Amnesty International Report 2015/16 - Switzerland

Swiss Confederation
Head of state and government: Simonetta Sommaruga

Sweeping new surveillance legislation was passed. Concerns remained about excessive use of force by police, including during deportations, and inadequate police accountability mechanisms. Victims of trafficking in human beings and foreign nationals who were victims of domestic violence faced obstacles to accessing protection.

LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

In March, the Swiss People's Party, which ended the year as the largest single party in the Federal Assembly, launched a popular initiative seeking to place the Swiss constitution above any international law obligations. The so-called "self-determination initiative would require a public referendum in order to be passed; the surrounding debate, however, contributed to a climate of hostility towards international human rights treaties including the European Convention on Human Rights.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

In August, the UN Committee against Torture criticized Switzerland's ongoing failure to incorporate the crime of torture into the Penal Code. The Committee expressed concerns about inadequate resourcing of the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT), the national preventive mechanism.

The Committee also called on the Swiss authorities to establish an effective independent police complaints mechanism; to amend legislation and improve training of judiciary and law enforcement officials to increase the rate of prosecutions for violence against women; and to integrate the Istanbul Protocol into training for law enforcement officials.

POLICE AND SECURITY FORCES

In July, the NCPT issued a report raising concerns about the inappropriate use of restraints by police and security forces during deportation. The report documented cases of the total immobilization of vulnerable people and the use of restraints against people who offered no resistance to deportation. The NCPT also reiterated concerns about a lack of uniformity in deportation practices by police forces in different cantons (administrative regions).

REFUGEES' AND MIGRANTS' RIGHTS

Administrative detention

Civil society organizations and the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern about the excessive use of detention for irregular migrants in some cantons, particularly in relation to the return of asylum-seekers to EU countries under the Dublin regulation. The Committee criticized Switzerland for permitting the detention for up to one year of asylum-seeking children aged between 15 and 18.

Trafficking in human beings

Civil society organizations criticized a federal directive issued to cantons in July concerning victims of trafficking. The new measures made victims' access to humanitarian protection contingent on being willing to testify in criminal proceedings against traffickers. Victims of trafficking already in an asylum procedure were excluded from humanitarian protection measures.

Domestic violence

In August, the UN Committee against Torture criticized the authorities for maintaining a "severity" threshold to assess domestic violence suffered by foreign nationals. Under the Foreigners Law, violence must meet a certain threshold in order for survivors to be able to separate from their violent partner without fear of losing their residence permits.

RIGHT TO PRIVACY

In September, Parliament adopted a new surveillance law which granted sweeping powers to the Federal Intelligence Service including the interception of data on internet cables entering or leaving Switzerland, to access metadata, internet histories and content of emails, and to use government spyware (Trojans).