tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67418191088300970652024-02-08T21:16:48.168+02:00ray smith - freelance journalistUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-64668679232725012092014-03-13T22:27:00.003+02:002014-03-13T22:28:34.009+02:00Swiss Step Up Arms Exports, Peacefully<b>Switzerland has eased its restrictions on arms exports – in order to
save a few thousand workplaces. Critics fear that Switzerland’s
credibility as an international peace broker will now suffer.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-132765"></span>Switzerland’s army doesn’t go to war –
but its military equipment does. In 2011, Saudi Arabia used Swiss
Piranha tanks to crack down on protests in Bahrain. Libyan rebels used
Swiss ammunition against Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, and Syrian rebels
have been throwing Swiss hand grenades against President Bashar Assad’s
soldiers.<br />
Only a few weeks ago, videos circulating on the internet offered
proof that Swiss sniper rifles where used against civilians on Kiev’s
Maidan square. Many died in brutal police action.<br />
<br />
Switzerland, a neutral country at the heart of Europe known for an
active promotion of a peace policy in diplomatic forums, is in fact the
world’s fifth-largest producer of small arms. It ranks eighth in arms
exports per capita, according to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (Sipri).<br />
<br />
Last year, 34 percent of exported military equipment consisted of
ammunition. Other major exports were fire control systems, weapons and
armoured military vehicles. In all 73 percent of military exports went
to European countries.<br />
<br />
But in 2013, Swiss arms exports dropped from 700 to 461 million Swiss
Francs (524 million dollars). The country’s three-biggest arms
producers, General Dynamics European Land Systems – Mowag, RUAG, and
Rheinmetall Air Defence sacked 415 employees.<br />
<br />
The lobby of the 70 Swiss arms producers called for the government to act. It demanded the lifting of export restrictions.<br />
<br />
Judging whether or not the Swiss arms industry is on decline depends
on how one reads the statistics. Ten years ago, these companies exported
less than in 2013 and long-term statistics show that the high export
values 2008-2012 were exceptional.<br />
<br />
Further, arms exports statistics do not include “special military
goods”, a category designed for dual use goods. Under this category,
Swiss companies last year additionally exported military material worth
405 million Swiss Francs (461 million dollars).<br />
<br />
Dismissing the alarming rhetoric of cuts and a crisis by the arms
lobby, the Swiss Peace Foundation (SPF) says the sector is
“ridiculously insignificant”, as it accounts only for 0.33 percent of
Swiss exports, and employs less than 10,000 people.<br />
<br />
SPF director Heinz Krummenacher told IPS the Swiss arms industry
should be dissolved totally or at least produced only for the domestic
market.<br />
<br />
The Swiss government had tightened export restrictions in 2008. A
year later Swiss voters turned down an initiative by the pacifist Group
for Switzerland without an Army (GSoA) for a ban of Swiss arms exports.
On Mar. 6, the Swiss parliament narrowly gave in to the demands of the
arms lobby, and eased arms exports regulation drastically.<br />
<br />
Under the former regulation, arms exports to countries known for
systematic and grave human rights violations were forbidden. Also, arms
exports to countries engaged in an internal or international, armed
conflict were not permitted. The new clause will be more elastic.<br />
<br />
Now, permits will be denied if there is “a high risk” in the
receiving state that the military equipment will be used for serious
human rights abuses, if the country is “illegally” engaged in an
international, armed conflict or if an internal, armed conflict
prevails. The “high risk” provision especially leaves room for
manoeuvre.<br />
<br />
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) assesses risks of
human rights abuses in potential receiving states and issues export
permits. Alain Bovard, arms expert at Amnesty International Switzerland
is sceptical about these investigations.<br />
<br />
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen how little they help. Despite
thorough investigations, Swiss assault rifles were exported to Ukraine
and have now been used against civilians.”<br />
<br />
In the end, it’s all about how specific criteria are checked and
assessed. “The human rights criteria hasn’t always been carefully
evaluated,” Bovard says.<br />
<br />
Switzerland has been using post-shipment verification clauses to make
sure that delivered military equipment isn’t re-exported by the
receiving states. In practice, these clauses have often been
ineffective.<br />
<br />
Boxes full of Swiss hand grenades, which were found last year in the
Syrian civil war, were originally purchased by the United Arab Emirates.
In 2011, Swiss ammunition was detected in the hands of Libyan rebels
that was originally delivered to Qatar. Both countries signed a
non-re-export clause.<br />
<br />
“It’s illusive to believe that Swiss authorities are able to control
whether exported Swiss weapons and ammunition are used for human rights
abuses,” Stefan Dietiker, secretary general of GSoA, tells IPS. “Once
they’ve left our country, they’re gone, no matter how many clauses the
purchasers sign and how many promises they make.”<br />
<br />
Besides the material consequences of the Swiss parliament’s decision
to ease its arms exports regulation, critics stress its symbolic effect.
“The decision contradicts Switzerland’s foreign policy goals which
prioritise protection of human rights,” says Amnesty International’s
Bovard.<br />
<br />
He points to Switzerland’s important role in negotiating and pushing
the international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). ATT is a landmark effort to
regulate the global arms trade, which more than 100 states signed in
2013. The treaty currently awaits ratification. Switzerland has offered
to host the ATT secretariat.<br />
<br />
“Switzerland loses credibility,” says Alain Bovard. Switzerland, he
says, must have stricter arms exports regulation than ATT’s minimum
standards demand.<br />
<br />
He also worries about the country’s reputation. “Having close arms
trade ties with countries like Saudi Arabia, which systematically
violates human rights, damages Switzerland’s image.”<br />
<br />
Economic Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann insisted through the
parliamentary debate that Switzerland would continue to keep up its
humanitarian tradition – while not neglecting its security interests.
“It’s not about surrendering the protection of human rights for the sake
of preserving work places,” he stressed.<br />
<br />
Critics like Stefan Dietiker say Switzerland has to make up its mind.
“Ultimately, we have to decide whether we want to deliver weapons or
protect human rights.”<br />
<br />
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/swiss-step-arms-exports-peacefully/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-18018253414020450422014-02-23T22:00:00.000+02:002014-03-04T22:07:19.786+02:00Swiss Vote for New Squeeze on Migrants<b>Swiss voters have approved an initiative by the right-wing Swiss
People’s Party (SVP) aimed at limiting immigration. The result not only
threatens the free movement of people, but all agreements between
Switzerland and the European Union. The voting results have been a shock
for open-minded Swiss citizens, foreigners living in the country and the
whole European audience.</b><br />
<br />
In all 50.3 percent of the Swiss voted in favour of the SVP’s
“initiative against mass immigration”, which demanded the introduction
of quantitative limits and quotas for foreigners and a renegotiation of
the “Agreement on the free movement of people” with the EU. The Swiss
government now faces the difficult task of introducing the new
constitutional measures at the legislative level.<br />
<br />
Several foreign ministers of EU member states, and the European
Commission (EC), the executive arm of the EU, have regretted the Swiss
decision. In its initial statement, the EC wrote that the introduction
of quantitative limits to immigration “goes against the principle of
free movement of persons” and that the EC intends to “examine the
implications on this initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole.”<br />
<br />
Martin Schultz, president of the European Parliament, said that as
long as the Swiss government didn’t suspend its bilateral agreements
with the EU, they would remain valid, signalling that the EU for now
will not terminate either the agreement on the free movement of people
or any of the other accords.<br />
<br />
However, Schultz stated that it would be “difficult to limit the free
movement of citizens and not limit the free movement of services, for
example.” He made it clear that if Switzerland is no longer able to
fulfil the conditions of the agreement, all other bilateral agreements
were at risk.<br />
<br />
Currently, about 430,000 Swiss citizens live in the EU, while more
than a million EU citizens call Switzerland their home, and another
230,000 commute to their Swiss workplaces daily. Major sectors of the
Swiss economy such as construction, the hotel and restaurant industry,
and health services depend on foreign workers.<br />
<br />
There’s been strong resistance in Switzerland to joining the EU.
However, the two entities are bound by at least a hundred bilateral
agreements. As regards trade in goods and services, Switzerland is the
EU’s third-largest economic partner, while 57 percent of Swiss exports
in goods go to EU member states and 78 percent of its imports come from
there.<br />
<br />
For Andreas Kellerhals, Director of the Europe Institute at the
University of Zurich (EIZ), the EU’s reaction to the Swiss vote isn’t
just a strategic threat. “In the eyes of the EU, the Agreement on the free movement of people
isn’t negotiable, as freedom of movement is one of its four basic
pillars,” Kellerhals told IPS. He points out that in 1999, the EU only
agreed to the bilateral path because the Swiss gave in to an accord on
the free movement of people.<br />
<br />
The Federal Council is now exploring ways to put its relationship
with the EU on a new footing, as it hardly sees how immigration quotas
could be compatible with the principle of free movement of people. “Legally, that isn’t possible,” Kellerhals agrees. “Technically,
Switzerland could set the quotas high enough so they couldn’t be
exceeded; however I don’t think the EU will accept that.” Further, that strategy would jar with the SVP initiative and allow
the right-wing party to further criticise and pressure the Swiss
government. No matter how the Federal Council negotiates with the EU, it
can only lose.
<br />
<br />
For foreigners living and working in Switzerland, the vote was a
disaster. Or, as Rita Schiavi, member of the executive board of the
largest Swiss trade union Unia puts it: “A slap in the face of nearly
two million migrants, who have a huge hand in making Switzerland as
prosperous at it is.” Schiavi told IPS that migrants are frustrated and
alienated.<br />
<br />
In concrete, the SVP demands a return to the so-called
Saisonnierstatut, a regulation for seasonal workers that had been in
place for seven decades. It means that migrant workers wouldn’t be
allowed to bring with them their families, that they would depend on
their employers, and would risk losing their stay permits in case of
unemployment. “Those who have voted for the SVP initiative regard migrants not as human beings, but as pure workforce,” said Schiavi.<br />
<br />
Returning to some kind of Saisonnierstatut wouldn’t just harm
affected migrants, but the Swiss economy as a whole. Swiss companies
have a strong desire for skilled foreign personnel, who in the future
may find Switzerland less attractive than before, despite higher wages.<br />
<br />
Switzerland’s economic lobby has long fought the initiative against
immigration, as a return to quotas and contingents would complicate
their business and reduce planning reliability. “Multinational companies
may relocate or strengthen their branches abroad which could threaten
the jobs of Swiss employees, too,” said Schiavi.<br />
<br />
In Schiavi’s opinion, urgent political action is now required to deal
with those worries and fears that had motivated voters to approve the
SVP initiative. It’s measures that trade unions have demanded for many
years: “We need to reduce wage dumping, improve job protection,
introduce measures in the housing sector and set a national minimum
wage,” said Schiavi.<br />
<br />
For the moment, half of the Swiss population is licking their wounds,
while the other half led by the SVP triumphs. Nevertheless, the
right-wing effort to regain control over immigration and the Swiss-EU
relations may lead to the opposite: to a massive loss in sovereignty.
Soon the Swiss delegation travelling to Brussels may have no option but
to hope for the EU’s goodwill.<br />
<br />
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/02/swiss-vote-work-without-workers/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-33946579354977713512014-02-15T22:00:00.000+02:002014-03-04T22:02:19.721+02:00European Ruling Ignites Freedom Debate<b>A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to
a Turkish national has kicked up a new row on anti-racism legislation. The court ruled in December that
Switzerland violated the right to freedom of speech of the Turkish
national Doğu Perinçek by convicting him for calling the idea of an
Armenian genocide an “international lie”.</b><br />
<br />
In 2007, a court in the Swiss Canton of Vaud had found Perinçek
guilty of racial discrimination as defined by Section 261 of the Swiss
Criminal Code, ruling that the Armenian genocide was a proven historical
fact. Already in 2003, the Swiss National Council had acknowledged the
Armenian genocide.<br />
<br />
Perinçek subsequently appealed in Switzerland’s Federal Court, which
dismissed his claims. After that, Perinçek took his case to the ECHR in
Strasbourg.<br />
<br />
In its ruling, the ECHR found that Perinçek’s conviction by the Swiss
court was wrong, as it violated Article 10 of the European Convention
of Human Rights on freedom of expression. The court argued that Perinçek
had never questioned the massacres and deportations perpetrated by the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War, but had denied their
characterisation as “genocide”. He didn’t mean to incite hatred against
the Armenian people, the ECHR pointed out.<br />
<br />
In fact, Perinçek’s view corresponds with Turkey’s official stance
that is widely shared by the Turkish public, all main political parties
as well as the state-run Historical Society. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry
called the ECHR decision “a victory for the rule of law.”<br />
<br />
Schools and universities in Turkey teach that the killings of
Armenians were neither deliberate, nor orchestrated by the Ottoman
leadership in Istanbul. Further, Turkish historians doubt that up to 1.5
million Armenians had died, as many Western scholars claim.<br />
<br />
However, Turkish estimates vary, starting around 10,000 Armenian
casualties. Turkish historians argue that most of the death occurred due
to illness and malnutrition.<br />
<br />
Beyond Turkey’s eastern border, lobbying for worldwide genocide
recognition is a fundamental part of Armenia’s foreign policy. Until
today, diverging interpretations of what happened in Armenia during and
after the First World War strain bilateral relations.<br />
<br />
The ECHR highlighted that it wasn’t called upon to address either the
veracity of the massacres and deportations perpetrated against the
Armenian people or the appropriateness of legally characterising those
acts as “genocide”. It doubted that there could be a consensus on the
issue.<br />
<br />
The Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) said it was “deeply disappointed and appalled by the ECHR verdict.” Dominique de Buman, Swiss national councillor and co-president of the
SAA told IPS: “The ECHR ruling isn’t just a setback for human dignity,
but also contradicts a European Council Framework Decision that ordered
member states to ensure that publicly condoning, denying or grossly
trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
were penalised.”
<br />
<br />
Such framework decisions do not pose a legal basis for the ECHR,
however. De Buman also referred to the UN Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. “Don’t forget that the
convention was adopted in reaction to the Holocaust as well as the
Armenian genocide,” he told IPS.<br />
The ECHR ruling has sparked a debate in Switzerland on whether or not
the government should appeal the decision and if and how Swiss
anti-racism legislation may be amended.<br />
<br />
Councillor De Buman told IPS he was optimistic that an appeal could
lead to a further examination of the case, as the ECHR ruling wasn’t
unanimous: “Two of the seven judges had expressed a joint concurring
opinion. They stated that there existed an international consensus
regarding the characterisation of the massacres against the Armenian
people.”<br />
<br />
Judges András Sajó and Guido Raimondi would welcome a Swiss appeal to
the Grand Chamber, as so far the court has never taken a view on the
massacres and deportations of the Armenians. “It’s our symbolic and
moral obligation to define and qualify these events,” they wrote.
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice hasn’t yet taken a decision in
that regard.<br />
<br />
The ECHR ruling plays into the hands of right-wing groups such as the
Swiss People’s Party (SVP) who have repeatedly tried to knock down the
country’s anti-racism legislation. Consequently, the party’s long-time
leader Christoph Blocher demanded a change of the criminal code.
Legally, the ECHR ruling doesn’t force Switzerland to amendments.<br />
<br />
Silvia Bär, the SVP’s secretary general, told IPS that the party is
preparing a parliamentary request to specify or even abolish Swiss
anti-racism legislation. “We reject racism. However, the current
application of the legislation is getting increasingly absurd and
incorrectly limits the right to freedom of expression.”<br />
<br />
According to Bär, the anti-racism legislation is being misused to
discipline and sanction unwelcome opinions. In addition, the SVP demands
that Switzerland resigns from the International Convention on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination and that it dissolves the Federal
Commission against Racism (EKR).<br />
<br />
Martine Brunschwig Graf, National Councillor for the Liberals and
President of the EKR has doubts about these intentions. “The ECHR ruling
is complex and doesn’t put the Swiss anti-racism paragraph in
question,” she told IPS. From 1995 to 2012, Swiss courts have sentenced
accused persons in 310 cases under that paragraph. Brunschwig Graf calls the legislation an indispensable instrument:
“The fight against racism requires prevention at all levels, but also
repression if certain limits are surpassed.”
