Swiss government’s torture instruments act clears first hurdle
The government intends to regulate the import, transit and export of tools that can be used not only for torture but also capital punishment.
Keystone / Anthony Anex
The Swiss government’s new act on instruments of torture that it presented last September has cleared its first hurdle, with the House of Representatives adopting the decree on Thursday.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
With the new law, the government intends to regulate the import, transit and export of tools that can be used not only for torture but also capital punishment.
Check out our selection of newsletters. Subscribe here.
Instruments that can be used for other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment would also be covered by the law.
With the bill, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive body, intends to implement the Council of Europe’s recommendation on controlling tools that could be used for torture or capital punishment. The government’s draft bill is based on the European Union’s Anti-Torture Regulation.
A minority from the House of Representative’s preliminary consultation committee requested that the decree not be adopted, as spokesperson Manfred Bühler said they believed existing legislation was sufficient.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp/jdp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Switzerland’s priciest street makes room for a bakery shop
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
Most illegal entries to Germany in 2024 came via Switzerland
This content was published on
The German Federal Police detected 53,410 illegal entry attempts into Germany in the first nine months of this year. Most refusals to entry occurred at the borders with Switzerland, it was reported on Sunday.
Swiss government faces criticism over inclusion of electronic media in radio-TV law
This content was published on
Changes to Switzerland's Federal Radio and Television Act (RTVA) have been well received in a consultation process. Local and regional radio and TV stations should receive more money in the future.
Swiss ultra-conservative party hands in signatures against Eurovision 2025
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Democratic Union (EDU) has handed in referendum signatures to seek a vote to prevent the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) from taking place in Basel from May 13 to 17, 2025.
UNRWA funding remains hot topic in Swiss parliament
This content was published on
A Swiss parliamentary committee has postponed a decision on whether Switzerland should stop funding the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
This content was published on
A hacker attack has paralysed the OneLog connection platform, compromising the ability of people to access many Swiss media titles.
Ex-Swiss rail catering boss handed three year jail term for fraud
This content was published on
Former head of Elvetino, the catering unit of Swiss Federal Railways, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for fraud.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.