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Swiss Politics

Split by arbitrary borders

This content was published on Dec 23, 2003 Supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), a local aid organisation is working to promote dialogue between the town’s citizens and the guards who watch over them. Our arrival at the horizontal barrier which serves as the Uzbek customs post seems to cause a good deal of agitation. “No photographs”, are the…

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Swiss Politics

A valley divided

This content was published on Dec 23, 2003 The potential for conflict is ever present among the eight million inhabitants who belong to dozens of ethnic and religious groups. Our first glimpse of the place is from the Kamchik Pass. Rather than a valley, the Fergana looks like an immense plain. Mainly Uzbek territory, it is surrounded by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Fergana…

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Swiss Politics

Equality is the first casualty of crisis politics

This content was published on Dec 21, 2003 swissinfo asked Than Hyung Ballmer Cao, professor of gender politics at Geneva University, if the election marked a return to politics as an almost exclusively male occupation. There have only ever been four women members of government in Switzerland, and each of them, in one way or another, faced obstacles in this predominantly man’s world.…

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Swiss Politics

Switzerland’s women cabinet ministers

This content was published on Dec 19, 2003 Switzerland’s first-ever female cabinet minister, she took over the justice and police ministry in 1984. She was forced to resign, however, in 1988, following allegations that she tipped off her businessman husband about federal investigations into a company with which he was connected. Kopp was later cleared of charges that she had breached rules on…

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Swiss Politics

Young Swiss women take first steps in parliament

This content was published on Dec 19, 2003 Evi Allemann, Jasmin Hutter and Christa Markwalder Bär told swissinfo that they are striving to be accepted in the male-dominated world of politics. The three women, aged between 25 and 28, started their careers as members of the cantonal governments of Bern and St Gallen before they were voted into the House of Representatives on…

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Swiss Politics

Switzerland aims for bigger role on world stage

This content was published on Dec 18, 2003 A breath of fresh air blew in to the Swiss cabinet at the beginning of the year in the shape of the new foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey. “I wanted to bring foreign policy closer to the Swiss people,” Calmy-Rey said. In February Switzerland launched a humanitarian conference to prepare for war in Iraq, and in…

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Swiss Politics

Immigrants under no illusions about Blocher

This content was published on Dec 18, 2003 The hardliner from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party takes over as justice minister next month – a portfolio that includes asylum and migration issues. Speaking ahead of International Migrants Day, Sandro Cattacin, director of the Swiss Forum for Migration Studies, told swissinfo that immigrants already faced a tough time. “In Switzerland, the new wave of…

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Swiss Politics

Swiss inaugurate leaner army

This content was published on Dec 16, 2003 Last May, the Swiss voted in favour of government proposals to reduce the size of the army and restructure its civil protection scheme. Trumpets and tambourines hailed the launch of Switzerland’s smaller army which starts operating as a professional force on January 1, 2004. “The army has been adapted to meet new challenges,” Defence Minister…

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Swiss Politics

Swiss army to protect World Economic Forum

This content was published on Dec 15, 2003 The vote paves the way for a maximum of 6,500 troops to be deployed. The House of Representatives on Monday voted 92 in favour and 68 against; the Senate voted 31 for and eight against. Parliament had to be consulted because the use of more than 2,000 troops was being considered. Security at last year’s…

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Swiss Politics

Finance for Merz, while Blocher gets justice

This content was published on Dec 14, 2003 Rightwinger Blocher takes charge of justice and police affairs – which includes asylum policy – while Merz is the new finance minister. Both Blocher and Merz had wanted the finance portfolio, said the Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin. But both men accepted the posts they were offered during a meeting of the newly elected cabinet on…

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