Swiss Politics

Year to celebrate Swiss-Russian links

This content was published on Feb 14, 2006 These include the opening of the first official Swiss mission in St Petersburg 190 years ago and the 100th anniversary of the Swiss diplomatic presence in Russia. The year will offer exhibitions, concerts and concerts celebrating the two countries’ relationship over the past two hundred years, as well as looking forward to the future. “The…

Swiss Politics

Swiss hoist their flag at Turin Olympics

This content was published on Feb 9, 2006 Schmid took part in Thursday’s welcome ceremony of the Swiss delegation in the Olympic village in Turin, Italy. At the ceremony the Swiss flag was hoisted and he wished the 130 members of the Swiss team the best of luck for the competitions over the next two weeks. He thanked the mayor of the Olympic…

Swiss Politics

More than 100,000 expats vote

This content was published on Feb 9, 2006 The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) says that while it is satisfied with this politically significant figure, it will continue to encourage people to exercise their rights. “We are very satisfied because we have been encouraging people to register for some time now,” OSA spokesman Marc Demierre told swissinfo. The symbolic 100,000 mark was…

Swiss Politics

Geneva looks to cement international status

This content was published on Feb 7, 2006 The pledge of support comes as preparations to welcome a new United Nations human rights body to the western Swiss city gather pace. Senior Swiss diplomats told a news conference on Tuesday that Geneva faced increasing competition from cities around the world eager to attract international organisations. Geneva is home to a host of world…

Swiss Politics

Social aid abusers face fines in Zurich

This content was published on Feb 6, 2006 But specialists say administrative fines are just overkill and other measures are sufficient to deal with abuses of the social system. On Monday Zurich’s parliament, led by the centre-right, decided to toughen the canton’s law on social aid, introducing special fines for abusers for the first time in Switzerland. The left, which opposed these new…

Swiss Politics

Campaigners want progress on tobacco treaty

This content was published on Feb 5, 2006 The appeal comes as the Geneva-based World Health Organization hosts its first meeting on Monday to assess progress on the anti-tobacco convention, which came into force a year ago. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) sets out strict deadlines for countries to ban tobacco advertising and slap bigger health warnings on cigarette packets. Switzerland…

Swiss Politics

Quotas for Swiss diplomats causes outcry

This content was published on Feb 5, 2006 Calmy-Rey turned a blind eye to recommendations by an expert panel and insisted on an equal number of male and female diplomatic novices. Three of the 19 members of the panel handed in their resignations in protest at the decision of the foreign minister. Calmy-Rey rejected six male candidates even though they had all passed…

Swiss Politics

Swiss aid for Palestinians continues unabated

This content was published on Feb 3, 2006 Although the Swiss foreign ministry has given assurances that its aid programme will not be affected by Hamas’s victory, other major international donors are threatening to withdraw funding. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Gaza and the West Bank has a budget this year of SFr25 million ($19 million), which is administered…

Swiss Politics

Swiss need to work harder at peacekeeping

This content was published on Feb 1, 2006 Holbrooke believes Switzerland has fallen behind the likes of Norway as global diplomats and should commit more troops to peacekeeping efforts. The former US ambassador to the United Nations, who was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia, was speaking at the opening of the Human Rights…

Swiss Politics

Long-term aid pledged to Afghanistan

This content was published on Jan 31, 2006 State secretary for foreign affairs, Michael Ambühl, is representing Switzerland at the two-day London Conference on Afghanistan which started on Tuesday. The international summit is to agree a five-year plan to boost reconstruction efforts in the central Asian country, and combat violence and narcotics. The “Afghanistan Compact”, which the international community is expected to sign…

Swiss Politics

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