<br />
<br />
Among the other parties, the Swiss anti-racism legislation enjoys
broad support. Hansjörg Fehr of the Social Democrats told the Swiss
national radio that if the criminal code was to be changed, then “we
need a passage that explicitly punishes the denial of the Armenian
genocide.”<br />
<br />
The debate is expected to ignite at the next parliamentary session in March. <br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/02/european-ruling-ignites-freedom-debate/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-11025745700143694822014-01-25T18:00:00.000+02:002014-01-28T00:47:29.958+02:00Swiss Spring for Syrian Refugees Passes<b>Switzerland facilitated family reunification for Syrians in
September. So far, more than 1,100 Syrian refugees have benefited from
the programme, while thousands are waiting at Swiss embassies in the
region, hoping for a similar chance. Surprised by these numbers,
Switzerland put an end to the programme.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-130563"></span>Several European countries responded to
an appeal by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last
summer to admit Syrian refugees. Switzerland announced it would accept
500 “especially vulnerable refugees” over three years.<br />
<br />
Further, the country that hosts about 2,000 citizens of Syrian origin
pledged to open its borders for their relatives. By the end of
November, Swiss embassies in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan had granted
1,600 Syrians a three-month entry visa.<br />
<br />
At least 1,100 of these have already travelled to Switzerland. A
further 5,000 Syrians have applied for appointments at Swiss embassies
to file similar visa requests.<br />
<br />
Either Swiss authorities were surprised by these numbers, or
considered their humanitarian action short-lived. Already in early
November, they introduced bureaucratic hurdles: Swiss-based Syrians who
had invited their relatives now needed to meet certain financial
requirements.<br />
<br />
“Looking at the size of an average Syrian family, these requirements
constitute a killer criteria,” said Beat Meiner, secretary-general of
the Swiss Refugee Council (SFH). “Few of the Swiss-based Syrians have
enough money to clear these hurdles.”<br />
<br />
Meiner’s warnings fell on deaf ears. Even worse, a month later Swiss
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga cancelled the family reunification
programme entirely. “We assume that most of those Syrians who are
entitled to apply for entry visas and face immediate distress have made
use of our eased visa requirements,” she argued.<br />
<br />
Ashti Amir, a Kurdish Syrian who fled to Switzerland for political
reasons more than a decade ago and now runs the charity SyriAid, has a
different perspective. Since September, he managed to get the families
of one of his brothers and sisters to Switzerland. Amir told IPS that he
still had two brothers and his parents back home in Aleppo and wanted
to get them to Switzerland, too.<br />
<br />
“Escaping from there and travelling to an embassy abroad is not only
difficult, but very costly,” he said. Amir knows dozens of other
compatriots who have relatives in danger in Syria whom they want to
rescue.<br />
<br />
Another sister of his as well as a sister-in-law are stranded in
Istanbul with their families, waiting for an entry visa to Switzerland.
They had applied for an appointment before Switzerland cancelled its
reunification programme, and Amir is optimistic that they’ll finally be
granted a visa.<br />
<br />
“But if not: where should they go? Their long stay in Turkey has eaten up their savings.”<br />
<br />
SFH’s Beat Meiner says that many Syrians have embarked on a dangerous
trip to Swiss embassies in the Middle East, assuming they can
successfully apply for an entry visa there. “Some of them are blocked
now: they may neither come to Switzerland, nor return to Syria,” he
says.<br />
<br />
He’s convinced that Swiss humanitarian action could have been
prolonged and that considerably more human lives could have been saved.<br />
<br />
Besides that, Switzerland also hesitates to treat about 2,000 asylum
requests by Syrians who had fled to the country individually rather than
as families. Some of them have been waiting three to four years for a
decision.<br />
<br />
IPS met Ziad Ali and his family in central Switzerland. Originally
from Malikiyah in the northeast of Syria, Ali moved to Damascus as a
youth, where he earned his living as a taxi driver. “As a Kurd in Syria,
you took any job you may get anywhere,” he says.<br />
<br />
Before he fled the country, Ali worked in Idlib region as a gardener.
He was arrested at a demonstration in<br />
Qamishli and then tortured in a
prison in Deir az-Zour in Syria.<br />
<br />
After his release, escaping the country appeared to him the only
option. His wife and their two children reached Switzerland in June
2011, while Ali followed in January 2012.<br />
<br />
Ali says the fate of his sister and his father, who were arrested by
the Syrian regime in 2011, is constantly on his mind. He hasn’t heard
from them since then.<br />
<br />
His daughter Fatima and his son Mohamed go to school locally and
already speak better German than Kurdish. A year ago, their youngest
brother Azad was born. The family lives in a barracks established for
asylum-seekers, occupying three rooms.<br />
<br />
Their asylum request is still in limbo, leaving the family in constant insecurity about their destiny.<br />
<br />
Moreno Casasola, secretary-general of the refugee rights organisation
Solidarité sans Frontières, says that asylum requests of Syrians are
mostly put aside by the Federal Office for Migration. Like any other
European country, Switzerland fears that answering asylum requests
positively would attract even more Syrian refugees.<br />
<br />
Federal Office for Migration spokesperson Michael Glauser
acknowledges that asylum requests of Syrians aren’t treated with
priority. He denies, however, any decision moratorium. Glauser asserts
that Syrian asylum-seekers enjoy Switzerland’s protection – and for the
moment haven’t been sent back to Syria.<br />
<br />
Ziad Ali and his family, along with other Syrian asylum-seekers, have
protested in front of the Federal Office for Migration in Bern,
demanding a speedy decision on their request. Getting at least temporary
official admission would give them a perspective for the next few years
and facilitate hunting for a job.<br />
<br />
Despite his desperation, Ziad Ali hopes for a positive outcome. He
says he wouldn’t mind returning to Syria once the war has ended, if
Kurds were treated fairly. “But the longer my children live here, the
more difficult it would be for them to return.”<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/swiss-spring-syrian-refugees-passes/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-52284142080996010102014-01-24T15:00:00.000+02:002014-01-28T00:43:59.969+02:00Big Gap Surfaces in Davos<b>As self-appointed global leaders gather at the World Economic Forum
(WEF) in Davos and discuss ‘The Reshaping of the World’, a stone’s throw
away non-governmental organisations named this year’s winners for their
dreaded Public Eye Awards.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-130701"></span>The jury chose the American textile giant Gap, while 95,000 online voters honoured the Russian energy company Gazprom.<br />
<br />
“Sadly, there’s still a need for campaigns like ours that demand
corporate accountability,” Silvie Lang said on behalf of the organisers,
the Berne Declaration (BD), a Swiss NGO working for equitable
North-South relations, and Greenpeace Switzerland.<br />
<br />
“We are here to remind the corporate world and those hiding behind
closed doors in Davos that the social and environmental consequences of
their business activities affect not only people and the environment,
but also the reputation of their company.”<br />
<br />
Participating in the WEF is no option for the BD. “This kind of
inclusion is far less effective than fundamental critique from outside,”
its spokesperson Oliver Classen told IPS. “Davos is the global showcase
for symbolic policy where arsonists dress up as firemen for a few
days.”<br />
<br />
This year, international NGOs proposed 15 nominees for the two shame
awards, ranging from Glencore Xstrata and BASF as representatives of the
extractive industry to pesticide producers and the U.S. garment company
Gap. The latter was eventually chosen for the jury award.<br />
<br />
On behalf of the jury, Greenpeace International executive director
Kumi Naidoo said: “We shame Gap for its monstrous and disingenuous
business practices consisting of hindering legally-binding agreements to
substantially ameliorate working conditions.”<br />
<br />
Gap declined to show up and receive the award. Instead, Kalpona Akter
of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity and Liana Foxvog of the
International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) collected the prize.<br />
<br />
Akter, a relentless grassroots activist, is herself a former child
garment worker. “I sewed clothing for multinational corporations and
made less than 10 dollars a month for 450 hours of work,” she said.
Today, the minimum wage in Bangladesh is 68 dollars a month. “Due to
inflation, it’s not much more than I used to earn,” Akter said.<br />
<br />
Her main concern isn’t the low wages, however. “When workers speak up with concern about safety risks, they aren’t listened to.”<br />
<br />
Three years ago, 29 workers were killed in a fire at one of Gap’s
Bangladeshi supplier factories. After that, labour groups and unions
negotiated with Gap to put an end to the constantly climbing death toll
in the garment industry.<br />
<br />
In all 1,129 Bangladeshi workers died in a deadly fire in a garments factory last year.<br />
In a press statement, Gap stressed that it is a founding member of
the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety: “The Alliance is a serious
and transparent, binding commitment on the part of its members to make
urgent improvements to worker safety in Bangladesh.”<br />
<br />
For Foxvog, the Alliance is “hardly more than a facelift.” She vowed
to take the award directly to the Gap headquarters in San Francisco.<br />
<br />
“We don’t want the companies to leave our country,” Akter said. “We
want jobs, but they must be jobs with dignity. Global corporations must
stop profiting off this low-road system.”<br />
<br />
A third of the 280,000 people taking part in the online voting chose
the energy giant Gazprom for the people’s award. That was not
surprising, as the company had been in the spotlight for the past few
months.<br />
<br />
In September, Russian security forces arrested 28 Greenpeace
activists and two journalists during a protest against oil drilling at
their offshore platform Prirazlomnaya. In December, Gazprom became the
first company that started to drill oil in the Arctic.<br />
<br />
According to Greenpeace, Prirazlomnaya is far from some ultra-modern
drilling unit. The absence of a publicly available and convincing
response plan for any oil spill in one of the world’s most extreme
environments worries activists deeply.<br />
<br />
Greenpeace argues that Gazprom’s reliance on traditional clean-up methods would simply not work under icy conditions.<br />
<br />
IPS requested Gazprom to comment on receiving the anti-award for
“irresponsible business conduct at the cost of people and the
environment.” Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov did not elaborate
on its response plan, but stressed that the company was fully committed
to the highest ecological standards.<br />
<br />
“Therefore we are quite puzzled by the decision of the Public Eye
Awards jury which seems to be motivated by anything but ecological
concerns,” Kupriyanov told IPS.<br />
<br />
He said that the Prirazlomnaya platform had been specifically
designed for operation in the most hostile climate. “The applied
drilling techniques prevent subsurface water pollution and the mixing of
drilling and production waste with sea water.<br />
<br />
“Specially designed oil spill prevention and response plans ensure
that the platform crew is well equipped for emergency situations,”
Kupriyanov told IPS.<br />
<br />
Greenpeace’s Naidoo said his organisation considered calling for a
boycott of Gazprom and its partner Shell, who had last year received an
anti-award in Davos. “Our peaceful protest in the Arctic raised a lot of
awareness,” he told IPS. “About five million people have signed up for
our Arctic campaign, while the best of it is yet to come.”<br />
<br />
Using the shame award to raise further awareness may be easier for
the organisations dealing with Gap, as its consumer base differs much
from that of Gazprom. Nobody depends on Gap clothes, but many depend on
Gazprom’s oil and gas.<br />
<br />
Criticising the energy giant my fall on deaf ears. “Even Gazprom,
Rosneft or Chevron aren’t completely immune from public pressure
though,” argued Naidoo. He said that these companies had so far ignored
one thing: “Relations and reputation are a capital which is just as
important for success as conventional capital.”<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/big-gap-surfaces-davos/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-16530889965353777452014-01-22T18:00:00.000+02:002014-01-28T00:39:16.076+02:00Elites Will ‘Consider Inequality’<b>With no acute crisis on the radar, this year’s Annual Meeting of the
World Economic Forum (WEF) will move away from the response mode of the
past years and “look for solutions for the really fundamental issues,”
its founder Klaus Schwab said at the pre-meeting press conference.</b>
<br />
<br />
“We cannot afford to allow the next era
of globalisation to create as many risks and inequities as it does
opportunities,” Schwab wrote in a blog post a few days earlier. “Today
we face a situation where the number of potential flashpoints are many
and are likely to grow.”<br />
<br />
Even Schwab and his organisation have finally realised that
globalisation has increased global inequality and that its consequences
have not been managed and mitigated well on the global level.<br />
<br />
According to Schwab, the WEF is the “biggest assembly of political,
business and civil society leaders in the world.” For decades, he has
been gathering the world’s richest and most powerful people and
companies once a year in the mountain resort of Davos under the banner
of “improving the state of the world”.<br />
<br />
This year, the annual meeting beginning Wednesday takes place for the 44<sup>th</sup>
time. Schwab welcomes around 2,500 participants, among them more than
half of the CEOs of the 1,000 largest companies of the world, over 30
heads of state, and numerous leaders of international institutions.<br />
<br />
A report published by the WEF has spoken of widening income
disparities. The report states that increasing inequality impacts social
stability within countries and threatens security on a global scale.<br />
<br />
“It’s essential that we devise innovative solutions to the causes and
consequences of a world becoming ever more unequal,” its authors wrote.<br />
<br />
With a well-timed report, the renowned aid and development charity <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/">Oxfam International</a>
picked the issue up this week. According to Oxfam, the world’s richest
85 people own the wealth of half of the world’s population – a fact that
the charity’s executive director Winnie Byanyima called staggering.<br />
<br />
“We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling
inequality,” she said. Oxfam locates the roots of the widening gap in
fiscal deregulation, tax havens and secrecy, anti-competitive business
practice, lower tax rates on high incomes and investments and cuts or
underinvestment in public services for the majority.<br />
<br />
According to Oxfam, the richest individuals and companies hide
trillions of dollars in tax havens around the world. “In Africa”, the
report says, “global corporations – particularly those in extractive
industries – exploit their influence to avoid taxes and royalties,
reducing the resources available to governments to fight poverty.”<br />
<br />
Over the last years, tax avoidance has become a major focus of
non-governmental organisations especially in countries like Switzerland,
where some of the world’s biggest companies involved in raw materials
mining and trade have their headquarters.<br />
<br />
“Tax avoidance and harmful tax incentives are strongly linked with inequality,” said Martin Hojsik, tax campaign manager of <a href="http://www.actionaid.org/">ActionAid International</a>,
an international coalition fighting poverty across the globe.<br />
<br />
“With a
lack of revenue caused by tax dodging, developing countries in
particular have very little resources to finance essential services like
education and health care,” he told IPS.<br />
<br />
ActionAid doesn’t participate at the WEF, which Hojsik calls a
talking shop for elites in a fancy resort. “Real progress requires
commitment from governments and processes that are inclusive of all
stakeholders including people living in poverty,” he said.<br />
<br />
Hojsik has no illusions about Davos: “This year, Deloitte, a company
among other things advising companies how to avoid taxes when investing
in Africa, is tweeting about income disparity on their
#DeloitteDavosLife event, clearly showing some of the absurdity.”<br />
<br />
Unlike ActionAid, Oxfam will take part at the global leaders’
meeting. The charity is asking participants to pledge to supporting
progressive taxation, to making public all the investments in companies
and trusts, to demanding a living wage in their companies and to
challenging governments to use tax revenue to provide universal
healthcare, education and social protection for citizens.<br />
<br />
Oxfam’s effort is doomed to fail. A look at the WEF’s more than 260
sessions shows that hot potatoes like tax avoidance won’t be addressed.
Even though there is a workshop specifically on the extractive industry,
it aims only to discuss how the industry may drive growth in the future
in the light of rising concerns over scarcity and environmental
deprivation.<br />
<br />
Hardly any of the workshops scheduled specifically address developing
countries. There’s a session on the post-2015 development goals,
however. It asks how a new spirit of solidarity, cooperation and mutual
accountability may carry those goals from vision to action.<br />
<br />
Peter Niggli, director of Alliance Sud, an alliance of the six
biggest Swiss charities, isn’t attracted by such debates. Alliance Sud
doesn’t go to Davos.<br />
<br />
“We lobby at the Swiss government which makes more sense,” he told
IPS. As a discussion forum, the WEF in Niggli’s opinion doesn’t have any
influence at all on defining the post-2015 development agenda.<br />
<br />
Niggli said that it is in any case not the WEF’s official programme
with all the debates and workshops that draws businessmen and
politicians, but the opportunity they have to meet others informally or
set up new projects behind closed doors.<br />
<br />
Surely it also isn’t the fake refugee camp the WEF has set up in
Davos that draws the global elite. “We are simulating the experience of a
Syrian refugee in a Jordanian refugee camp,” Schwab said. “It is so
important that people can really imagine what it means to be a refugee.”<br />
<br />
The United Nations Refugee Agency has appealed for 6.5 billion
dollars for Syrian refugees. International donors have pledged 2.4
billion dollars so far. If the WEF is serious about “improving the state
of the world”, its wealthy members could come up with the lacking sum.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/elites-will-consider-inequality/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-69377937375920416082013-10-29T18:00:00.000+02:002014-01-28T00:40:48.023+02:00Swiss Knife Sharpened to Cut Bosses’ Pay<b>Swiss voters will decide Nov. 24 on introducing a salary cap that
would limit the wage spread in companies to 1:12. The economic lobby is
nervous – success for the proposal in the referendum is not as
unrealistic as once expected.</b>
<br />
<br />
It wasn’t just the smallholders in the
Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis who were disgusted
by a 79-million-dollar farewell package to resigning CEO Daniel Vasella
earlier this year. Public outrage was huge.<br />
<br />
Two weeks later, Swiss citizens sent a clear message to executives
that their increasingly excessive salaries and bonuses would not be
tolerated: 68 percent of voters supported the “fat cat initiative” which
promised to curb salary excesses and to ban big payouts.<br />
<br />
That referendum was more about strengthening shareholder democracy.
