Sharp criticism of the Federal Council for its position on the ECtHR ruling
Published: Wednesday, Aug 28th 2024, 17:30
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The Greens, the Climate Seniors and other organizations have reacted with great indignation to the Federal Council's statement on the ECHR ruling. In various communications, they accused the national government of undermining and even attacking human rights.
We will keep a close eye on the Federal Council, wrote Lisa Mazzone, President of the Greens, in response to the Federal Council. Mazzone called for the Federal Council to make progress on climate protection and finally hold the financial center and public administration to account.
She also pointed out that the "inadequate Swiss climate policy is equivalent to global warming of two to three degrees". This particularly affects the most vulnerable population group, as confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in its ruling.
The climate seniors were also less than pleased with the Federal Council's statement. They stated in a joint statement with other organizations such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International that the Federal Council was not complying with the standards for human rights-compliant climate protection required by the ECtHR. Cordelia Bähr, lead lawyer for the climate seniors, pointed out that the Federal Council had not presented any evidence for its claims.
The ruling has not been implemented and the human rights violation still exists. Closing the regulatory loophole in the CO2 Act and the new Electricity Act would not be enough to remedy this violation, the communiqué continued. It also accuses the government of not having presented any concrete figures on a national CO2 budget to date.
For Tarek Naguib, Coordinator of the NGO Platform Human Rights Switzerland, the impact of Parliament's criticism of the Climate Senior ruling goes far beyond the question of the importance of human rights for climate policy. With this attitude, Switzerland is becoming increasingly untrustworthy in its often praised role model function, he wrote in his statement.
Operation Libero against SVP discourse
Stefan Manser, Co-President of Operation Libero, spoke of a weakening of human rights and democracy. The ECHR was doing its job and that had never suited everyone. With its statement on the ruling, the Federal Council had followed the populist declaration of Parliament and thus undermined the legitimacy of the ECtHR.
This shows how much influence the SVP discourse has gained despite the rejection of the self-determination initiative in 2018, Operation Libero continued. On 24/25 September, Parliament will decide on a motion calling for the withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), supported by representatives of the center, FDP and SVP.
In an open letter, Operation Libero and 28 other NGOs oppose such initiatives and call for politicians and the government to act responsibly. Civil society is therefore prepared to defend the protection of human rights, as the clear "no" to the self-determination initiative has shown.
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