Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

While the foreign ministry has announced that it has evacuated diplomatic personnel from Iran and Israel, it is not currently considering evacuating Swiss nationals – an issue that comes up again and again in every major conflict or emergency in the world.

From now on, fewer young people will be eligible for civilian service. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Today the House of Representatives voted to tighten the conditions for admission to civilian service. The Senate, meanwhile, supports the allocation of more resources to local radio and television.

The House of Representatives decided to make civilian service, which replaces military service in the civilian sector, less attractive. By 119 votes to 73, parliamentarians adopted a series of measures proposed by the government that should reduce the number of people admitted to civilian service each year from 6,600 to 4,000.

Like the House of Representatives, the Senate also recommended by 34 votes to nine that the initiative “For a committed Switzerland” be rejected, without a counterproposal. The initiative calls for the introduction of citizen service for all.

The Senate adopted by 34 votes to five a package of measures in favour of the media, which provides for an increase in the proportion of the licence fee allocated to local radio and television stations with a performance mandate. The House of Representatives still has to vote on this.

More information on this topic:

Summary of the parliamentary sessionExternal link on RTS (French)

A street in Tehran. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The foreign ministry has evacuated five of the 12 Swiss diplomats stationed in Iran with their families. As a result of the conflict between Israel and Iran, the foreign ministry has received 130 requests from Swiss nationals wishing to leave the Jewish state or the Islamic Republic.

“The foreign ministry has decided to concentrate its activities in Tehran on diplomatic matters. Swiss staff who are not active on the diplomatic front have left Iran by land,” the ministry’s head of communications, Nicolas Bideau, told Swiss public broadcaster, RTS. 

Ambassador Nadine Olivieri is still in Iran, where she leads Swiss diplomacy, which is currently active as part of its mandate to protect US interests in Iran. “The Swiss channel is active for both parties and in both directions,” Bideau said.

Because of the conflict between Israel and Iran, many Swiss nationals are waiting to leave the war-torn region. Around 70 are in Israel and around 60 in Iran. The Swiss government is not currently planning any organised departures or evacuations.

At the same time, Iranians living in exile in Switzerland fear for their loved ones back home. Some harbour the faint hope that the mullahs’ regime will come to an end.

More information on this topic:

RTS explainsExternal link (French)
 
Reactions from Iranians in SwitzerlandExternal link – SRF (German)
 
Why Switzerland is not evacuating its citizens from the Middle EastExternal link – SRF (German)

According to the OECD, Switzerland must do more to combat corruption. (illustration image) Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Switzerland needs to do more to protect whistleblowers, as the OECD has been calling on it to do for the past 20 years. The absence of a legislative framework in this area makes the country an anomaly at European level.

Following a follow-up visit to Bern, the OECD working group on corruption acknowledged Switzerland’s active role in prosecuting transnational corruption cases but stressed the importance of the country adopting two essential legislative reforms.

The first would be to establish a legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers in the private sector. The second would be to raise the maximum fines applicable to companies found guilty of corruption of foreign public officials.

A new version of the federal anti-corruption strategy is being prepared for the period 2025-2028. However, in its audit in April, the Swiss Federal Audit Office noted that, despite clearly defined visions and objectives, the aim of the strategy “remains unclear and its ambition is timid”.

More information on this topic:

The RTS articleExternal link (French)
 
The OECD review reportExternal link
 
Information from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs on the fight against corruptionExternal link

The major Swiss bank has been hit by a major data theft. Keystone / Til Buergy

UBS and Geneva-based private bank Pictet are among the victims of a cyberattack that affected their subcontractor Chain IQ.

The data of 130,000 UBS employees, including the direct line of CEO Sergio Ermotti, has since been made available on the dark web, according to Le Temps on Wednesday.

The affair started with one of their subcontractors, Chain IQ, which was the target of a huge cyberattack carried out by a group of hackers called “Hunters International”. Chain IQ says it has alerted the cantonal police in Zug – where its headquarters are located – and informed its customers of the situation.

Both UBS and Pictet have said the stolen files do not contain any client information. However, they do contain sensitive staff information for UBS and invoice lines from Chain IQ for Pictet.

For Steven Meyer, director of cybersecurity firm Zendata, “this attack illustrates once again the extent to which the threat from suppliers is one of the most complex risks to manage”. In addition to UBS and Pictet, Chain IQ’s clients include department store Manor, construction giant Implenia and audit and consultancy firm KPMG.

More information on this topic:

The article in Le TempsExternal link (French, paywall)
 
The explanations in BlickExternal link and Tages-AnzeigerExternal link (both German)

 Translated from French by DeepL/ts