Once the initiative is fully implemented, shareholders of Swiss
companies will have a veto right on payments to executives. Within a
one-share-one-vote frame however, concerned shareholders usually get
outvoted by large investors.<br />
<br />
“The fat cat initiative includes some good aspects. However, it
neither helps much in limiting big salaries, nor in providing a solution
to unequal income distribution,” argues David Roth, president of the
Swiss Young Socialists Party (Juso).<br />
<br />
Juso therefore launched the 1:12-initiative which demands that
executives’ salaries be capped at 12 times that of the lowest-paid
worker in the same company. “No manager should earn more in a month than
his employees get in one year,” Juso demands.<br />
<br />
Switzerland’s powerful neoliberal lobby had worked hard to prevent
the success of the fat cat initiative. After its expensive campaign
failed and with the 1:12-initiative already on the horizon, it became
increasingly nervous. Further, a referendum on the introduction of a
national minimum wage is scheduled in 2014.<br />
<br />
Once the poorhouse of Europe, Switzerland has transformed into one of
the richest countries on earth. Today, it has one of the highest GDP
per capita in the world and unemployment at just three percent.<br />
<br />
In terms of income inequality, Switzerland ranks around Europe’s
average. According to the freshest numbers, 3.5 percent of the employed
in Switzerland are considered working poor, while 11,586 top earners
make more than half a million Swiss francs a year.<br />
<br />
According to Daniel Lampart, chief economist of the Swiss Federation
of Trade Unions (SGB), the growing salary excesses over the past 20
years were caused by the fact that executives’ earnings were
increasingly connected to profits and the stock prices of their
companies. “The introduction of bonuses allowed managers to divert big
amounts of money from the aggregate wages into their own pockets.”<br />
<br />
In Switzerland, trade unions are comparatively weak and the number of
collective bargaining agreements is low. A national minimum wage
doesn’t exist, the relationship between employees and employers clings
to the concept of social partnership, and strikes are rare. It is mainly
the upper income segment that has been profiting from the increased
individualisation of wage policies.<br />
<br />
The campaigns for and against the 1:12-initiative have just reached
the hot phase. In one corner, there’s Juso, the trade unions and the
Social Democratic Party. The opposing side is led by the umbrella
organisation of Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SGV), with the
other economy-related organisations as well as the liberal and
right-wing parties on their coat-tails.<br />
<br />
If the 1:12-proposal is voted in, only 1,000 to 1,300 mostly big
companies with about half a million employees would be affected
directly. About 4,400 top earners would face a salary cut.<br />
<br />
The opponents’ campaign, which is unable to explain why somebody
should earn 30, 50 or 100 times as much as an employee, focuses on
warning the public how everybody would be negatively affected if the
1:12-initiative succeeds.<br />
<br />
Hans-Ulrich Bigler, director of the SGV, recently said that losses to
the old-age insurance system and to taxes could amount to nearly 4.4
billion dollars per year. He argued that tax increases would become
inevitable.<br />
<br />
A closer look at the concerned study shows that this number is based
on a rather unrealistic worst-case scenario. Juso believes the
initiative would reduce income inequalities, and elevation of the lowest
wages would minimise possible fiscal losses.<br />
<br />
Nobody is able to estimate economic and fiscal consequences at this
point, as everything will depend on how affected companies would react
to a new 1:12-rule. Would they elevate the lowest wages? Would they cut
the top wages and use the money for investments? Or would they leave the
country, as for example Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of the commodities giant
GlencoreXstrata, has threatened?<br />
<br />
The Swiss government fears first and foremost for the country’s
competitiveness. “There is a real danger that Switzerland-based
companies could leave the country, while foreign companies searching for
a new location could be deterred by the limitations on high wages and
not settle here,” Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said
at a press conference.<br />
<br />
When in 2009 Juso, led by David Roth, began to collect signatures for
the 1:12 initiative, nobody expected that the proposal could have real
chances for success. “The approval of the fat cat initiative in spring
represented a break with the past. After years of deregulation and
liberalisation people again started to demand rules for the economy,”
Roth says.<br />
<br />
Roth is aware of the fact that only one in ten popular initiatives
turn out successfully. Nevertheless, he is confident that on Nov. 24,
David will win against Goliath.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/swiss-knife-sharpened-to-cut-bosses-pay/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-77232882696986810512013-10-15T19:00:00.000+03:002014-01-28T00:31:09.167+02:00Giant Companies Pinpricked by ‘Direct Democracy’<b>A Swiss village has decided to reject tax money from the firm
Glencore and to instead donate it to charities. Other towns may follow,
sending a strong signal to the government to follow the U.S. and the EU
and introduce transparency rules for the extractive industry.</b><br />
<b> </b>
<br />
<span id="more-128129"></span>It’s rush hour in the city of Zug in
Central Switzerland as Mrs Sandra Räppli struggles to raise her voice
over the traffic noise. About 35 people listen as she lectures about
commodity extraction and trading companies based in the city and the
neighbouring town of Baar.<br />
<br />
Räppli talks about complex company structures and tax optimisation,
finally asking the audience: “Could you follow my explanations? Did you
understand?” Then she smiles: “You couldn’t? No problem, because that is
what those companies intend.”<br />
<br />
Once a month, actress Maria Greco slips into the role of Sandra
Räppli and guides groups of inhabitants and visitors through the streets
of Zug. The canton counts 116,000 inhabitants and more than 30,000
companies, 105 of which belong to the commodity cluster formed by
GlencoreXstrata, Northstream, Rusal and Gazprom, to name just a few.<br />
<br />
Privileged taxation for holding, domicile and mixed companies brought
these firms here. Holding companies are exempt from cantonal income
tax, and pay almost no capital tax. Incomes of management companies
generated abroad are hardly taxed, too.<br />
<br />
Critics say Zug’s tax environment is an invitation to ‘transfer
pricing’, a method to allocate a corporation’s net profit before
taxation; in other words a means for tax evasion. Despite sales of
214.44 billion dollars in 2012, Glencore paid no tax on earnings at all
in the canton of Zug last year.<br />
<br />
The commodity cluster as a whole is estimated to have paid only 40 million dollars in cantonal and communal taxes.<br />
<br />
Under official secrecy rules, exact taxes paid by Glencore and other
companies are not available. Statistics on the number of companies or
their employees is also lacking, even at the national level.<br />
<br />
“That lack of transparency is a major problem,” says Andreas
Hürlimann, a parliamentarian with the Green-Alternative party in Zug.
“Even as a member of parliament I can’t be sure that things are handled
correctly if the government on any occasion hides behind the tax
secret.”<br />
<br />
Hürlimann finds Zug’s tax regulation deeply unfair. “It makes us
rich, while people in extraction countries suffer, as the companies
evade taxation there.” He says that Zug bears at least some moral
responsibility.<br />
<br />
At the end of her tour, Sandra Räppli stops in front of Zug’s town
hall. “Our politicians are hand in glove with Glencore’s managers,” she
tells her audience. “Only if people get active can something be done
about these companies.”<br />
<br />
Räppli has just ended her second season of city tours. She’s happy
that the attendance has remained high – by Swiss standards. Media
reports and a campaign run by the Swiss non-governmental organisation <a href="http://www.evb.ch/en" target="_blank">Berne Declaration</a> have clearly increased popular interest in the commodity sector.<br />
<br />
In the nearby canton of Zurich, these efforts have yielded fruits.
Several villages are up in arms against Glencore. The corporation’s
flotation on the stock market in 2011 had filled the pockets of CEO Ivan
Glasenberg, leading to a huge one-time tax inflow for the canton. That
money was redistributed to the communes.<br />
<br />
But in several communes, residents were appalled by profiting
indirectly from what they call “Glencore’s dubious business conduct
abroad.” They collected signatures and demanded that at least 10 percent
of the “Glencore money” be donated to charities who support affected
communities in extraction regions.<br />
<br />
In Hedingen, a village of 3,500, voters approved the donation of
120,000 dollars to charities. Samuel Schweizer, a member of the local
citizens’ committee, explained that success to IPS: “Our proximity to
Zug was crucial, people could relate to Glencore. Also, we’ve managed to
build a broad committee.”<br />
<br />
Schweizer explained that donating only 10 percent of the “Glencore
money” instead of the whole amount further helped to find a majority.<br />
<br />
At least five more communes will soon decide upon similar
initiatives. In Affoltern for example, 180,000 dollars are at stake. In
Hausen, it’s 80,000 dollars.<br />
<br />
There, Franz Schüle of the local initiative committee is optimistic.
“We live in a rural area. When I explain that in Colombia the surface of
the land belongs to the farmers, while everything below can be owned by
extraction companies, people can relate to the problem easily.”<br />
<br />
“Direct democracy has hit Glencore,” says Oliver Classen,
spokesperson of the Berne Declaration. He’s aware that these communal
initiatives are only a drop in the ocean and a one-time effort.
“However, Hedingen has a huge political signalling effect,” Classen
tells IPS.<br />
<br />
This summer, the European parliament introduced the Transparency and
Accounting Directives that force mining, oil and gas companies to
publish their payments to governments; country by country and project by
project. The Swiss government has remained hesitant so far and will
present its own measures next spring.<br />
<br />
Oliver Classen demands transparency on payments and human rights
obligations for commodities companies producing or trading abroad.<br />
<br />
GlencoreXstrata neither commented on the tax initiatives nor
responded to accusations ranging from tax avoidance to violating basic
human rights in extraction countries. Its spokesperson Charles Watenpuhl
sent IPS a statement.<br />
<br />
“We believe that Glencore’s global presence and economic strength
have a predominantly positive impact on the communities in which we
operate. We seek out, undertake and contribute to activities and
programmes designed to improve quality of life for the people in these
communities.<br />
<br />
“Glencore’s tax strategy and payments play a vital role in our
intention to achieve long-term sustainable development. We are committed
to full compliance with all statutory obligations, full disclosure to
tax authorities and reporting transparently in the tax payments that we
make to the governments of the countries in which we operate.”<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first
published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/giant-companies-pinpricked-by-direct-democracy/"><b>here</b></a>
by <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/"><b>IPS Inter Press Service</b></a>.
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-47238816344071805812013-10-10T12:09:00.000+03:002013-10-10T12:09:48.698+03:00Europe Failing Syrian Refugees<b>Refugee rights organisations are demanding an EU-wide temporary
protection regime for Syrian refugees. The announcement by some
countries that they can take a few thousand refugees is not enough, the
groups say.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-127462"></span>Sweden has announced a few steps after
the number of Syrian refugees seeking shelter abroad has crossed the two
million mark in early September.<br />
<br />
“The conflict will continue for a long time ahead,” said Fredrik
Beijer, director of legal affairs at the Swedish Migration Board. Sweden
decided to grant permanent residence to about 8,000 Syrians who
currently hold temporary residency permits, and to facilitate family
reunification.<br />
<br />
Germany and the Scandinavian country have between them received about
two-thirds of the Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe. Since early 2012,
approximately 14,700 Syrians have asked for asylum in Sweden. In August
alone, 1,201 Syrian asylum-seekers arrived in the country.<br />
<br />
On Sep. 11, 107 Syrian refugees were flown out of Lebanon to Hanover
as part of a temporary admission programme announced by the German
government earlier this year. Having committed to 5,000 places, Germany
currently runs the biggest refugee relocation programme for the Syria
crisis.<br />
<br />
In June, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) appealed for 10,000
humanitarian admissions. A group of countries including Denmark,
Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain have pledged 960 admissions
for 2013 so far.<br />
<br />
“Germany is setting an important example,” UNHCR spokesperson Dan
McNorton told IPS. “We hope more countries will come forward with
similar schemes to help Syrians fleeing the violence.”<br />
<br />
Germany’s two smaller neighbours Switzerland and Austria have pledged
to accommodate 500 refugees each. Austria’s foreign minister preference
for Christian refugees recently drew harsh criticism.<br />
<br />
Compared to the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees stranded in
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, the estimated 40,000 that have
applied for asylum in Europe since April 2011 is peanuts.<br />
<br />
A comparison with the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995 makes today’s
numbers look dismal. At the time, Germany hosted 350,000 Bosnian
refugees, Austria 90,000 and Switzerland nearly 30,000. During the Kosovo war, Germany evacuated more than 15,000 refugees, while Switzerland sheltered 53,000 and Austria 5,000.<br />
<br />
The Swiss chapter of Amnesty International calls Switzerland’s
present offer “a drop in the ocean.” Austrian and German refugee rights
organisations have also criticised their governments.<br />
<br />
“Germany’s contribution is yet too small,” Karl Kopp, director of
European affairs at the human rights organisation Pro Asyl told IPS,
“though, we appreciate that Germany has launched the debate.”<br />
<br />
In addition to the 5,000, several German states have announced they
will permit up to 1,000 Syrian refugees to stay with their Germany-based
relatives. Kopp said that many of these have been trying desperately to
get their relatives to come over.<br />
<br />
Bureaucratic hurdles for family reunification are high, as Syrians
already living in Germany have to prove they can provide for their
relatives, host them and pay for their health insurance. “Most of them
are unable to do so. But humanity mustn’t fail due to lack of money,”
Kopp said.<br />
<br />
While Switzerland is facilitating family reunification, too, Austria
hesitates to do so. In Austria, upcoming parliamentary elections reduce
the willingness of politicians to invite refugees to the country.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, thousands of Syrian refugees are trying hard to find a way
into Europe. According to the Italian interior ministry, 3,000 Syrians
have already arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, most of
them in boats. At Europe’s other entry gate, Greek coastguards have
repeatedly been accused of pushing Syrian refugees back into Turkish
waters.<br />
<br />
“That is outrageous,” says Kopp. “Europe needs to open legal escape
routes. Currently, Europe asks Syria’s neighbours to open up their
borders, while its own borders remain closed.”<br />
<br />
Anny Knapp, president of the Austrian refugee rights organisation
Asylkoordination Österreich says refugees have to turn to the risky and
expensive services of people smugglers, as no legal escape routes exist.<br />
<br />
“In addition, the Dublin regulation forecloses that refugees can
profit from family or community ties in other European states,” says
Knapp. According to the Dublin regulation, immigrants may be sent back
to the country through which they first entered the European Union.<br />
<br />
Knapp’s German counterpart Karl Kopp therefore demands freedom of movement for Syrian refugees within Europe.<br />
<br />
Judith Sunderland, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch told IPS
that Syrians seeking asylum in other EU member states face a protection
lottery, with their fate depending on which country they reach first.<br />
<br />
“Those who make it to the EU through external border countries such
as Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus can face problems such as detention,
failure to be granted any form of protection, problems with family
reunification as well as poor or non-existent reception conditions.”<br />
<br />
All refugee rights advocates agree that action at the European level is required urgently.<br />
<br />
Kopp finds it “absolutely pathetic” that three years after the
beginning of the Syria crisis the EU still doesn’t have an active
admission programme. In June, the European Commission had called upon
its member states to provide resettlement or humanitarian admission
places, to facilitate family reunification and “to admit any Syrians
arriving at the external borders of the Union.”<br />
<br />
The European Commission also promised to continue efforts to ensure a
greater degree of convergence between member states’ approaches to the
Syrian refugee crisis. Yet it is far from providing a concerted solution
like a EU-wide temporary protection regime, repeating its failure
during the Libya war in 2011.<br />
Instead, tons of tents and blankets are sent to Syria’s neighbour
states. “Even though they think that the Syrian refugee crisis can be
contained regionally, it has in fact long reached Europe,” says Kopp.
“The catastrophe’s dimensions render such an approach not just absurd,
but highly cynical.”<br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/09/europe-failing-syrian-refugees-3/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-32385662916184817942013-10-10T12:05:00.003+03:002013-10-10T12:05:37.956+03:00German Sun Beats Swiss Water<b>Water power is the backbone of Alpine countries’ energy supply.
Despite its important role in Europe’s energy shift, further development
of hydroelectric infrastructure in Austria and Switzerland is on hold.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-127076"></span>On sunny, windy summer days in Germany,
when millions of solar panels soak up the sun and wind turbines run at
full speed, the German electricity network can’t cope with the
overcapacity. Especially on Sundays, production often exceeds demand.
The result is low prices, at times even negative ones; which means
customers get paid for buying electricity.<br />
<br />
Europe’s energy market is liberalised. What happens in Germany
affects all its neighbours. Swiss hydropower stations are unable to
compete under these conditions. The heyday of Swiss water power is over.<br />
<br />
The energy source that covers 55 percent of the country’s energy
supply faces drastically reduced profitability, as electricity prices
have sunk 20 percent again compared to the preceding year.<br />
<br />
In the light of this market environment, the biggest Swiss energy
producers Alpiq, Axpo, BKW and Repower are less willing to invest in
optimising and enlarging their infrastructure. Repower has announced a
35 percent cut in investments in the next 10 to 15 years.<br />
<br />
Andreas Meyer, media person at Alpiq, told IPS that the massive
subsidies for renewable energy have destabilised the market, putting in
question the profitability of hydro and thermal power stations and
blocking further investments. Currently, Alpiq runs a divestment
programme. The company is worried that the price deterioration will
continue.<br />
<br />
Further development potential of Swiss water power is disputed. While
the government estimated four to five terrawatt hours, the World
Wildlife Fund assessed only 1.5 terrawatt hours. In any case, the
potential is quite low.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, Switzerland subsidises small hydropower stations with a
capacity of less than 10 megawatt massively, irrespective of their
efficiency and the ecological damage they may cause.<br />
<br />
Due to the subventions, small water power projects have become cash
cows. The WWF demands that these subsidies be stopped. “Building new
power stations at previously unspoilt waters is absolutely silly,” water
expert at WWF Switzerland Christoph Bonzi tells IPS. Today, 95 percent
of Swiss water is used for energy production.<br />
<br />
For once, conservationists and the leading energy suppliers take a
common stand on the Swiss subsidy model that favours small hydropower
projects. “Isn’t it absurd that subsidising new renewable energy leads
to a situation where even other systemic technologies need to be
subsidised?” says Werner Steinmann, spokesperson for Repower.<br />
<br />
The boom of solar and wind energy in Europe has lead to increased
demand for electricity storage, as both energy sources are unsteady.
