I don’t doubt that racism exists in Switzerland. I don’t even doubt that it could be systemic. However, I find it kind of hard to take those “findings” seriously when half the article is just someone whining about about a statue and a mountain peak named after historical figures from decades ago. The article also mentions the deaths of multiple black people involving the police. Though instead of going into details it’s just assumed that it must’ve been racism because they were black. Again, for all I know it could’ve really been caused by racism but apparently no one at Reuters could be bothered to do some actual journalism.
Says who ? UN experts on racism? I am pretty sure that those guys never traveled outside of Europe if they think that there is « systemic racism » in Switzerland. A peak named after a racist man is systemic racism? That’s so dumb
The Swiss are great people… As long as you’re white and from the same Canton as them.
[deleted]
This is just the bullshit of a “weaponized” agenda. Racism and xenophobia exist everywhere, the “systemic” part is made up. Switzerland was never as littlest racist as today.
shqipstar is that you?
It’s so telling how in denial switzerland is about these social issues
Useless post as the article has a paywall. Can’t deny it though…
GENEVA, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Switzerland has a serious systemic problem with racism against people of African descent, according to a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, giving a broad range of examples from police brutality to a children’s game.
The U.N.-appointed working group noted positive measures taken by Switzerland but still voiced concerns about the prevalence of racial discrimination and highlighted several incidents following a visit to the country this year.
“The ubiquity and impunity of this misconduct indicates a serious systemic problem exists,” it said.
Switzerland’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva broadly accepted the findings in comments to the council, although questioned the experts’ use of a limited number of examples to draw wider conclusions.
Landlocked Switzerland was never a colonial power but its banks, traders and municipalities invested heavily and benefited from the transatlantic triangular trade, the report said.
It noted efforts to raise public awareness about aspects of Swiss history, such as a petition and debate around the removal of the statue of a banker whose fortune relied on exploitation of enslaved Africans, in the canton of Neuchatel.
However, others remained valorised such as Louis Agassiz, an advocate of scientific racism, who has an Alpine peak named after him.
Swiss playground games persist such as “Who is afraid of the Black man?”, which have a racially discriminatory effect, the experts said.
The report also noted “shocking” police brutality, noting the deaths of several Black men in the Vaud canton.
“Switzerland agrees with your observation that racism and racial discrimination – including against people of African descent – are problems that must be tackled as a matter of urgency,” Jurg Lauber told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Monday.
He stressed that new measures had been implemented to address the issues, including cantonal consultation centres for victims of racial discrimination and pointing to improvements in police training programmes.
Everyone country does. Let’s just try our best at improving things when we see issues.
I was in switzerland last week and let me tell you, if you had the same amount of systematic racism as the US, i would see many more homeless people and ghetos (which i almost didn’t see)
Why isn‘t it shocking that this article comes from reuters? I just wish they would talk about real examples than bring up the matter of the „black man“ wich is a game referring the plague doctors from the middle ages and not people of color. Also they mentioned the police but couldn’t bring two cases where racism was the problem.
I don’t want to deny the racism here! We NEED to improve in many regards. But then we need to talk where it happens and how it happens. Not bring up old stuff that has no meaning.
These things mentioned only downplay the real issues, because they aren’t mentioned in the article.
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If you need proof check the comment section on [Blick.ch](https://Blick.ch), [20min.ch](https://20min.ch) or [Nau.ch](https://Nau.ch)
I don’t doubt that racism exists in Switzerland. I don’t even doubt that it could be systemic. However, I find it kind of hard to take those “findings” seriously when half the article is just someone whining about about a statue and a mountain peak named after historical figures from decades ago. The article also mentions the deaths of multiple black people involving the police. Though instead of going into details it’s just assumed that it must’ve been racism because they were black. Again, for all I know it could’ve really been caused by racism but apparently no one at Reuters could be bothered to do some actual journalism.
Says who ? UN experts on racism? I am pretty sure that those guys never traveled outside of Europe if they think that there is « systemic racism » in Switzerland. A peak named after a racist man is systemic racism? That’s so dumb
The Swiss are great people… As long as you’re white and from the same Canton as them.
[deleted]
This is just the bullshit of a “weaponized” agenda. Racism and xenophobia exist everywhere, the “systemic” part is made up. Switzerland was never as littlest racist as today.
shqipstar is that you?
It’s so telling how in denial switzerland is about these social issues
Useless post as the article has a paywall. Can’t deny it though…
GENEVA, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Switzerland has a serious systemic problem with racism against people of African descent, according to a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, giving a broad range of examples from police brutality to a children’s game.
The U.N.-appointed working group noted positive measures taken by Switzerland but still voiced concerns about the prevalence of racial discrimination and highlighted several incidents following a visit to the country this year.
“The ubiquity and impunity of this misconduct indicates a serious systemic problem exists,” it said.
Switzerland’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva broadly accepted the findings in comments to the council, although questioned the experts’ use of a limited number of examples to draw wider conclusions.
Landlocked Switzerland was never a colonial power but its banks, traders and municipalities invested heavily and benefited from the transatlantic triangular trade, the report said.
It noted efforts to raise public awareness about aspects of Swiss history, such as a petition and debate around the removal of the statue of a banker whose fortune relied on exploitation of enslaved Africans, in the canton of Neuchatel.
However, others remained valorised such as Louis Agassiz, an advocate of scientific racism, who has an Alpine peak named after him.
Swiss playground games persist such as “Who is afraid of the Black man?”, which have a racially discriminatory effect, the experts said.
The report also noted “shocking” police brutality, noting the deaths of several Black men in the Vaud canton.
“Switzerland agrees with your observation that racism and racial discrimination – including against people of African descent – are problems that must be tackled as a matter of urgency,” Jurg Lauber told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Monday.
He stressed that new measures had been implemented to address the issues, including cantonal consultation centres for victims of racial discrimination and pointing to improvements in police training programmes.
Everyone country does. Let’s just try our best at improving things when we see issues.
Ya they definitely calls them [second-class mexicans](https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/secondos-in-der-schweiz/3349984)(secondos) haha
I was in switzerland last week and let me tell you, if you had the same amount of systematic racism as the US, i would see many more homeless people and ghetos (which i almost didn’t see)
Why isn‘t it shocking that this article comes from reuters? I just wish they would talk about real examples than bring up the matter of the „black man“ wich is a game referring the plague doctors from the middle ages and not people of color. Also they mentioned the police but couldn’t bring two cases where racism was the problem.
I don’t want to deny the racism here! We NEED to improve in many regards. But then we need to talk where it happens and how it happens. Not bring up old stuff that has no meaning.
These things mentioned only downplay the real issues, because they aren’t mentioned in the article.
Bullshit.
Switzerland’s main issues are UN “experts”
💪🏻🇨🇭