Contributed by Benjamin Bruce
Following criticism from Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger concerning the ongoing diplomatic conflict between Switzerland and Libya, Swiss Federal President Doris Leuthard has retorted that Switzerland simply expects solidarity from other members of the Schengen zone, as it is a member itself. Leuthard also defended the Swiss minaret ban as sign that the Swiss people…
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has severely condemned the ban on the construction of minarets within a resolution against the defamation of religion. Though Switzerland was not explicitly named, it is the only country in the world to have banned minarets. Consequently, this represents the first acknowledgement by the UN of the adoption of…
The lack of a single label for halal food in Switzerland can pose problems for the 400 000 Swiss Muslims. Halal food has become an important market for companies such as Swiss food giant Nestlé, which made $5 billion in the sector in 2008, and large-scale supermarket chains such as Coop and Manor have begun…
The president of the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, Farhad Afshar, has called for a legal solution on the federal level with respect to the question of separate burial grounds for Muslims. This comes following the rejection by authorities in Köniz, a suburb of Bern, to create separate cemetery plots for Muslims. Afshar has…
Several Muslim and African states have proposed to denounce bans against minaret construction as ‘Islamophobic’ as part of a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on religious defamation. According to Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raphaël Saborit, “in principle Switzerland disagrees with the concept of a resolution devoted to the defamation of religion,” as religious freedom…
