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SWISS RIGHT-WINGERS TARGET ANTI-RACISM LAWS
Agence France Presse -- English
November 16, 2006 Thursday 7:01 PM GMT
Switzerland's largest political party, the right wing Swiss People's
Party (SVP), said Thursday that it wanted to dismantle the country's
anti-racism laws.
SVP leaders said that freedom of speech was endangered by the
legislation which was only adopted 12 years ago after being approved
by 54.6 percent of Swiss voters in a referendum.
"A suppression of the law could be backed by a majority now," SVP
president Ueli Maurer said.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set
up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of
the UN Convention Against Racism.
Currently the SVP has two ministers in the four-party, seven member
Swiss collegial government, including the Justice Minister Christoph
Blocher.
Blocher caused an uproar and was formally rebuked by his cabinet
colleagues in October after he criticised the Swiss anti-racism law
during an official visit to Turkey and reportedly suggested it should
be revised.
Apart from outlawing racist comments in public, the legislation also
prohibits the negation of genocide.
The Swiss lower house of parliament in December 2003 recognised the
massacre of Armenians by Turkey in 1915 as genocide, angering the
Turkish government and straining relations between the countries.
The SVP gained 27 percent of the vote in the last general election
in Switzerland in 2003, leapfrogging over its main political rivals.
It was also a driving force in a referendum earlier this year that
backed tougher new legislation on asylum proposed by the government.
Agence France Presse -- English
November 16, 2006 Thursday 7:01 PM GMT
Switzerland's largest political party, the right wing Swiss People's
Party (SVP), said Thursday that it wanted to dismantle the country's
anti-racism laws.
SVP leaders said that freedom of speech was endangered by the
legislation which was only adopted 12 years ago after being approved
by 54.6 percent of Swiss voters in a referendum.
"A suppression of the law could be backed by a majority now," SVP
president Ueli Maurer said.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set
up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of
the UN Convention Against Racism.
Currently the SVP has two ministers in the four-party, seven member
Swiss collegial government, including the Justice Minister Christoph
Blocher.
Blocher caused an uproar and was formally rebuked by his cabinet
colleagues in October after he criticised the Swiss anti-racism law
during an official visit to Turkey and reportedly suggested it should
be revised.
Apart from outlawing racist comments in public, the legislation also
prohibits the negation of genocide.
The Swiss lower house of parliament in December 2003 recognised the
massacre of Armenians by Turkey in 1915 as genocide, angering the
Turkish government and straining relations between the countries.
The SVP gained 27 percent of the vote in the last general election
in Switzerland in 2003, leapfrogging over its main political rivals.
It was also a driving force in a referendum earlier this year that
backed tougher new legislation on asylum proposed by the government.