The Senate wants the government to ensure that human rights and international law are respected in the international fight against terrorism.
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It unanimously agreed a motion by Dick Marty, who has complained that United Nations blacklists of suspected terrorists violate the principles of the Swiss rule of law, notably the right of defendants to appeal and the presumption of innocence.
There is a risk that people are unjustly deprived of fundamental rights and freedoms for years, according to Marty, who in 2005 led an investigation by the Council of Europe into alleged illegal CIA secret prisons in Europe.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said Switzerland was committed to abiding by decisions of the UN Security Council. But she added that the policy of blacklisting could lead to problems for individuals.
The other parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives, is still to discuss the motion.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
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Bern wants UN to coordinate better on terrorism
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The Swiss ambassador to the UN, Peter Maurer, and representatives of Costa Rica, Japan, Slovakia and Turkey have put forward proposals about how the global strategy against terrorism agreed in the General Assembly in 2006 can be better coordinated. “The fight against terror on its own is not enough. It needs possible solutions how we…
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The Swiss investigator, speaking on the fringes of a Council of Europe conference, “Why terrorism?”, accused the Security Council of flouting its own principles and said the blacklisting discredited the international fight against terror. The foreign ministry told swissinfo it would not comment on Marty’s remarks, made in Strasbourg on Wednesday, but it underlined that…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.