Germany, Switzerland and Austria agreed last year to increase the
capacities of pumped-storage hydropower plants in a concerted effort.<br />
<br />
Several such plants are currently being constructed in the Swiss
Alps. Whether these investments will finally pay off is more uncertain
then ever.<br />
<br />
Some Swiss energy companies don’t oppose all state subsidies for
renewable energy. Repower’s biggest shareholder is the Canton of
Grisons. Recently, the canton’s chief councillor Mario Cavigelli broke a
taboo when he demanded subsidies even for electricity produced in big
hydro power plants. Cavigelli asked for cutting money granted to small
hydropower projects.<br />
<br />
Within the energy sector, that demand is disputed however. Axpo’s
media person Daniela Biedermann says that it can’t be a solution to
solve the mistakes of the current subsidies regulation with additional
subventions. “We need to discuss how to implement the new renewable
energies into a market-oriented system instead,” she told IPS.<br />
<br />
The Swiss Association for Water Management (SWV), which represents
the industry, demands that subsidies for hydropower may no longer be
limited to small projects and that instead the relevant criteria would
have to be efficiency, an aspect that the current subsidy system
completely ignores. The SWV wants promotion for those projects that
produce the most electricity per subsidy-dollar.<br />
<br />
Conservationists are less happy about the various further demands
voiced by the water power industry though. In the name of “national
interest”, water power companies have been trying to tap even nationally
protected waters. Instead of using even the last drop of water for
electricity production, the WWF prefers to increase energy efficiency.<br />
<br />
Just across the border, the Austrian hydropower industry struggles
with similar problems. Currently, about 60 percent of the country’s
electricity supply is covered by domestic water power. The industry once
intended to increase its capacity by seven terrawatt hours until 2020.<br />
<br />
“We surely won’t be able to meet up with our expectations,” says
Ernst Brandstetter, spokesperson of Oesterreichs Energie, which
represents the interests of the Austrian electricity industry. According
to Brandstetter, only an additional four terrawatt hours until 2025 are
realistic. “Unfortunately, many projects are on hold. The industry is
about five years behind its development plans.”<br />
<br />
Brandstetter explains that regarding water power stations, the
current market situation is characterised by acute insecurity. “Many
planned projects are economically no longer justifiable.” Oesterreichs
Energie doesn’t demand subsidies. It however wants a more
investor-friendly environment.<br />
<br />
“Most worrying is that even storage projects are about to become
unprofitable,” Brandstetter adds. “Along with the electricity networks,
pumped storage hydropower plants are the most important enablers of a
renewable energy future.”<br />
<br />
Ernst Brandstetter demands a stop to market distortions by
introducing a European market design with rules granting all energy
sources fair competitive conditions.<br />
<br />
For Switzerland’s and Austria’s hydro power industry, much depends on
developments at the European Union. On that level, a consultation on
Environmental and Energy Aid Guidelines 2014-2020 is currently under
way. Whether or not Alpine hydropower may profit from the new guidelines
will be seen next spring.<br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/german-sun-beats-swiss-water/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-27706951637492898492013-10-10T11:56:00.002+03:002013-10-10T11:58:41.636+03:00Geothermal Energy Stuck in a Hole in Switzerland<b>An accident in a flagship project threatens the future of geothermal
energy in Switzerland. The mishap that was followed by earthquakes has
come as a warning that geothermal deep drilling still has a long way to
go. It occurred in a project in the eastern Swiss city St. Gallen earlier in July brings a new setback, after earlier accidents.</b><br />
<br />
In 2010, 83 percent of St. Gallen’s voters approved a 160 million
Swiss francs (172 million dollars) credit for a flagship geothermal
project. A geothermal power station was expected to cover the
electricity needs of 3,000 to 5,000 households eventually and provide
heat for half of the city’s buildings. In early July, drilling was
concluded up to 4,450 metres depth, and extraction tests prepared.<br />
<br />
On Jul. 19 around noon, the engineers’ nightmare happened: they
unexpectedly encountered gas in the drilling hole, which raised the
pressure. The leak was closed and water was pumped into the hole to
reduce the pressure. Next morning, St. Gallen was shaken by an
earthquake that measured 3.6 on the Richter scale, followed by dozens of
micro-earthquakes.<br />
<br />
Since then, all eyes are on the city in Switzerland’s east. Engineers
have managed to stabilise the drilling hole. Further test drilling has
been cancelled. Decisions on the project’s future will be taken after
thorough review. Damage to earthquake-affected buildings and
infrastructure was negligible, but the reputation of geothermal energy
has suffered considerably.<br />
<br />
Geothermal energy is significant in Switzerland’s energy shift. It
has already found wide use especially for heating buildings. However,
Switzerland wants to use its underground also for electricity
production, expecting it to contribute 4.29 GWh annually by 2050, which
is about 7.5 percent of the country’s electricity consumption. So far,
no geothermal power plant exists on Swiss soil.<br />
<br />
Switzerland is not Iceland, where the required heat can be found only
a few hundred metres below the surface. Here, the necessary minimum
temperature of 100 degrees Celsius is found at a depth of 3,000 metres
or more. Drilling such deep holes is a technical challenge, and also
costly.<br />
<br />
“An average geothermal power station costs around 80 to 100 million
Swiss francs, around 75 percent of which is for the drilling,” says
Peter Meier, CEO of the Swiss company Geo-Energie Suisse AG. His company
is pushing for pilot projects in order to prove technical feasibility
and economic viability.<br />
<br />
But Switzerland’s geothermal efforts have suffered several major
setbacks. A first project “Deep Heat Mining Basel” in the northwestern
city Basel led to a series of earthquakes reaching up to 3.5 on the
Richter scale in 2006, causing damage to buildings and infrastructure.
The project was aborted.<br />
<br />
A so-called petrothermal system was used in Basel. This is applied if
no adequate thermal water resources are available. Petrothermal systems
create artificial underground heat exchangers by cracking rock.<br />
Alternatively, hydrothermal systems use natural thermal water
resources in the depth. As such resources first have to be found, costly
test drilling is necessary, and success is not guaranteed.<br />
<br />
Following the abortion of the geothermal project in Basel, the city
of Zurich invested 20 million Swiss francs (22 million dollars) into
hydrothermal test drilling in 2009. The drilling did not cause seismic
activity, but proved unsuccessful.<br />
<br />
No water in the required amount and temperature was found; the hole
could not be used for the anticipated electricity production, but only
for heating.<br />
<br />
Despite those two failures earlier, expectations of geothermal energy had remained high in Switzerland.<br />
After the failure in Basel, experts had claimed that with improved
technology, seismic activity caused by geothermal drilling would become
insignificant. A different technique was used in St. Gallen, but that
promise turned out to be false.<br />
<br />
“Deep heat mining plays a significant role in Switzerland’s energy
shift,” Elmar Grosse Ruse, project manager for climate and energy at the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told IPS. Along with all other major environmental organisations, the WWF supports geothermal energy.<br />
<br />
Ruse said that the future of the technology in Switzerland depends on whether and how the project in St. Gallen continues.<br />
<br />
“The worst case would be if the project was aborted or if no adequate
thermal water resources could be found,” he said. Drawing the curtain
over geothermal energy after a few unsuccessful efforts would be
premature, he said.<br />
<br />
“Honestly, no drilling, not even in tunnel construction, is entirely
without risks. If we as a society decide to pull out of much riskier
technologies such as nuclear power and to drastically reduce our CO2
emissions, we have to accept the minor risks of alternative
technologies,” the WWF project manager said.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Peter Meier’s Geo-Energie Suisse AG is searching for
locations for petrothermal power stations. “We have learned from Basel,”
he told IPS. Geo-Energie Suisse has always said that with drilling
seismic activity may occur. “Our advanced technology leads to reduced
seismic activity though, as our drilling technique disperses the
pressure on many, already existing fissures in the rock.”<br />
<br />
Technically, the incident in St. Gallen will not affect Meier’s
projects. “We use a different method in a different rock.” Unlike in St.
Gallen, most Swiss geothermal projects target crystalline rock.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, Meier is aware that in the near future, he’ll have to do a lot of additional persuading.<br />
WWF’s Grosse Ruse said that it might be better to plan geothermal
power stations further away from densely populated areas. The dilemma
however is, that waste heat users may then be too far away.<br />
<br />
“Heat can be easily transported, hence that’s not a decisive factor,”
countered Meier. His company nonetheless targets such less populated
areas, but for other reasons. The CEO stressed that it isn’t about using
nearby inhabitants as guinea pigs, but points at another factor:
“Insuring potential damages in cities would be way more expensive.”<br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/geothermal-energy-stuck-in-a-hole-in-switzerland/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-89957502911626891682013-06-26T14:29:00.001+03:002013-06-26T14:30:36.370+03:00Swiss Doorways to Refugees Narrow<b>Once more, Swiss voters have lashed out against asylum seekers,
further tightening the country’s already strict asylum law. The
government has meanwhile announced a radical restructuring of the asylum
procedure.</b>
<br />
<br />
Switzerland’s asylum law exists since
1981. Since then, one reform chased the other, all of them to the
disadvantage of those seeking asylum in the country. The aim of the ten
law revisions so far is evident: make Switzerland as unattractive as
possible for poor immigrants.<br />
<br />
On Jun. 9, 78 percent of Swiss voters approved new measures to keep
asylum seekers out. Switzerland had been so far the only country in
Europe to allow asylum seekers to apply at Swiss embassies. Now, Swiss
voters have closed that unique door.<br />
<br />
The facility had offered a safe path to exile, especially for
endangered women and children who could avoid dangerous trips and people
smugglers.<br />
<br />
The government says the provision attracted too many requests,
leading to a huge administrative effort. In 2012 Switzerland registered
7,667 such applications. Since 2006, Justice Minister Simonetta
Sommaruga has said, only 11 percent of these asylum seekers were allowed
to travel to Switzerland, and 40 percent of these were finally granted
asylum.<br />
<br />
Since 2005, thousands of Eritrean refugees have found a way to
Switzerland. In 2012, they filed 15.4 percent of all asylum requests.
Many young, male Eritreans fled the dictatorship of Isaias Afewerki and
compulsory, sometimes infinite military or state service. About
two-thirds of them were granted asylum for being conscientious
objectors. Now that will no longer be a sufficient reason for asylum.<br />
<br />
Swiss
voters have also paved the way for a major restructuring of the asylum
process. As Swiss cantons struggle to accommodate asylum seekers, the
state has demanded extra powers to provide accommodation in its own
infrastructure such as unused military bunkers. The government can now
use its infrastructure as asylum centres for three years without the
approval of the concerned cantons and communities.<br />
<br />
On Jun. 14 Sommaruga laid out the details of her restructuring
project. Its main aim is the acceleration of the asylum procedure. Under
the new procedure, 60 percent of all asylum requests should be
conclusively dealt with within 140 days, the remaining 40 percent within
a year.
<br />
<br />
The Swiss Justice Minister intends now to centralise the system
that’s now scattered all over the country. Transporting asylum seekers
from cantonal accommodations to the federal interrogation bureaus and
back has been costing money and time.<br />
<br />
Taking the Netherlands as an example, Sommaruga’s vision is to build a
small number of big asylum centres, where all concerned administrative
actors are present. Also, 60 percent of asylum seekers would be hosted
by the government and only 40 percent by the 26 cantons. For that, the
government needs to create at least 3,000 more accommodation places.<br />
<br />
The Justice Ministry will carry out a two-year test phase at a centre
in Zurich, starting 2014. “It makes sense to probe the new procedures
in practice and collect experiences, before it is introduced
comprehensively,” Sommaruga said at a press conference earlier on Mar.
25.<br />
<br />
The details of the test system aren’t entirely clear yet, but it is
being ensured that no more than 300 asylum seekers stay in a centre. The
centres are likely to consist of detention cells to facilitate direct
deportation of those denied asylum.<br />
<br />
Human rights groups are watching the ministry’s efforts closely, and
with concern. They agree on a need to accelerate procedures. “However,
the Justice Minister’s project will mainly speed up Dublin cases and
asylum requests with potentially low chances,” Moreno Casasola,
secretary general of the refugee rights organisation ‘Solidarité sans
frontières’ tells IPS. The ‘Dublin cases’ are asylum-seekers who can be
sent back to the first European country where they were registered,
under an EU agreement reached earlier in Dublin.<br />
<br />
Casasola thinks that speeding up is needed for those asylum seekers
who have a good chance of being granted asylum. Such asylum requests are
often suspended for months or even years. “If the government wants more
efficiency, it should simply decide upon these requests instead of
leaving them in the drawer.”<br />
<br />
In Casasola’s view, the government doesn’t want positive asylum
decisions because it fears a pull effect that may attract even more
immigrants. “Sommaruga plans to accelerate only unpromising, baseless
asylum requests for one sole purpose: deterrence.”<br />
<br />
Along with the accelerated procedure, the Swiss Justice Minister
plans to offer asylum seekers free legal advice and representation. “In principle, that’s a good idea,” Melanie Aebli, secretary general
of the ‘Democratic Lawyers Switzerland’ (DJS) tells IPS. But Aebli fears
that the government will place the legal advice office in the new
centres “probably right besides the bureau for return advice.”
<br />
<br />
DJS and other refugee rights groups want the legal support promised
to asylum seekers to be situated far from the asylum centres, and be
identifiable as clearly independent. Aebli says the accelerated
procedure will put a lot of pressure on the asylum seekers, because they
will hardly be given enough time to collect evidence to present their
case and to organise themselves.<br />
<br />
Further, the government plans to cut the appeal period for original
asylum decisions. “Already 30 days meant a lot of stress for legal
representation, cutting it to ten days is highly problematic as there’s
hardly time to work out a substantial appeal,” says Aebli.<br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/06/swiss-doorways-to-refugees-narrow/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-40681866977829867502013-05-05T12:23:00.000+03:002013-05-05T12:24:54.695+03:00Asylum Seekers Housed Where Eagles Dare<b>Struggling to accommodate all its asylum seekers, Swiss authorities
have turned to unused army quarters. Some of these lie on mountain
passes, far away from inhabited areas.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-118414"></span>Last year, 28,631 persons asked for
asylum in Switzerland, nearly twice as many as 2010. Most applicants
came from Eritrea, Nigeria and Tunisia. At the end of March 2013, 44,478
persons were registered at the Federal Office for Migration (FOM),
which is responsible the asylum process.<br />
<br />
Swiss authorities struggle to accommodate all the immigrants. It’s a
home-made problem however, as former justice minister and prominent
right-wing politician Christoph Blocher initiated a drastic reduction in
the country’s asylum infrastructure in 2006.<br />
<br />
Reacting to the shortage, the Swiss government in March 2012 ordered
the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) to
provide accommodation for 4,000 asylum seekers. The DDPS oversees the
Swiss Armed Forces, which have plenty of unused infrastructure.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless,
the DDPS efforts were slowed by political adversities, building
restrictions and non-conformance with communal spatial plans. The
parliament therefore passed a resolution allowing bypass of communal and
cantonal permission procedures.<br />
<br />
Swiss army quarters often are located in very remote areas. However,
many citizens are glad to see asylum seekers accommodated far away from
populated areas. That atmosphere is the result of more than a decade of
right-wing populist campaigns against foreigners and asylum seekers in
special.<br />
<br />
Before they are distributed to the cantons, the FOM hosts asylum
seekers in its own collective centres. Due to the urgent need, remote
accommodations seem right for the FOM, even if they pose logistical
challenges.<br />
<br />
One of these temporary accommodations was opened last October near
the village Sufers in the Grison Alps 1,400 metres above sea level. “The
asylum seekers live in an old, bleak bunker in a narrow valley,” says
Denise Graf of Amnesty International, who recently was allowed to visit
the place. “There are no houses nearby, just trees and heaps of snow.”<br />
<br />
As in all FOM centres, asylum seekers may only stay outside between 9
am and 5 pm. An army barrack serves as a recreation room. For the
weekend, they may leave the centre. “To compensate for their spatial
isolation, they are given free tickets for public transportation on
weekends. However, the next bus stop is several kilometres away from the
bunker,” Graf tells IPS.<br />
<br />
“Contact between Sufers’ 130 residents and the 80 asylum seekers is
rare,” says the village’s mayor Thomas Lechner. “The centre is
two-and-a-half kilometres away from the village.” Asked if he considered
an underground bunker a suitable place for asylum seekers, the mayor
says: “People are in there for a maximum of 35 days. For army troops, it
was handled this way as well, so I guess it’s also reasonable for
asylum seekers.”<br />
<br />
As the centre in Sufers was closed in the end of April, IPS couldn’t
speak to any of its inhabitants. However, former inhabitants of other
remote asylum centres have spoken of extreme boredom, which sometimes
raised the potential for conflicts.<br />
<br />
“It is very difficult to live in bunkers, especially with limited
freedom of movement,” says Moreno Casasola, secretary general of the
refugee rights organisation ‘Solidarité sans Frontières’. “As you can
also see from soldiers’ experiences, it negatively affects your mind
quickly.”<br />
<br />
The FOM was aware of that, so Sufers and other villages in the valley
were asked to provide work opportunities. “It was a win-win situation
for the asylum seekers as well as for our commune,” says mayor Thomas
Lechner. “They prepared firewood, renovated hiking paths and cleaned
wood pastures.<br />
<br />
“Indeed, many asylum seekers have welcomed work opportunities. It has
raised their acceptance and improved their reputation among locals,”
says Amnesty’s Denise Graf. “However, it’s definitely no solution to
place asylum seekers in such remote areas in the mountains.”<br />
<br />
Because the centre in Sufers has closed, another temporary centre
will be opened on the Lukmanier Pass, which connects the cantons of
Grisons and Ticino. There, up to 100 asylum seekers will be accommodated
once the snow has melted.<br />
<br />
“We decided to lend a hand to the FOM,” Peter Binz says. He is the
mayor of nearby Medel, the municipality to which the mountain pass
belongs. Medel has 400 inhabitants, its main village Curaglia is 15
kilometres away from Lukmanier Pass.<br />
<br />
“We approach the issue with a certain respect and openness,” Binz
says. Currently, he collects ideas for work opportunities. “They’ll use
the bus and our shop, but besides that there won’t be many contacts with
the asylum seekers,” he estimates.<br />
<br />
Quite soon, the FOM may announce the opening of yet another asylum
centre at Lago della Sella 2,256 meters above sea level. The artificial
lake is located near Gotthard Pass, which connects Switzerland’s North
to the Italian-speaking South.<br />
<br />
Lago della Sella belongs to the municipality of Airolo. Its mayor
Franco Pedrini is worried: “Nobody lives up there. It’s a beautiful
place just fine for a one-week holiday camp, however the climate is
rough. It’s not suitable for asylum seekers.”<br />
<br />
Even though the centre at Lago della Sella would only be used in
summer, it isn’t unusual that snow falls even in July or August. “A
little remote would be fine and please citizens who fear the asylum
seekers’ presence,” Pedrini says, “but that’s just way too far from any
civilized area.”<br />
<br />
‘Solidarité sans Frontières’ radically opposes remote asylum centres.
