Basel re-imposes restrictions on begging in public
Dozens of Roma people took to the streets of Basel to ask for money or food last year after parliament temporarily lifted a ban on begging.
Keystone/Georgios Kefalas
Begging in the streets of the Swiss city of Basel will again be subject to strict rules amid months of public controversy.
The parliament of canton Basel City agreed on a set of restrictions just short of a blanket ban on begging. It specifies areas where such activities are outlawed and cracks down on organised begging.
The political left, which had come out the regulations, failed to win a majority for a compromise in parliament on Wednesday.
Basel, Switzerland’s third-largest city, suspended a ban on begging in 2019, attracting dozens of notably nomadic Roma people and prompting a public protest about their sometimes aggressive begging practice.
Legal experts argue that the parliamentary decision violates the European Human Rights Convention and they consider calling on the Swiss Supreme Court to intervene.
In January, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a ban on begging in the Swiss city of Geneva was in breach of human dignity and privacy rights.
As a result, the Geneva authorities lifted the restrictions introduced in 2008.
Begging is banned in most Swiss cantons, but associations working with marginalised people say that the bans are hitting the most vulnerable.
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Is begging a human right?
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A move to ban begging in canton Vaud, now tied up in the courts, raises the question whether such a law undermines fundamental human rights.
Vaud begging ban to come into force, court confirms
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A disputed law banning begging in canton Vaud will indeed come into force, the Swiss Federal Court has confirmed, rejecting an appeal.
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The photographer Yves Leresche documented the lives of Roma beggars in Lausanne for five years the before the ban came into force in 2018.
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The authorities in Geneva have increased protection for children who are made to beg on the streets, a practice considered a threat to their health and safety. If a child is reported to be begging, child protection officials now have the power to take them into care. (TSR/swissinfo.ch)
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