Fri, Oct 7th 2022
How Switzerland is responding the Iranian crisis, Swiss border patrol sound the alarm, and more in our roundup of news from October 4 – 7.
WIPO: Switzerland tops the U.S. for innovation
Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) annual ranking, which was released this week. WIPO researchers evaluated 132 countries on metrics such as technology, research institutions, creativity, business sophistication, and human capital. Despite war, pandemic and global economic downturn, Switzerland topped the rankings with a score of 64.6 out of 100. It is the 12th time Switzerland has taken the top spot, scoring particularly high in the areas of public health and environment. The U.S. came in second, Sweden third. While China was ranked 11th, it was named the most innovative upper middle-income country. India was ranked 40th overall, but first among the lower middle-income countries. Read more.
Swiss border police say refugee migration is on the rise
The number of migrants coming into Switzerland right now is reminiscent of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, according to the director of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security Christian Bock. In September alone, 6,600 migrants were stopped at Swiss borders – mostly streaming in from the east. The other hot spot is Switzerland’s southern border with Italy. About half of the migrants are Afghans, while the remaining 50 percent come from North Africa, India, Cuba and Burundi. Bock says many of the migrants travel through Serbia, as they do not need a visa to do so, before heading for Switzerland – generally used as a transit route to France or the U.K. But, transit migration is not allowed under international refugee law. Border security checks migrants’ identity, including fingerprints to determine if they are wanted by the law or in need of aid. At that point, the migrants are usually sent home, Bock says. Read more.
Protestors in Switzerland were dispersed with rubber bullets.
Switzerland condemns violence in Iran
In a tweet released yesterday, Switzerland has asked Iran to protect Iranian women’s’ rights to freedom of expression, as well as condemned the use of excessive force on protestors by Iranian security. Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in Iran for the past three weeks, calling on the government to change “modesty laws” surrounding what women can wear. Protests began shortly after the death of an Iranian woman on September 16th – a death that happened in police custody after she was arrested for an improper head covering. More than 1,000 protestors in Switzerland joined them last week in solidarity. Some 200 gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Bern calling for the removal of Islamic power. The protest ended in police firing rubber bullets and two protestors were arrested for taking the Iranian flag down. In the recent tweet, Swiss officials write that the country is “dismayed by the high number of victims in relation to the protests in Iran.” Read more.
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