“These are human beings, not cows that are brought to the mountains in
summer,” its secretary general Moreno Casasola says. He points at other
options. “The FOM only relies on the DDPS to provide accommodations.
They need to expand their range of partners and include for example
clerical institutions, which own plenty of suitable real estate,”
Casasola argues.<br />
<br />
André Durrer, who works for the relief organisation Caritas, also
shakes his head. He prefers asylum centres in urban agglomerations. “For
20 years, we have run asylum centres within populated areas without
fences around them and private security standing guard. And it has
worked,” he says.<br />
<br />
“By providing good assistance and conditions for the asylum seekers,
no increased security arrangements are needed like at FOM-centres,”
Durrer argues.<br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/05/asylum-seekers-housed-where-eagles-dare/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-8839706899936796802013-04-17T11:47:00.001+03:002013-04-17T11:47:59.788+03:00Commodities Trade Haven Faces Protests<b>The powerful Swiss commodity sector is under fire here, as citizens
fed up with government inaction on charges of corporate corruption, tax
evasion and lack of transparency gear up for major protests.</b><br />
<br />
<span id="more-117990"></span>Switzerland is anything but a country
rich in raw materials but it is, nevertheless, a major hub for
international commodity trade, hosting some of the world’s biggest
commodities companies such as Glencore (which specialises in power
generation, steel production, oil and food processing); Xstrata (copper,
zinc, aluminium, nickel and coal-fired electricity), Vitol (which ships
oil products like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and metals, as well as
ethanol and chemicals) and Mercuria (dealing in oil and energy
products).<br />
<br />
Swiss-based companies are estimated to have a share of 15 to 25 percent of the global commodities trade.<br />
Data provided by the industry reveals that 60 percent of the global
metals and coffee trade is done in Switzerland. In sugar, the Swiss
sector has a market share of 50 percent and in crude oil and grains it
makes up 35 percent of global trade.<br />
<br />
Against this backdrop, Swiss critics are preparing for a chance to
voice their grievances with these massive commodities giants at the
second annual Financial Times Global Commodities Summit<i> </i>to be held in the city of Lausanne, about 60 kilometres northeast of Geneva, on Apr. 15.<br />
<br />
Organisers describe the official conference as an “unparalleled”
opportunity for executives of the world’s biggest investment banks,
trading houses and natural resource entities to come together and
debate, network and strategise about the future of world trade.<br />
<br />
But protestors say the summit “is a symbol of exploitation and speculation”. “While the companies’ profits increase, the local population in
mining countries suffers from environmental damage, expulsion, tax
avoidance and anti-trade union measures,” Yvonne Zimmermann of
MultiWatch, a broad coalition of NGOs, trade unions and
anti-globalisation organisations, tells IPS.<br />
<br />
An alliance of two-dozen organisations is calling for a demonstration
to coincide with the arrival of businessmen in Lausanne on Apr. 15.
Speaking on behalf of the protest organisers, Alwin Egger tells IPS the
march, which is expected to draw hundreds, will move towards the Hotel
Beau-Rivage Palace, where the summit takes place.<br />
<br />
A member of the anti-globalisation Association for the Taxation of
financial Transactions and Aid to Citizens (ATTAC), Egger says, “In our
opinion, it’s the people who should have control over extraction and
trade of raw materials, not profit-oriented companies.”<br />
<br />
Over the last decade, the commodities business has grown
exponentially in Switzerland. In 2011, its net receipts from trade added
up to 20 billion Swiss francs (or 21 billion dollars), contributing 3.5
percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). While some
corporations are only involved in either commodity trade or extraction,
most of them offer services throughout the entire supply chain.<br />
<br />
For more than a century, commodity companies have flocked to
Switzerland to avail themselves of the country’s low tax rates and the
privileged corporate taxation system. Holding companies, for example,
are exempt from corporate income tax on cantonal and communal levels as
long as they own shares in foreign companies only. Besides, Switzerland
offers strong banks, political stability and a high standard of living.<br />
<br />
That the country wasn’t a member of the United Nations until 2002 was
another factor behind its popularity, as it allowed Switzerland-based
companies to avoid U.N. embargoes and sanctions.<br />
<br />
The commodities business is known for its discreetness. But as of
late, that peace has been disturbed by NGOs such as the Berne
Declaration (BD), which published a groundbreaking book in 2011 to shed
light on some of the dubious practices the sector constantly engages in.<br />
<br />
Accusations range from human rights abuses, ecological destruction, exploitation, to corruption and tax avoidance in
developing countries. In 2012, for instance, NGOs accused Glencore of
buying copper from intermediaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo
that was extracted partly using child labour and under precarious
conditions.<br />
<br />
Entitled “Commodities – Switzerland’s Most Dangerous Business”, the
book found that “trade in oil, gas, coal, metals and agricultural
products – particularly via deals made in Geneva and Zug – has grown by
an incredible 1,500 percent since 1998…The result: Seven of the twelve
corporations with the highest turnover in Switzerland trade in…or mine
commodities.”<br />
<br />
“As more information becomes available, attentiveness to the issue
grows” — and so does criticism, observes Zimmermann, adding that a media
spotlight on these practices has dealt a harsh blow to the industry’s public image.<br />
<br />
But Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Amman opposes specific,
national regulations for the commodities sector. “We don’t want to treat
our companies any stricter than other, competing locations do,” he said
at a press conference, echoing the standard argument issued every time
the corporate tax system is in the line of fire: that Switzerland cannot
afford to have companies relocate elsewhere.<br />
<br />
For critical experts like Classen, this excuse is not valid since
“there are no unregulated alternative business locations” anywhere else
in the world.<br />
<br />
The
Swiss Federal Council has proposed a consultation draft for a
transparency regulation similar to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the United
States, section 1504 of which obliges companies to disclose their
payments to governments for access to oil, gas and minerals. It is still
unclear, though, whether payments of commodity trading companies will
be included in the Swiss draft regulation.<br />
<br />
Fearing new regulations, the Swiss commodities sector has ramped up
its lobbying efforts. Associations representing the industry have popped
up in the main commodity trading hubs of Geneva, Zug and Lugano.<br />
Glencore recently invited Swiss parliamentarians to hear an
explanation of its “engagement for sustainable business, for the health
and safety of its employees and for the environment”. Media and NGOs
were denied access to the closed-door meeting.<br />
<br />
“The sector is concerned that it has become the subject of
attentiveness and debates,” says MultiWatch’s Zimmermann, who protested
against the recent lobby event.<br />
<br />
“As a reaction to criticism, these companies have started to publish
sustainability reports”, she said, which whitewash their practices and
portray themselves as charities.<br />
<br />
<b>Voluntary Regulations “Inadequate”</b><br />
<br />
BD Media Director Oliver Classen says these companies also put
Switzerland's reputation at risk. “The negative image of Glencore, Vitol
or Mecuria affects Switzerland the same way that the misconduct of the
Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and Credit Suisse have in the past.” UBS
alone has coughed up 1.5 billion dollars in fines for its part in the
fraudulent fixing of the Libor rate, the agreed international rate of
exchange between banks.<br />
<br />
The Swiss Federal Council’s recently published “background report”
dedicated to Switzerland's commodity sector has been criticised as
“inadequate” for failing to suggest serious measures for solving or
preventing fraudulent or criminal activity, though it does identify
“challenges” such as human rights violations or fighting corruption.<br />
<br />
“The report proposes only voluntary corporate initiatives, which is politically naïve,” the Bern Declaration claims. <br />
<br />
For example, the Federal Council highlights the importance of the
international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI),
which promotes revenue transparency on a local level by asking companies
to publish their transactions with governments of member states, who in
turn are expected to disclose how much they receive.<br />
<br />
Calling the initiative “necessary, but insufficient”, Classen laments that the EITI is voluntary, with only 20 member states. <br />
<br />
“Many important mining countries – such as Angola or Colombia -- where
Swiss-based companies are very active, aren't EITI-members,” explains
Classen.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, the transparency initiative only deals with commodities extraction, but not with trade. <br />
<br />
“Misconduct such as Glencore's aggressive tax avoidance in Zambia is
neither covered, nor sanctioned by the EITI,” according to the Berne
Declaration. <br />
<br />
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/commodities-trade-haven-faces-protests/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-2656801219116386022013-02-18T22:09:00.002+02:002013-02-18T22:13:00.096+02:00Switzerland Checks Mercenaries, Partially<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The Swiss government has presented a draft law regulating the
private military industry but critics argue the law is toothless.</b></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6741819108830097065" name="more-116520"></a>
On Mar. 24 2010, a newly founded holding company was registered in
Basel’s commercial register. Its name was Aegis Group Holdings AG.
A few months later, on Aug. 2, it was noted that the holding had
taken control over the London-based Aegis Defence Services Ltd.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
AEGIS describes itself as “a leading private security and risk
management company.” As such, it has been providing its services
worldwide, including in war-torn countries such as Iraq and
Afghanistan.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The company’s relocation caught the government as well as the
public by surprise. More private military companies (PMCs) were
expected to move to Switzerland, trying to profit from the country’s
political stability, low business taxes and its peaceful and neutral
image.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
PMCs do not differ legally from any other security provider, and
firms active in conflict zones are hard to identify in the commercial
register. The Federal Department of Justice and Police estimates that
the country is home to 20 such companies.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Switzerland has a long history of sending poor farmers as mercenaries
to European battlefields. In the late Middle Ages, Swiss cantons took
the role of the brokers. The decline of the mercenary business
started in the 18th century and ended with the introduction of
Switzerland’s federal constitution in 1848. From 1859 on, fighting
on foreign battlefields was no longer permitted.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Thereafter, ‘neutrality’ became a fundamental element of
Switzerland’s foreign policy and in a mythologised way a central
piece of Swiss collective identity. The arrival of Aegis was seen by
many as a threat to the country’s neutrality.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Swiss politicians pushed for establishment of a new legal frame for
registration and licensing of private security companies. Josef Lang,
then national councillor and a leading voice in the Group for
Switzerland without an Army (GsoA) demanded a national ban of PMCs.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Swiss Justice Minster Simonetta Sommaruga announced a national “ban
on mercenary companies” on Jan. 23. She said Switzerland would no
longer serve as a base for activities that violate human rights. But
what was announced as a ‘ban’ turned out to be an ineffectual
regulation.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The draft law provides for notification and a ban on certain
activities – but not of PMCs themselves. It forbids firms or
holding companies based in Switzerland to “directly take part in
hostilities within an armed conflict abroad.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“In plain language, this means that the new law allows so-called
security companies to act within armed conflicts abroad and to
indirectly take part in hostilities,” says Josef Lang. “Anyone
believing that in the heat of the battle anyone will differentiate
between ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ participation has no clue of
today’s wars.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Ulrich Petersohn, senior researcher at Zurich’s Centre for Security
Studies (CSS) says that in international law the definition of
‘direct participation in hostilities’ is vague and subject to
debate. “And where does self-defence end?” he asks. “Obviously,
there’s a twilight zone.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Petersohn points to a realistic dilemma: “What applies when a
military compound guarded by PMC personnel is attacked?”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The new draft law also bans PMCs from “conducting any activities
which encourage the commission of serious violations of human
rights.” Josef Lang says: “Does that mean that encouraging light
human rights violations is permitted?”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Green Party politician believes the law cannot force Aegis to
leave Switzerland. “They’ll simply promise to not directly take
part in hostilities in conflict zones and to do nothing to encourage
serious human rights violations.” It remains unclear how Swiss
authorities could control mercenaries’ activities on the ground.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Albert A. Stahel, Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies
based in the town of Wädenswil near Zurich believes that
Switzerland’s attractiveness to foreign PMCs may get reduced, but
that those already present will not be constrained. “The Federal
Council should have proposed a clear a priori ban of PMCs, thereby
clearly stating that we don’t tolerate any companies which take
part in wars,” he tells IPS.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Petersohn also does not see significant legal constraints coming up
for Aegis. “However, the sharpest weapon of the draft law is that
on suspicion, lawsuits can be filed.” Companies are eager to avoid
negative publicity, and that could put them under pressure, Petersohn
says.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Lang holds up the strict regulation in Norway as example. “Instead
of forbidding certain hardly definable activities, it would be more
feasible to apply a more controllable criteria. Norwegian companies
aren’t permitted to carry weapons in foreign countries.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the international level, Switzerland along with the International
Committee of the Red Cross had launched a process leading to the
‘Montreux Document’ in 2008. This intergovernmental document
signed by 44 states contains a compilation of good practices but is
not legally binding.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Unexpectedly, the law proposed by the Swiss government does not stick
to the suggested good practices. The Montreux Document advocates
measures to guarantee transparency in authorisation such as oversight
by parliamentary bodies. The Swiss draft law leaves out all
transparency measures.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The law would, though, oblige Switzerland-based PMCs to sign the
International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers
(ICOC-PSP), a self-regulatory framework that 592 PMCs have signed.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Stahel considers this approach useless, because there’s no
sanctioning mechanism. Petersohn is hopeful that such codes may lead
to development of norms that get some degree of compulsion.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ICOC-PSP primarily serves the image of its signature companies and
keeps other service providers at a distance. Petersohn stresses that
violations of the code nevertheless risk naming and shaming
campaigns.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Swiss parliament will debate the draft law, but isn’t expected
to make it any harsher. “A step in the direction was taken,” says
Stahel. “However, the glass is still only half full.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/switzerland-checks-mercenaries-partially/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-68887507708580790732013-02-05T19:07:00.002+02:002014-01-28T00:39:57.105+02:00Davos Puts Protests Behind<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Barbed wire and
safety fences are dismantled, the police and army are withdrawn and
freedom of movement is restored. The 43</b></span></span><sup><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>rd</b></span></span></sup><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>
annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) ended last month
with negligible protests against the ‘global leaders’.</b></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6741819108830097065" name="more-116270"></a>
Every year in late January, the Swiss mountain town Davos is
temporarily turned into a fortress. On the streets, policemen,
soldiers and bodyguards outnumber unarmed citizens by far.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
More than
2,500 ‘global leaders’ met in Davos this year “to improve the
state of the world.” as the WEF claims. It’s difficult to make
much sense of this year’s motto ‘Resilient Dynamism’.
