched a petition denouncing “the numerous nuisances and security problems caused by the illegal occupants”.

Christian Dandrès, a lawyer with the Geneva Association for the Defence of Tenants, confirms that the Leases and Rents Tribunal does indeed have jurisdiction to rule on the question of the existence of a lease and to order the evacuation of the tenants. The Public Prosecutor’s Office only intervenes in cases of trespassing.

So the tribunal will rule on the merits of the case, i.e. whether or not a tenancy agreement exists. This is expected to take at least three months. Dandrès believes that mediation with the current occupants would be appropriate. “There are two victims in this story, the tenant and the family,” he said. “The family has certainly been cheated out of several months’ rent.”

Stève R. doesn’t agree with this assessment of the family as victims. “I don’t think the current occupants are acting in good faith. They left my name on the door and, according to my neighbours, helped to empty the flat of furniture. They were also questioned by the police following my visit.”

For the man who had lived in the flat for 23 years, this turn of events has a bitter taste. “I’m the one who has to be rehoused when they’re the ones who should be evicted!”