The canton of Geneva tarnishes Switzerland’s humanitarian image
Rot. Ludwig A. Minelli is a lawyer and Secretary General of the Swiss Society for the European Convention on Human Rights (SGEMKO). The article appeared in their magazine «People and Law».
Ironically, the government and the judiciary of that canton, which authoritative human rights organizations like that International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the United Nations Human Rights Council collected, affects human rights guaranteed by Switzerland and does not react or does not react sufficiently to corresponding criticism. The government and judiciary of the canton of Geneva are thus compromising Switzerland:
- Since that European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) controls prisons and others in Switzerland in which people are forced to live involuntarily, there are regular occasions to report the conditions in the Geneva prison Champ Dollon to criticize harshly. The Geneva native is responsible for this Council of State, the government of the Canton of Geneva. Thus, the Canton of Geneva Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (EMRK), which torture or violates inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment prohibits.
- to die Geneva judiciary for their part seems either not willing or unable to be, especially criminal proceedings within a reasonable period of time as required by Article 6(1) of the ECHR, the European Convention on Human Rights.
Latest example: Am December 9, 2021 the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had the Geneva doctor Pierre Beck from the charge acquitted, he had violated provisions of the Therapeutic Products Act by assisting an 84-year-old healthy woman in her suicide. The federal court referred the matter back to the Geneva judiciary so that they could examine whether the doctor might have violated the Narcotics Act.
More than a year has passed since then and the accused doctor is still waiting for the new Geneva verdict. In doing so, the Canton of Geneva violates Article 6 Paragraph 1 of the ECHR.
Champ-Dollon always massively overcrowded
The CPT’s repeated criticism of the canton of Geneva relates above all to the constant and massive overcrowding of the Champ-Dollon prison. You get that when you look up the term “Champ-Dollon” in the Wikipedia a corresponding idea. Because it says (retrieved on December 14, 2022):
«Champ-Dollon, in the municipality of Puplinge, is a prison in the canton of Geneva. The institution was opened in 1977. It has single and multiple cells for 244 men and 26 women and is primarily used to house prisoners on remand. Since 1986 the number of prisoners has increased relatively steadily; 2013 the institution was with an average of 809 prisoners.»
named as a source Wikipedia the 2013 Official Annual Report of the Administration of Champ-Dollon Prison.
Particularly serious: Champ-Dollon is primarily a remand prison
It is particularly serious that the Champ-Dollon prison primarily serves as an institution, which prisoners on remand calculated. These are persons who, according to Article 6 paragraph 2 of the ECHR, are to be considered innocent as long as they have not been finally convicted of a criminal offense by a competent court.
More space in kennels than prison cells
The detainees could also claim that Animal Welfare Act would be violated: Its Article 1 states that the purpose of the law is “to protect the dignity and welfare of the animal”. Article 2 then states that the law applies to whirl. There People biological whirl are, it should also be applicable to them. If you then consult Appendix 1 to the Animal Welfare OrdinanceTable 10 contains the minimum size of kennels for domestic dogs contains. Must two domestic dogs weighing more than 45 kg be kept in a kennel, this must have a floor area of at least 16 square meters exhibit; each additional dog requires an additional six square meters of floor space. These basic canine requirements do not match the mass of cells in Champ-Dollon in any way.
This comparison shows in what a serious way that the Council of State of the Canton of Geneva constantly violates the human rights of those people who are unlucky enough to be imprisoned in Champ-Dollon as presumably innocent. The small canton of Geneva should long ago have built a prison that was at least twice as large in order to fulfill its human rights obligation to house its prisoners on remand in accordance with the law.
SGEMKO turns on the parliament
The “Swiss Society for the European Convention on Human Rights” (SGEMKO), which publishes the magazine “Mensch und Recht”, therefore wrote to the Swiss Federal Assembly on December 9, 2022 and this one petition submitted.
The way in which the Federal Assembly tackles this problem on the basis of the petition will show whether federal politicians, when they criticize human rights violations in other states, are merely giving Sunday speeches or whether they are complying with the ECHR guarantees when they have not done so in their own country for centuries be given enough weight to seriously address the issues involved.
An urgent measure
Attorneys representing inmates at Champ-Dollon are recommended if overcrowding is a regular occurrence claim to appeal against the circumstances of detention and, if necessary, to take them further to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECtHR).
The conditions would probably be better if increased Complaints about the circumstances of detention would be raised. These would have to be submitted by the lawyers of the detainees. But in the vast majority of cases, this is not taken into account because very few are pre-trial detainees economically are able to pay a lawyer accordingly.
The legislature could alleviate this problem by providing that any person who has been deprived of liberty and/or self-determination, even temporarily, has the right to hire a lawyer, at the expense of the authority responsible for the interference, to have his/her To represent interests in relation to the conditions under which he is forced to live.
Subject-related interest of the author
None. The author is editor of «People and Law»the quarterly journal of the Swiss Society for the European Convention on Human Rights.
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