Nevertheless, a lot was discussed, much optimism spread but no
decisions taken; at least in front of the cameras.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Even
though temperatures were frosty, sunshine reigned at this year’s
annual meeting. At least from the business perspective, the global
economic crisis is receding. “The worst is behind us. The optimism
for recovery is there,” Axel Weber, chairman of the board of
directors of the scandal-ridden bank UBS proclaimed.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Meanwhile
Davos mayor Tarzisius Caviezel couldn’t stop raving about the WEF’s
economic importance for Europe’s highest city: “The pictures
broadcast throughout the world are invaluable advertising for Davos.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Indeed,
visual publicity was much worse a decade ago – trashed fast food
restaurants, broken windows, a martial police presence, clouds of
tear gas, peaceful protesters beaten and showered by water cannons.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This year,
barbed wire was cleverly covered by large white canvas. The security
personnel’s only challenge was to guide the countless SUVs and
limousines through the town’s narrow streets.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A decade
ago, thousands of protesters challenged the ‘global leaders’,
threatening to shut down the World Economic Forum. It wasn’t just
about expressing alternative opinions in Davos, but about chasing the
rich and powerful out of town. “Wipe out WEF” was their slogan.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In past
years the police did everything possible to keep protesters away from
Davos, and put up with riots in other Swiss cities. Whoever tried to
travel to Davos was stopped; trains and coaches were blocked in the
lowlands.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
About 50
people joined a rally in Davos. Rolf Marugg, secretary of the local
Green Party was pleased, though he had expected more. “It’s
important that we as locals protest against the meeting, the order of
the globalised economy and the often dirty doings of the WEF
participants,” Marugg said.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pointing
at the WEF’s rather vague motto, the Green politician said that the
world doesn’t need dynamism and resilience but a slowdown and
change. “The current crisis proves that those self-appointed global
leaders’ only ability is to drive economy, society and the
environment against the wall. ‘Resilient Dynamism’ therefore only
means to keep up the current crisis system by any means possible.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Over the
last few years, small demonstrations are tolerated in Davos; they no
longer constitute a threat. The rally went almost unnoticed.
Additionally, Greenpeace temporarily shut down a Shell gas station,
criticising the company for planning to drill for oil in the Arctic.
In another token protest, three activists approached the congress
centre with smoke flares to protest against the exploitation of women
in the global economy.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A decade
ago going up to Davos in late January was on every left-wing
activist’s agenda. David Böhner, now in his forties, was a leading
figure in Switzerland’s anti-globalisation movement. “Our protest
was fundamentally anti-capitalist and directed against the
increasingly powerful multinational corporations,” he said.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Any
social movement needs some kind of point of reference. In our case,
the World Economic Forum provided a suitable projection screen.” At
that time, no meeting of the G8, the European Union or the WTO was
safe from resistance protests.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Böhner
didn’t travel to Davos this year. “The demonstrations against the
WEF don’t interest me any more.” The political capacity to ignite
has long gone, he said, and a ritualised form of protest carries
little potential.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was in
the early 2000s that opposition was loudest and most radical. Even
though the authorities were quick to deflect from political content
by nurturing a debate on violence at the protests, it was then when
the activists’ arguments were most heard.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Another
major reason for the decline of the anti-WEF movement surely was the
police repression,” David Böhner added. The turning point was in
2004, when 1,082 demonstrators were held in the freezing cold in the
town Landquart, 40 kilometres from Davos, after violently being
pulled out of a train by the police.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
authorities succeeded, because disputes flared up within the
movement. Mobilising for demonstrations in Davos became senseless,
unwise and unattractive. In the following years, increasingly smaller
rallies were held in other Swiss cities.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Meanwhile,
the WEF facilitated media access and invited ‘civil society
leaders’ to their debates to counter critique. The Open Forum to
run parallel to the WEF was invented.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But
despite its polished image, the World Economic Forum remains a
dubious platform for politicians and business leaders to consult
behind closed doors, far from any accountability. The official
programme is just one side of the coin.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On behalf
of the World Economic Forum, Nicholas Davis argues that if every
meeting was made public, nothing would get decided. “Some
conversations – over delicate or sensitive issues – frankly have
to be held behind closed doors. Our aim is to be as open as possible
without jeopardising our mission to improve the state of the world.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This report was first published <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/davos-puts-protests-behind/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-57364716468097656342013-01-28T18:01:00.001+02:002014-01-28T00:40:12.270+02:00Dubious Awards Presented at Davos<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Only a
stone’s throw from the Davos World Economic Forum meeting, a group
of non-governmental organisations presented the annual Public Eye
Awards this week to Goldman Sachs and Royal Dutch Shell. </b>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Every year in late January, a pilgrimage of a special
kind can be observed in Grisons, Switzerland’s easternmost canton.
Limousine after limousine, SUV after SUV and helicopter after
helicopter head to Davos, the highest city of Europe. At the local
congress centre, the preciously dressed pilgrims unite to renew their
belief in unregulated, free market capitalism and to “improve the
state of the world,” as the World Economic Forum (WEF) proclaims.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This
year, ‘Resilient Dynamism’ is the motto of the global leaders’
gathering. Besides the official programme though, many participants
will use the platform to hold informal meetings. Business and
political interests mingle behind closed doors.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Only a
ten-minute walk from the Davos congress centre, a few dozen people
attended the presentation of the Public Eye Awards, a critical
counterpoint to the WEF since 2000. “On the occasion of the WEF, we
annually put the spotlight on corporations who cause problems,
violate human rights, destroy the environment, act corruptly and push
people into poverty and misery,” says Andreas Missbach on behalf of
the organisers.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In order
to take the wind out of the Public Eye sail and to slightly open up
to the public, the WEF started in 2003 to organise its own counter
event, the Open Forum. Nevertheless, the Public Eye has survived and
this year once again presented two recipients for their ‘awards’.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As a
result of an online voting process, the public award went to the
Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell. Shell’s search
for oil in the Arctic drew voters’ criticism. “There is no safe
drilling under sea ice conditions, Shell gambles with the wildlife
and beauty of one of the last unspoiled regions on our planet,”
said jury member Andreas Missbach before handing the award over to
Greenpeace executive director Kumi Naidoo.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Naidoo,
whose organisation had nominated shell for the voting, said he didn’t
want the award sitting in his office in Amsterdam. He promised to
find Shell’s CEO Peter Voser at the World Economic Forum to present
him the award.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Greenpeace
is running a major campaign to prevent oil drilling in the Arctic.
Naidoo addressed the Anglo-Dutch company directly: “We as
Greenpeace will come after you peacefully, but aggressively until you
get out of the Arctic.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Christian
Brütsch, an independent political analyst specialised on energy
issues doubts that Shell can be pressured to disengage from the
Arctic region soon. “The U.S. Geological Survey assumes one-fifth
of the global undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources to be
in the Arctic, and Shell has invested 4.5 billion dollars to prepare
offshore drilling in Alaska so far.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Brütsch
said that if activists really wanted to prevent the exploitation of
natural resources in the Arctic, they should target consumers.
“Energy companies will only leave the region if the demand for oil
sinks to a level where Arctic adventures would become unprofitable.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
However,
as long as the current situation prevails, Brütsch prefers to see
big energy companies in the Arctic. “Statoil, Exxon Mobil or Shell
are much more capable of financing ‘same season relief wells’
(needed if leaks appear) than smaller corporations.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Andreas
Missbach stressed that Shell has been the only company so far to win
the Public Eye Award twice. Back in 2005, the multinational was
shamed for its activities in the tropics.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Missbach
said that Shell’s investments in extremely damaging tar-sand
extraction in Canada and the fact that the company had dropped
renewable energy from its long-term strategy had further contributed
to again nominate Shell for the prize.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
American investment bank Goldman Sachs received the jury award. The
Public Eye jury argued that the company bears a large share of
responsibility for the Euro-crisis.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Goldman’s
derivative deals, which fudged Greece’s way into the Eurozone,
pawned the future of the Greek people,” said Missbach.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Former
bank regulator and academic William K. Black, who attended the awards
presentation, stressed that Goldman Sachs wasn’t just a singular
rotten apple in a healthy bushel of banks. “Goldman Sachs is the
norm of systemically dangerous institutions,” he said.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Black
blamed the World Economic Forum for spreading the myth that fraud by
corporate elite was rare. “They have pushed deregulation,
de-supervision and de facto decriminalisation.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Expert on
business ethics Ulrich Thielemann said the dogma of profit
maximisation itself leaves no room for moral integrity. “It’s the
paramount cause for irresponsible corporate behaviour,” he said.
“Ruthless competition that disregards human rights and
environmental standards via non-regulation and the race to the bottom
in standards of good corporate conduct must come to an end.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Does
naming and shaming companies have any use? Missbach admits that such
an award by itself changes nothing. But within a campaign, he says,
such a shame prize might be a useful tool. “Those organisations who
nominated the award winners may use the prize to attract attention.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Political
analyst Christian Brütsch is far less convinced about naming and
shaming campaigns. He points out that the names of the decried
companies always remain the same. “Some corporations can afford to
simply ignore criticism,” he says. Others would just increase their
PR budgets, Brütsch argues.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Greenpeace’s
Naidoo regards the awards as a means contributing to reduction of a
company’s relational and reputational capital. He’s sure though
that none of these powerful corporations will react to the criticism.
“However, the failure to respond is a very loud confirmation that
our accusations are true.”<br />
<br />
This report was first published <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/01/dubious-awards-presented-at-davos/">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-87359132377101913592013-01-13T10:43:00.004+02:002013-01-28T18:02:56.929+02:00Wage Dumping Hits Switzerland<b>The Swiss parliament has decided to tackle wage dumping in the construction sector. With the introduction of chain liability, general contractors can soon be held accountable for labour agreement violations by their subcontractors</b>.<br />
<br />
Eight euros per hour instead of 27.5 euros guaranteed by the collective labour agreement is what some technicians of a Slovenian company working at Messe Basel have declared they earn. A new exhibition hall is being built there at a cost of nearly 360 million euros.<br />
<br />
Time pressure is extreme, delays are considered a catastrophe. Up to a thousand labourers work day and night with the new hall due to open its doors at the end of April when Messe Basel hosts ‘Baselword’, the globally leading exhibition in the watch and jewellery sector.<br />
<br />
The Slovenian technicians working on the façade are at the bottom of a chain of several subcontractors. Swiss general contractor HRS Real Estate has been charged with the work. But HRS denies accountability for the wage abuse, claiming it can’t control the payroll of its subcontractors. The owner of the building, MCH Messe Basel, holds HRS, responsible as its prime contractor.<br />
<br />
The buck is passed around, and there are several victims: The workers don’t earn what they deserve, correctly employed labourers face pressure on their wages, and properly operating companies are confronted with unfair competition.<br />
<br />
In Switzerland, that phenomena is called ‘wage dumping’. Labour unions say it has drastically increased over the past few years. It’s a result of the opening of the Swiss labour market to EU citizens which started in 2002 when the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons came into force.<br />
<br />
The agreement allows EU citizens to reside and work in Switzerland. Employees and self-employed persons working in Switzerland for less than 90 days don’t need permission, but they have to register with cantonal authorities. Since 2002 immigration from EU countries is on the rise.<br />
<br />
In 2004 the Swiss government introduced ‘accompanying measures’ to protect employees from violations of labour and wage agreements. These include observation of the labour market and on-site controls of work conditions. However, several legal gaps remained.<br />
<br />
This summer the Swiss parliament cracked down on fake self-employment. For the labour unions that wasn’t enough, as the problem of wage dumping by subcontractors remained.<br />
<br />
Swiss minister for economic affairs and former entrepreneur Johann Schneider-Amman admits that the problem is getting bigger and bigger. “Interventions in the liberal principles of the free labour market are only permissible in cases of massive malpractice,” he says. “Unfortunately that’s the case.”<br />
<br />
Swiss labour unions have demanded laws making general contractors legally accountable for misconduct by its subcontractors, so-called ‘chain liability’. General contractors are only freed from responsibility if they can show to have ensured that their subcontractors abide by the law.<br />
<br />
The neo-liberal lobby along with the Swiss Employers’ Association has launched a much weaker counter-proposal. They want general contractors to be freed of any legal responsibility if their direct subcontractor simply signs a contract pledging to respect Swiss wage and labour conditions.<br />
<br />
Last summer, Switzerland’s Council of States adopted chain liability. Then, it was the National Council’s turn. In the debate, advocates of chain liability could not only count on support from the Federal Council, but also from a number of liberal entrepreneurs.<br />
<br />
One of these was Hans Grunder, a Bern representative of the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP). He explained that not quality, but prices had become the most important criteria in bidding procedures. “As a result, subcontracting assignments often go to foreign companies, leaving our enterprises at unfair competition,” he said.<br />
<br />
Grunder was supported by the Green Party’s Alec von Graffenried, who works for a major construction company. He argued that since general contractors are already accountable for prices, schedules, quality, safety and environment protection, it was only logical that they would also assume responsibility for their subcontractors’ conduct.<br />
<br />
Corrado Pardini, Social Democrat and unionist, said that strengthening instruments against wage dumping would ensure public support for free movement and residence of EU citizens, which is crucial for Switzerland’s economic prosperity. “Continuing abuses of wage and labour conditions will increase xenophobia,” he warned.<br />
<br />
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) again played an ambivalent role. Its representatives rejected chain liability. The strategy is well-known: public outrage against foreign workers is exactly what the SVP utilises to draw support for their populist policy and their latest popular initiative ‘Stop mass immigration’.<br />
<br />
Finally, the National Council adopted chain liability. Labour unions applauded. Nico Lutz, responsible for the construction sector at Switzerland’s largest inter-professional trade union Unia said that companies as well as workers would profit. “It’s important however, that chain liability won’t be watered down during implementation.”<br />
<br />
His opponents at the Swiss Association of Builders (SBV) hope for limited additional bureaucracy and promised to play a constructive role in the implementation process, even though they still doubt the practicability of chain liability. “It remains unclear how prime contractors can check the payrolls of their subcontractors’ subcontractors,” SBV media officer Matthias Engel says.<br />
<br />
Engel also thinks that chain liability could lead to less law-abiding subcontractors because they know that for any violation the general contractor would be held responsible. “Chain liability will be like the sword of Damocles hanging over the general contractors,” he said.<br />
<br />
Both employers as well as labour unions call for better controls on construction sites. On behalf of the builders, Matthias Engel calls for a badge system for workers which would regulate access to construction sites and in addition tackle problems such as fake self-employment and black labour. Unia’s Nico Lutz demands that sanctions should be aggravated and that in case of well-grounded evidence of wage dumping, entire construction sites could be halted.<br />
<br />
In Basel, chain liability seems to find premature appliance. For the Slovenian façade technicians, the story may end well. In order to polish their image and avoid any delays of construction, MCH Messe Basel and its general contractor HRS promised in late December to step in over the outstanding salaries their subcontractor is supposed to pay.<br />
<br />
This report was first published <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/01/wage-dumping-hits-switzerland/">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-6337547592960857672012-12-10T19:19:00.000+02:002012-12-10T19:20:51.088+02:00Swiss Battery May Lose Power<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Swiss
energy companies are determined to turn the country into a ‘battery
for Europe’. Vast investments are made in big-scale water power
projects. But it is not certain they will eventually pay off. </b>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
With the decision for a nuclear shutdown, the spotlight in
Switzerland and Germany has switched to renewable energy sources. In
Germany there’s a massive boost to solar and wind energy
production, while Switzerland’s energy companies focus on
increasing their storage capacities in the Alps.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
About 11
percent of Europe’s electricity flows through Switzerland. The
Swiss electricity industry stresses the advantages of the country’s
central location in Europe and its topography. On the European energy
map, Swiss mountain lakes could function as a huge battery for
unsteadily generated renewable energy, and generate high revenues.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Natural
and artificial mountain lakes are an essential component of
Switzerland’s energy supply. Water power makes up 57 percent of the
country’s electricity production. Some of these lakes aren’t just
natural water reservoirs though, but serve as basins for
pumped-storage hydro power plants (PSPs).</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
system is simple and has long been a good business. Throughout the
day, cheap, spare electricity is bought on the market and then used
to pump water from a lower reservoir to a basin further up the
mountain. At times when demand for electricity is high, stored water
is released and drives turbines that produce electricity, which can
then be sold on the market for a higher price.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
PSPs
function like huge batteries.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Currently,
11 such plants are running in Switzerland with a combined 1400
megawatt capacity. Three other projects are under construction, to
increase Swiss pumped-storage capacity to 3500 megawatts by 2017. Two
more PSPs are being planned: ‘Grimsel 3′ at the Grimsel Pass in
the Bernese Alps and ‘Lago Bianco’ at the Bernina Pass in
Grisons.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“The
symbiosis between nature and technology has defined the character of
this landscape,” writes the Grimsel region’s tourism agency.
