Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Some travel to France to avoid Swiss military service, while others travel to Geneva to avoid dying in the Gaza strip.
In today’s briefing we look at the story of a young dual citizen who completed his military service in one day, and the journey of four Palestinian children who have finally obtained humanitarian visas to receive medical treatment in Switzerland.
In the news: a new investigation into deadly landslide, funding cuts to UN body for Palestinian refugees and an international vaccine bank.
- The Graubünden Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a new investigation six and a half years after the rockslide that claimed the lives of eight hikers in Bondo. Five people are facing criminal proceedings for “multiple negligent homicide”.
- The United Nations’ top leaders say they are alarmed by UNRWA funding freeze. The suspension by several countries of their funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, will have “catastrophic consequences” for the Gaza Strip, warned the heads of several UN organisations.
- A Russian billionaire lost an art fraud suit against Sotheby’s. A US federal jury has ruled in favour of Sotheby’s at a trial in which the Russian billionaire oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev accused the auction house of defrauding him out of tens of millions of dollars in art sales.
- The Red Cross wants an ‘international vaccine bank’ for pandemics. In a report released in Geneva, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) made this a condition for equitable access.
From the horrors of the war to the shores of Lake Geneva: four Gazan children receive treatment in a Swiss hospital.
On Tuesday, four Palestinian children injured in the Gaza strip arrived in Switzerland with their families to receive medical treatment in Geneva. This is the first time Switzerland has issued humanitarian visas to Gazans since the outbreak of the war, as reported by Swiss newspaper Le TempsExternal link.
The four, aged between 14 months and 17 years, arrived with the help of the Children’s Rights for Healthcare association. They will be treated in a private clinic, as they require orthopaedic, reconstructive, neurological and plastic surgery, as well as physical rehabilitation and the provision of prostheses.
The process to issue the 90-day visas to the children and their mothers was anything but smooth. Geneva urologist Raouf Salti fought for months to persuade Switzerland to accept children from Gaza, and at the end of last year, he finally got permission from the State Secretariat for Migration.
But then, the approval from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israel was also needed. In December, the list of children accepted by the Swiss authorities had to be revised: some had already sought treatment in other countries, others had passed away.
A single day in the army to avoid the Swiss military service? It may sound absurd, but some dual nationals do have this option.
Military service in Switzerland is mandatory for all Swiss men, requiring 245 days in the military – or 368 days in civilian service. However, if you have a French and Swiss passport there’s a way round this.
Dual citizens have the privilege of choosing the country in which they want to fulfil their military service. In France, for example, military service is completed after just one day and Switzerland recognises this as an equivalent service.
Today, the Swiss newspaper Tages AnzeigerExternal link tells the story of Yann R., a dual citizen who managed to bypass recruit school and training courses in Switzerland by spending just one day in Paris.
Over the past five years, approximately 800 men have avoided Swiss military service by travelling to France. But is there no catch? Not quite. As France has not yet abolished compulsory military service, Swiss-French dual nationals, like Yann R., would be obligated to serve in France in the event of war.
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