Parliament calls for action plan against racism and anti-Semitism
Published: Tuesday, Jun 4th 2024, 13:11
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The federal government is to work with the cantons to develop a strategy and an action plan against racism. This is what the Swiss parliament wants. After the National Council, the Council of States also clearly approved a motion with this demand on Tuesday.
According to the motion referred to the Federal Council, the national government has been instructed to strengthen the existing specialist unit for combating racism with sufficient resources. The Federal Council should also have a report on measures against anti-Semitism by the federal government, cantons and municipalities updated in 2020.
The state government must also examine whether an additional commissioner for combating racism and anti-Semitism should be appointed.
A minority of the Council of States' Political Institutions Committee unsuccessfully applied for the motion to be rejected. Its spokesperson Esther Friedli (SVP/SG) said that the motion had been tabled following the attack on a Jew by a young person in Zurich. However, politics should not react to individual events. In the case of the teenager, a national programme against radicalization should have taken effect.
The cantons are also responsible for education and integration. They already do a lot. The federal government should not take over tasks from the cantons.
Increase in racist incidents
The National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N) justified the motion it submitted in November 2023 by stating that incidents of anti-Semitism had increased in Switzerland since the Hamas attacks in Israel and the war in the Middle East. Racism in any form must have no place in a social and democratic society.
The Federal Commission against Racism announced at the end of April that 24 percent more racist incidents were reported in Switzerland last year.
At the beginning of February, the Federal Council announced that it supported the motion of the National Council Committee. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told the Council on Tuesday that decisive action was needed "to preserve our values". It is less about creating a new, large-scale program than about coordinating existing initiatives. The specialist unit for combating racism will be increased in terms of personnel.
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