Ernst Baumberger, press officer at the regional energy company KWO
looks at Grimsel through two lenses: while praising the region’s
beauty, Baumberger points out that a plenty of precipitation,
glaciation, rock as building ground and the immense altitude
difference make it ideal for water power use. KWO put its first power
plant at Grimsel in operation 80 years ago.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
company recently was licenced to implement its 1.2 billion Swiss
francs project ‘KWOplus’, including the construction of a second
PSP (‘Grimsel 3′). The plant will have a 660 megawatt capacity,
which is about the power of an average Swiss nuclear plant. The plan
is controversial, both politically and economically.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Switzerland
doesn’t need any additional PSPs. There’s neither a lack of
batteries, nor a grid stability problem,” argues Jürg Buri,
managing director of the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES). He says that
no country operates as many flexible power stations as Switzerland.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Environmental
organisations say that mainly cheap electricity from coal and nuclear
plants is used for the pumping and that during the process, about a
quarter of the energy is lost. Even worse, at windy times, PSPs keep
coal and nuclear plants running.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There’s
nothing green about pumped-storage hydroelectricity anyway. “If
today’s PSPs were supplied with clean energy, that business would
be unprofitable,” Buri says. “The revenues of the peak current
wouldn’t make up for the purchase price and the energy lost for
pumping.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
According
to the licence, KWO is obliged to run Grimsel 3 with as much
renewable energy as “economically and technically possible.” No
fixed share was defined however. KWO’s Baumberger stresses that in
the long term, the company’s PSPs should run solely with green
electricity. “However, the primary criteria will remain the
profitability,” he adds.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
While the
energy company praises Grimsel 3 as an important contribution to the
security of energy supply for the country, Jürg Buri claims that the
pumped-storage business further strains transmission lines. “In
fact, to run Grimsel 3, even more lines would have to be built,
something which people often forget about.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
KWO is
currently busy preparing the necessary building applications. In a
next step, the management board will discuss the profitability
prospects and decide on the investments. “Concerning Grimsel 3, the
shareholders are a bit cautious,” KWO’s spokesperson says. “They
fear that with the current electricity prices, the investments may
not pay off.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Swiss
Association for Water Management (SWV) views investments in PSPs as
risky and their profitability as volatile. At the Bernische
Kraftwerke (BKW), which holds half of KWO’s shares and manages
electricity trade, the media officer declines to comment on the
prospects of pumped-storage hydroelectricity. It’s no secret though
that Swiss energy companies are deeply concerned by the volatile
electricity price and the declining price difference between peak and
off-peak current.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That
difference is essential for the PSP business model, which relies on
providing expensive peak current, especially at noon time. Nowadays,
subsidised wind and solar energy from other European states are
conquering that market, challenging and flattening the prices of peak
current and thereby reducing the profit rates of PSP-based energy
providers.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
SES’s
Jürg Buri is sure that Switzerland’s ‘battery boost’ will soon
come to an end. “Neither Lago Bianco, nor Grimsel 3 will be built.
The economic risks are too high.” He stresses that both projects
primarily target the European market. “Don’t forget that besides
decreasing electricity trade revenues, Swiss PSPs are further
challenged by the increasing number of flexible power plants in
Europe.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Ernst
Baumberger explains that his company has different options to move on
with Grimsel 3. “If the situation on the electricity market
worsens, we may split the building of Grimsel 3 in various stages. At
each stage, market developments could be analysed before moving on
with construction.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In
contrast to environmental organisations, KWO’s Baumberger remains
optimistic. He stresses that in the light of booming wind and solar
energy in Europe, the demand for further storage capacities will
grow. “What Switzerland so far offers in terms of energy storage is
nothing but a drop in the ocean.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
While
opinions on the future of Swiss pumped-storage hydroelectricity
differ sharply, one thing seems sure: the industry’s prospects lie
in the hands of European, not Swiss politicians and businessmen.</div>
<br />
This report was first published <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/swiss-battery-may-lose-power/">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-51455445444582170462012-06-29T13:00:00.000+03:002012-12-10T19:11:08.939+02:00Melting Permafrost Threatens Swiss Villages<b>Melting glaciers are the most visible effect of global warming in
the Swiss Alps. Meanwhile, permafrost is invisible and melting too,
often causing rockfall and massive debris flows, ultimately
threatening mountain villages.
</b><br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Guttannen, home to 310
residents, is a tiny village in the Bernese Alps, the last one that
travellers drive through on the way up to Grimsel Pass. It’s spring
and the snow is retreating from the steep slopes of the valley. As
the pass is still closed, calm reigns in the picturesque village
centre. Only cowbells and the rushing of the nearby Aar river break
the silence.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
For some residents
though, living in Guttannen has become rather uneasy and, on the long
term, even dangerous. The root cause of the peril lies further
uphill, in the northeastern flank of the 3,282 metres high
Ritzlihorn. In July 2009, a huge rockfall had occurred and since
then, massive debris flows have roared downhill each summer.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
“These mudslides as
well as the volume of transported rubble have grown from year to
year,” says Nils Hählen, hydraulic engineer at the cantonal public
works service. “The debris partly ends up in the Aar, lifting and
widening its channel.” Within three years, 630,000 cubic metres
were transported into the river, increasingly endangering civil
infrastructure.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
In summer, after heavy
rainfall, the only road leading through the narrow valley often has
to be temporarily closed. A house near the river already had to be
taken down, the local sewage treatment plant may be next. Since 2010,
the debris flows reach as far as the hamlet Boden, threatening ten
houses and 30 inhabitants. “The next few
mudslides won’t be a big problem,” says Guttannen council leader
Hans Abplanalp. However, some houses would effectively be threatened
in two to five, others in five to seven years, he adds.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
One of these homes
belongs to Martin Leuthold. “I’ve lived here for 60 years and my
father was already a farmer here,” he says. Leuthold claims he has
no fear, as he’s grown up with the moods of nature. Nevertheless,
the farmer doesn’t ignore the peril: “Perhaps nothing will happen
for the next 10 years, but maybe this summer it could all rumble down
on us. Nobody knows.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Nearby, Hans von
Weissenfluh lives less than 20 metres away from the river. “The
threat is real, we can see it,” he says. Von Weissenfluh remembers
well how impressive amounts of water and debris came down the Aar
last summer. “Only five years ago, the river channel was much more
narrow,” he notices.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Engineers, geologists
and glaciologists assume permafrost melt to be the underlying
problem. Permafrost is underground material such as rock or rubble
that permanently remains at or below zero degrees centigrade. Ice is
a possible, but not a necessary ingredient. “The issue is, that
permafrost occurrence is generally not known,” says Nils Hählen.
There are maps designed on calculated probabilities, but as the
hydraulic engineer explains, in any case things have to be evaluated
locally.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
In northeastern
mountain slopes, permafrost may occur roughly above 2,600 meters
altitude. Scientists estimate that about 5 percent of Switzerland’s
area contains permafrost. It stabilises steep rocky or scree slopes
in the high mountains and protects them from erosion by serving as a
kind of natural putty. When permafrost melts, the result may be
rockfalls and debris flows. “The lower permafrost zones are the
most vulnerable,” explains Hählen.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
He locates the cause of
permafrost melt in rising air temperatures which have been measured
over the past years in the European Alps. Jeannette Nötzli,
glaciologist at the University of Zurich, mentions that atmosphere
and underground permafrost are often not directly coupled. Ice
content and changes in surface coverage can mask atmospheric signals.
Nötzli heads the Coordination Office of the Swiss Permafrost
Monitoring Network PERMOS.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
“As PERMOS’
systematic monitoring commenced in 2000, most of our data cover
around a decade, whereas for robust statements about trends in
climate science typically a 30-year period is considered,” Nötzli
points out. “However,” the researcher adds, “much of our data
points to permafrost degradation. For example, in the past three
years active layer depths in summer have increased with new record
values at many of the observed sites.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Reliable forecasting of
permafrost changes isn’t possible. In the case of Guttannen,
experts limit their predictions to the next year. Hählen expects
that in the long term, debris flows from the Ritzlihorn will stop, as
ultimately the catchment area in the flank is limited.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Removing the rubble
from the valley floor and the Aar is no option. It’s too risky, but
also too costly. Additionally, dumping places in the region are
limited. Only to remove the current rubble from the river would cost
more than 18 million Swiss Francs and accumulate to at least 50,000
lorry loads.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
There’s not much hope
for the residents of Boden. Ultimately, they’ll have to leave their
homes and resettle somewhere else. Hans Abplanalp, the council
president, has talked to all persons concerned. “Nearly all of them
want to stay in Guttannen,” he says. “We can offer them land and
homes to buy.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Boden resident Hans von
Weissenfluh plans to move up to Guttannen as soon as possible. Others
such as Martin Leuthold are more hesitant. He wouldn’t mind living
somewhere else in the village, but is reluctant to tear down his
house and move all the belongings.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
“That’s a lot of
work,” he says. Leuthold fears he will not be fully compensated.
He’d only be compensated for his stable if he built a new one in
another place. “I wouldn’t know what to build a new stable for,
as I’ll soon be retired.”</div>
<br />
This report was first published <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/melting-permafrost-threatens-swiss-villages/">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-60908356060684447512012-04-25T00:00:00.000+03:002012-12-10T19:10:52.180+02:00But What in Place of Nuclear Power<b>In the wake of Fukushima, the Swiss government decided last year
to slowly, but definitely phase out nuclear energy. But the new energy
strategy for the next decade has drawn criticism, especially from
environmental organisations.</b><br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Switzerland’s
household electricity relies largely on nuclear and hydro power. Five
nuclear power plants, of which the last will be shut down in 2034,
currently produce 40.7 percent of the country’s electricity. Making
up for this large share once it’s phased out requires a fundamental
change in Switzerland’s energy policy, an “ambitious but
feasible” undertaking as the government keeps saying.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Deciding on the nuclear
shutdown is one thing, but implementing it and defining concrete
measures is a more complicated task. The Swiss Federal Council has
outlined its energy policy framework for the next decades under the
title ‘Energy Package 2050’. The main pillars of the strategy are
reduction of energy consumption, increasing efficiency of energy use,
and scaling up renewable energy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
The government has
calculated that by 2050, energy consumption could be reduced by 28
percent compared to 2000. Potential for reduction is mainly seen in
buildings rehabilitation and in the industrial and services sectors.
EnAW, the energy agency of the Swiss economy, has presented a study
including scenarios for increasing electricity efficiency. According
to EnAW, Swiss companies could save 7 twh (terrawatt hours) by 2050.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
“That’s
disappointing,” says Jürg Buri, managing director of the Swiss
Energy Foundation (SES), which pushes for an ecological and
sustainable energy policy. “Swiss businesses could easily save
twice as much electricity by 2050.” There is potential already, he
says, to save 7 twh with more efficient industrial motors.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
SES, Greenpeace, Pro
Natura and the WWF reacted with a joint statement to the government’s
announcement, saying the steps taken by the Federal Council are too
small. Patrick Hofstetter, climate policy campaigner at WWF
Switzerland calls the new energy strategy “unambitious”, claiming
that there’s much more potential to increase energy usage
efficiency in the economy as well as in households.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
A strong instrument
such as a regulatory tax is lacking, he says. “Wasting electricity
is still too attractive for companies and households…Taking
measures to save energy requires knowhow that few people have, and
monetary savings are often small.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
The Federal Council
admits that the package of measures it presented suffice only to
fulfil about half the goals set for 2050. Swiss Energy Minister Doris
Leuthard ays she would be more than happy if more energy could be
saved than planned.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
The second pillar of
the new energy policy strategy is renewable energy. The Federal
Council estimates that production could be increased by a third by
2050. But here too, views differ drastically. There is huge
difference between the government’s estimates and those calculated
by environmental groups concerning solar energy. The latter claim
that renewable energy is often reduced to hydropower, neglecting the
immense potential of solar energy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Wind, biomass and the
sun currently only provide 0.26 percent of Switzerland’s
electricity. In Germany, those three energy sources held a 16 percent
share in the past year’s electricity mix. WWF Switzerland estimates
that solar energy could be scaled up by 15 twh by 2035, which is five
times the government’s goal.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
“In Germany, in
December 2011 alone 3 twh of solar energy went online,” says
Hofstetter. “So, what Germany did within one month, Switzerland
expects to do in 23 years.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Swiss Energy Minister
Doris Leuthard earned even more disapproval when she said that if
saving efforts failed, electricity would either have to be imported,
or up to six combined-cycle gas plants would have to be built to make
up for the energy gap caused by the nuclear shutdown.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
WWF’s Patrick
Hofstetter recalls the latest outlook published by the International
Energy Agency. “It stated that in order to reach the two-degree
target (on warming of the planet) no investment in fossil energy
infrastructure should be made after 2017 worldwide. The Swiss plan to
invest in fossil energy therefore is quite awkward.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Environmental groups
claim that the risks of nuclear energy shouldn’t be replaced by the
risks of climate change. Combined-cycle gas plants cause massive
carbon dioxide emissions. “Taking into consideration the country’s
CO2budget, the 30 million tons put out by each plant over the next 30
years would be far too much,” Hofstetter says.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
The Federal Council is
using the threat of combined-cycle gas plants to put pressure on the
economy, but also on Swiss cantons and environmental groups: “If we
want to expand renewable energy production, environmental
organisations need to lessen their opposition to such projects,”
the Swiss Energy Minister demanded.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
WWF’s Hofstetter says
the Federal Council is not right to argue that a more intense
development of renewable energy is hindered by conflicts with nature
and landscape protection. “It’s based on the prevailing idea that
hydropower is the only renewable energy in Switzerland, which indeed
is nearly fully developed.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB">
Hofstetter defends the
environmental organisation’s right to appeal construction projects,
which has recently come under increased pressure. “If that right
falls, nobody would insist on the laws concerning nature to be
respected.”</div>
<br />
This report was first published <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/04/but-what-in-place-of-nuclear-power/">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-32161654557764111192012-02-13T12:47:00.002+02:002012-02-13T13:11:15.608+02:00Some Swiss Parcels With Migrants In Them<span style="font-weight:bold;">Two years ago, a Nigerian asylum seeker died during a forced deportation attempt from Switzerland. Now, the prosecution has dismissed the case, leaving nobody responsible for the young man's death. Instead of re-assessing the deportation system, Swiss authorities prefer ignorance.</span> <br /><br />Six weeks of hunger strike had weakened Joseph Chiakwa, when nine policemen entered his cell at Zurich's deportation prison in the afternoon of March 17, 2010. The cops body-searched the Nigerian asylum seeker, tied his hands and put a boxing helmet on his head. In a nearby building, policemen constrained Chiakwa's arms and legs and tied the 29-year-old to a special wheelchair. For a long time, signs of discomfort were ignored. As a doctor finally arrived, Chiakwa had already died.<br /><br />Joseph Chiakwa was subjected to a so-called 'Level-IV' deportation attempt. Having spent about a year in the deportation prison, Ibrahim Moses (name changed) says that he got nervous each time rumours of upcoming special flights made rounds. "You're afraid because in there you don't have anyone to fight for you," the West African asylum seeker explains. He witnessed how several inmates were forcefully deported.<br /><br />"Usually the prison guards ask you to come to the second floor, without letting you know why. There they make you wait. Suddenly and by surprise, policemen overpower you." Usually, the victim is tied up and put in a separate cell, Moses tells. "Later they come for you; six or seven cops for one person. They make you dress (in) special clothes, handcuff you and take you to another building," the young West African says. "There they tie you up like a parcel before carrying you to the plane."<br /><br />Moses himself faced a 'Level-II' deportation attempt. In this scenario, the handcuffed deportee is escorted by two policemen on a scheduled flight. "I resisted on the way to the plane," Moses says. A few years ago, even totally shackled people were occasionally deported on scheduled flights; so-called 'Level-III' deportations. These don't happen any more and so Moses was taken back to prison. "If you refuse being deported on a normal flight, they may put you as a parcel on a special flight the next time," the West African asylum seeker explains.<br /><br />In 2011, Switzerland sent back 6,439 persons by air. In all 165 of these were 'Level-IV' cases on 33 special flights. In comparison to previous years, the number of such deportations has dropped, but Amnesty International's refugee coordinator Denise Graf says that still many 'Level-IV' deportations could be avoided. "They should be absolutely exceptional," she says, adding that preparation is often insufficient.<br /><br />"In most cases, the total shackling of deportees is absolutely disproportionate," Graf points out. She explains that 'Level-IV' deportations carry risks and harm the deportees' human dignity. Amnesty demands that before any deportation attempt, a final, extensive conversation has to be held with the deportees. "The reasons that make a person resist deportation are many and often the problem could be solved easily."<br /><br />Also, Graf refers to the principle of proportionality: "The police is obliged to always choose the least harming option. However, we observe that very often the harshest possible measures are applied." She says that in Chiakwa's case, nearly all police interventions were escalating.<br /><br />In the wake of Joseph Chiakwa's death in 2010, the Swiss government paid 50,000 Swiss francs (55,000 dollars) to the victim's family. "As a humanitarian gesture" and "neither compensation, nor an admission of guilt," it stated. The family however was primarily interested in a serious investigation in Chiakwa's death.<br /><br />Two forensic evaluations ordered by the prosecution of the canton of Zurich identified malfunctions of the victim's heart. "I don't find them plausible," comments Viktor Györffy, lawyer for Chiakwa's family. "When it comes to defining the exact heart disease leading to the death, the evaluations are even contradictory."<br /><br />Based on an independent evaluation by a cardiologist, Györffy argues that relevant causes were ignored by the prosecution. "According to the cardiologist, Chiakwa's death was caused by the hunger strike combined with the immense stress during the 'Level-IV' deportation attempt," the lawyer says. He adds that even if a heart disease was concurrently causative, those responsible were culpable. "Nobody who's lost a relative in such a way would under these circumstances accept the dismissal of the case," says Györffy, who has filed an appeal against the prosecution's decision.<br /><br />The lawyer is supported by the human rights group ‘augenauf'. Its speaker Rolf Zopfi regards the prosecution's investigation as biased. "Isn't it remarkable that a 29-year-old dies in the hands of the police and a heart disease is supposedly the sole cause, while all other factors are regarded as unfortunate and ultimately irrelevant?" he asks.<br /><br />After Chiakwa's death in March 2010, Switzerland temporarily halted special deportation flights. But by June, all but those to Nigeria were resumed. The latter recommenced in January 2011, after bilateral problems were solved. Soon however, Swiss authorities faced criticism again, as the national TV station documented how policemen hit a Nigerian asylum seeker during a deportation attempt, while the police had stated that the concerned flight was carried out "without any incidents."<br /><br />It is not just human rights organisations demanding independent monitoring of forced deportations. Since January 2011, Switzerland is obliged by the European Union's 'Return Directive' to "provide for an effective forced return monitoring system." No such system has been implemented, even though Swiss authorities had long been aware of the directive's upcoming adoption. Currently, only some deportation flights are monitored by observers who had already run a six-month pilot project for the Federal Office for Migration.<br /><br />Amnesty's Denise Graf says that transparency and independence are fundamental for any monitoring system: "The observers can't just be another element inside the black box." Rolf Zopfi of 'augenauf' says that the monitoring pilot project doesn't question the proportionality of the system. His organisation considers 'Level-IV' deportations fundamentally dangerous, inhuman and disproportional and therefore categorically rejects them.<br /><br />This report was first published <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106731">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-5510433095716920672012-01-26T23:28:00.002+02:002012-01-26T23:32:11.465+02:00"Resistance Rises To Asylum Seekers"<span style="font-weight:bold;">Switzerland saw a 45 percent increase in asylum requests compared in 2011 to the year before. The country struggles to accommodate the new asylum seekers while efforts to put up new centres face fierce resistance by local people. </span><br /><br />Shortly before Christmas a small number of asylum seekers were turned away at several asylum centres at the Swiss border. The events marked the peak of an anticipated shortage in host facilities for asylum seekers in the wake of the uprisings in North Africa.<br /><br />From 2004 to 2010, between 10,000 and 16,000 asylum requests were filed each year. The uprising in Libya led to the re-opening of a key immigration route to Western Europe via Lampedusa in spring 2011. Latest statistics reveal a drastic increase in new asylum requests in Switzerland from 15,567 in 2010 to 22,551 in 2011.<br /><br />In Switzerland, it's the cantons’ obligation to host asylum seekers. From October to December last year, the canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland had to find a way to accommodate nearly 400 new asylum seekers.<br /><br />In Lucerne, the relief organisation Caritas is tasked to host and provide services to asylum seekers. Its manager Thomas Thali confirms that sufficient accommodation could be found in late 2011, but that in March 2012 one of their centres is closing down and replacement hasn't been found yet.<br /><br />In Lucerne, newly arriving people are allocated to collective centres before being relocated to private apartments at the second stage. Caritas manager Thali explains that in comparison to finding apartments for asylum seekers, establishing new centres is provoking political resistance. "Nobody's interested in hearing how well already existing centres are in fact working," Thali regrets.<br /><br />In Fischbach, a small village with 700 inhabitants, the cantonal authorities planned to establish a new centre by 2012 providing accommodation to 55 asylum seekers. As the plans were unveiled, many locals voiced strong opposition.<br /><br />Guido Graf, head of the Department of Health and Social Affairs in Lucerne, says he understands people's fears. "We normally inform the communities and inhabitants before signing a rental agreement for a new centre. It's a difficult path as it provokes resistance and criticism," he admits.<br /><br />Despite the resistance, the centre in Fischbach will be established, though smaller than projected. Nevertheless, the canton still needs up to 100 new places in centres. In Weggis, a lovely village with 4,000 inhabitants right at the Lake Lucerne, the cantonal authorities found a building they would like to turn into a centre for up to 60 asylum seekers. At a communal meeting, many locals expressed strong dissatisfaction.<br /><br />Emil Grabherr, president of the local section of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) says that he radically opposes any asylum centre in Weggis, as the village is a regional tourist magnet. Grabherr lives 800 metres from the chosen building and heads a neighbourhood committee.<br /><br />"The centre would be situated right in the middle of a residential and villa area. Residents are afraid." Also, he thinks that the project is not in line with the zoning plan.<br /><br />"But anyway," Grabherr says, "it seems those so-called asylum seekers are in fact economic migrants." To stress his argument, he lists the origins of the anticipated refugees. Among them are war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia and Iraq. "Therefore, we don't even have to talk about the issue," says the SVP politician.<br /><br />Speaking on behalf of 'Asylnetz', an organisation observing asylum-related human rights violations in Lucerne, Felix Kuhn points out that over and over, the same old foe images are projected on the new groups of asylum seekers.<br /><br />"It used to be people from Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Balkans, but now the stigmatisation targets refugees from Africa," he says. Kuhn adds that it's no longer just the parties on the right wing who mobilise against asylum seekers, but that exponents from the political middle have joined the chorus.<br /><br />Caritas's Thomas Thali says that as long as political parties manage to profit from mobilisations against centres for asylum seekers, resistance will persist. "The image of asylum seekers is strongly influenced by the political debate and the media." In contrast, Thali explains, where people have direct social exchange with asylum seekers, a relaxed atmosphere prevails.<br /><br />Moreno Casasola, secretary general of the refugee rights organisation 'Solidarité sans frontières' regrets that doors are already slammed in the faces of asylum seekers before arrive. "Instead of having a serious discussion on hosting asylum seekers, things tend to turn into a openly racist debate," he says, pointing to the village of Bettwil, where the locals' protest had attracted far right-wing hanger-ons.<br /><br />In Casasola's view, provincial villages just aren't the right places for asylum seekers. "There, they're often very isolated and face suspicion and resistance by local inhabitants. It would be better to accommodate asylum seekers in cities."<br /><br />In an effort to fight what it considers "asylum misery", Lucerne's SVP is now preparing a popular initiative demanding the locals' right to vote on new asylum centres. Also, it demands fully supervised container settlements for asylum seekers outside of densely populated communal areas.<br /><br />Ironically, it was the SVP's former justice minister Christoph Blocher who in 2006 initiated the reduction of the country's accommodation for asylum seekers. It was a time of comparatively low numbers of asylum requests. Before then, annual numbers of more than 20,000 requests were quite normal.<br /><br />Now the cantons pay the price for Blocher's austerity. "We had to give up various capacities that we now lack," Thali says. Lucerne's Health and Social Affairs Department has already drawn its conclusions from the current crisis. "In the long run, we'll have to acquire facilities again to regain our freedom of action," Guido Graf says. "It's easier for us to keep a building in reserve than to open a new centre in cases of need." <br /><br />This report was first published <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106542">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-62023296006250373132011-07-22T19:00:00.002+03:002011-07-23T18:25:42.761+03:00"Europe Headed for Water Crisis"<span style="font-weight:bold;">Future glacier retreat in the Alps could affect the hydrology of large streams more strongly than previously assumed, a new study shows. Water shortages in summer could become more frequent.</span><br /><br />Even though their ice is called 'eternal', many alpine glaciers' lives may come to an end within this century. For 150 years, most of them have been more or less constantly retreating, and since the eighties, their shrinkage has visibly increased. <br /><br />The Furka Pass in central Switzerland has long been awaiting its visitors with a special attraction. Just below the highest point of the pass, tourists may enter an ice grotto dug into the Rhone glacier to discover glacier life from the inside. Each year however, the grotto's entry can be found a few metres further downhill. Long-term measurements reveal that from 1879 to 2010, the Rhone glacier has lost 1266 metres of its original length.<br /><br />The Swiss Alps are often called 'Europe's water tower'. Nearly 60 billion cubic metres of water are stored in its glaciers. Matthias Huss, glaciologist and senior lecturer at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg explains that glaciers fulfil a balancing function: "They release water exactly when we need it, while storing it in periods when we need it less."<br /><br />In other words, glaciers store water during the cold and wet winter months. From May to September, snow and ice melt on the glacier surface and provide the water that is dearly needed during the hot and dry season. That same mechanism also balances year-to-year variations: in colder, wetter years glaciers accumulate water that is released in relatively hot and dry summers like in 2003.<br /><br />The threat posed to alpine glaciers' essential contribution has long been recognised. However, a new study presented by Matthias Huss in the scientific journal 'Water Resources Research' found that the proportion of glacier water running down major European streams is larger than previously assumed.<br /><br />"I have compared water runoff data from glaciers with actual runoff at gauges along the entire length of four major streams originating in the Swiss Alps," explains the glaciologist. His study is based on measurements along the Rhine, Rhone, Po and Danube rivers.<br /><br />The comparison allowed Huss to determine the relative share of glacier water running down those streams. "Consequently, I was able to quantify how much the runoff of those streams could decrease in case the glaciers' contributions are entirely lost," he says.<br /><br />One of the streams observed by Huss is the Rhone. Originating in the Upper Valais in Switzerland, the river passes through the Rhone Valley and Lake Geneva to France, finally reaching the Mediterranean Sea at the Camargue Delta near Arles. The Rhone's length is 813 kilometres, its drainage basin measures about 100,000 square kilometres.<br /><br />In August, snowmelt runoff from non-glacierized regions of the catchment is small, while bare ice melt is most important. According to Huss's calculations, the 100-year average glacier contribution to the Rhone accounted for 25 percent of the total runoff. In August 2003, the share deriving from glacier storage change rose to 40 percent; a proportion not to be ignored during that extremely hot and dry summer.<br /><br />At Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), researchers are well prepared to deal with the consequences of climate change for the Swiss water household. The FOEN recently started 'Project CCHydro'. The project name stands for climate change and hydrology in Switzerland. Based on current climate scenarios, the project aims to provide detailed forecasts on the hydrological cycle and runoffs in Switzerland for the coming decades.<br /><br />Project director David Volken says that between 1996 and 2006, 0.9 billion cubic metres of water have melted from the glaciers yearly. He expects that until 2050, runoff from glaciers will increase, but then rapidly drop towards the end of the century.<br /><br />"Because of the warming climate, snow melt will happen about a month earlier and rainfall will decrease 10 to 15 percent in summer," Volken adds. As a consequence, the rivers' runoff regime will change, he predicts. "There'll be more runoff in winter and less in summer. During hot summers, less water will be available in the future," the hydrologist warns.<br /><br />Matthias Huss of the University of Fribourg also stresses that the current picture is deceptive. "Due to climate change, we currently get more water from the glaciers than normally, as they're melting. At first glance it looks like there's no problem," he says. But Huss warns that soon the picture will change and the remaining glaciers won't be able to provide enough water during the summer months.<br /><br />Huss' glacier models are linked to specific climate scenarios. Diverging global warming estimates therefore affect prognoses regarding glacier shrinkage significantly.<br /><br />The glaciologist admits that there are large uncertainties. "However," he says, "what's for sure is that glaciers will shrink massively. Even in an unlikely best-case climate scenario, glaciers will lose more than 70 percent of their size until the end of the century." And in the worst case? "There wouldn't be any glaciers any more at all."<br /><br />Taking different glacier retreat scenarios into account, Huss estimates that currently glacierised basins might contribute 55 to 85 percent less water to stream flow runoff by the end of the 21st century. "Even if the climate could be stabilised at the current level," the glaciologist argues, "we'd witness drastic glacier retreat and their storage ability would either drop extremely or be lost totally."<br /><br />As glacier shrinkage seems unstoppable, mankind will be forced to adapt to the new situation. Water shortages may occur more often and economic consequences may be harsh, the study warns. Especially the agricultural sector will face serious challenges, and communities may struggle to keep up drinking water supply.<br /><br />The FOEN's Thomas Volken says that in the agricultural sector, water consumption efficiency has to be stepped up. He adds that adjustments in the cultivation of agricultural surface are inevitable, too.<br /><br />As regards drinking water supply, Volken suggests its optimisation through regional integration and new strategies, such as linking drinking water networks to at least two independent resources. As additional measures, the hydrologist mentions the construction of additional dams in the mountains or systematic ground water accumulation. <br /><br />This report was first published <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56587">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741819108830097065.post-52472337130409524422011-06-09T18:00:00.001+03:002011-06-09T18:30:51.705+03:00"Swiss Bid Disputed Goodbye to Nuclear Energy"<span style="font-weight:bold;">Switzerland is witnessing a drastic turnaround in energy policy. Half a year ago, plans for the construction of new nuclear reactors were heavily debated. Now, three months after the disaster in Fukushima, the initial steps for a staged nuclear shutdown have been taken.</span><br /><br />The Swiss government, the Federal Council, surprised many, when on May 25 it announced its decision to phase out nuclear energy in the medium term. All five Swiss nuclear reactors are to be shut down at the end of their operational lifespan without being replaced. According to the plan, the first power plant ('Beznau I'), the world's oldest pressurised water reactor still in service, would be disconnected by 2019, the last reactor ('Leibstadt') by 2034.<br /><br />Along with the nuclear opt-out, the cabinet presented its 'Energy Strategy 2050'. Its main features include reducing energy consumption, strengthening energy research, and broadening electricity supply by boosting hydropower and renewable energies. Currently, Switzerland's nuclear power plants are producing 39 percent of the country's energy supply.<br /><br />It's still a long and potentially bumpy road from the Federal Council's landmark decision to its actual implementation, however. First, the new energy strategy is to be submitted to both chambers of the Swiss parliament for debate. Then, concrete measures and the necessary draft laws have to be developed and formulated. These will be discussed by the parliament. It is widely expected that the Swiss voters will have the final say on the issue.<br /><br />On Wednesday, the National Council gathered for a special session devoted to the government's new energy strategy. On behalf of the Social Democrats, National Councillor Eric Nussbaumer demanded the nuclear phase-out to take place earlier than proposed by the Federal Council.<br /><br />"Operators pretend that their reactors can be kept in service for 50 or even 60 years, even though they were built for 40 years only," he said. Pointing at three Swiss reactors being among the world's oldest, Nussbaumer called it careless to keep them running until the end of their operational lifespan.<br /><br />Fulvio Pelli, president of the Liberals, criticised the absence of concrete alternative plans to replace nuclear power. He stressed that his party was against building new reactors based on currently available technologies, but didn't want to ban nuclear technology forever.<br /><br />"Nuclear energy is no technology of the future," replied Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard. She argued that keeping the currently existing reactors safe was costing increasing amounts of money. Leuthard stressed the importance of taking a clear and fundamental decision. "We could lose precious time. A clear decision is an impulse for the economy, it will attract investment," she said.<br /><br />Representatives of the right-wing Swiss People's Party called the cabinet’s phase-out decision a mistake, claiming it would not only destroy jobs and endanger businesses, but also put the security of energy supplies for the country at risk.<br /><br />Ninety-nine of Switzerland's 246 parliamentarians are members of pro-nuclear interest groups. Most of them can be found in the ranks of the Swiss People's Party and the Liberals, but to a lesser extent also in the centre parties.<br /><br />Nevertheless, most representatives of centre parties recently changed their opinions and started to support a nuclear opt-out. One explanation is obvious: parliamentary elections are up in autumn and public opinion in Switzerland on nuclear power has drastically shifted in the wake of the disaster in Japan.<br /><br />A post-Fukushima survey showed that two-thirds of the Swiss voters objected to building new nuclear reactors, even if as a result electricity prices would rise. In comparison, less than a year ago, only half of the respondents rejected new power plants. The poll also showed that about a third of the interviewees supported a more or less immediate shutdown of Switzerland's nuclear reactors.<br /><br />Nearly asleep before 'Fukushima', the country's anti-nuclear movement has gained increasing support. In May, a demonstration against nuclear reactors attracted more than 20,000 protesters. It was by far the largest anti-nuclear demonstration in Switzerland for 25 years.<br /><br />Several smaller demonstrations took place, too. In Bern, for the past two months activists have been squatting a park facing the headquarters of BKW, the operator of several power plants, including a disputed nuclear reactor in the town of Mühleberg.<br /><br />The shift in public opinion and popular pressure left their traces on Wednesday's debate in the National Council. After long discussions, a majority of the representatives voted in favour of a nuclear phase- out.<br /><br />The powerful Swiss business federation 'Economiesuisse' reacted with disappointment. The country's largest umbrella organisation representing the interests of Swiss businesses has been the fiercest opponent of the cabinet's new energy strategy. It has argued that the effects of a nuclear opt-out on the national economy weren't considered by the cabinet, that its costs would be larger than estimated and that the potential of renewable energy and electricity imports was being overestimated.<br /><br />Meanwhile, a much smaller economic association representing leading clean-tech companies welcomed the National Council's decision. "From an economic point of view, it's the only right way," Swiss Cleantech president Nick Beglinger said. The organisation is aware of the difficulties and costs of the envisaged turnaround in energy policy, but states that they're outbalanced by the emerging opportunities.<br /><br />Beglinger is convinced that phasing out of nuclear power could even go along with fighting climate change. Swiss Cleantech regards halving the overall energy consumption of Switzerland by 2050 based on raising efficiency as realistic. Boosting alternative energies is seen as another key to success.<br /><br />Switzerland's small area however could be the source of obstacles on the way to boosting renewable energy such as hydro, wind or solar power. The construction of water supply dams in the mountains for example has often sparked resistance from local residents and environmental organisations. The latter though may soon be silenced by the law, as the National Council has decided to limit their tools to block or delay the construction of energy-related projects.<br /><br />This report was first published <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55997">here</a></span> by <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">IPS Inter Press Service</a></span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com