Switzerland insists on implementing counterterrorism law amid human rights concerns

Nahla Abdel Moneim

Switzerland joins European Union countries with hardline strategies to combat terrorism through new laws that regulate security and police forces’ handling with extremists and suspects amid fears of attacks by Islamist groups and the increasing activities of right-wing and leftist extremists.

The legal challenges related to combating terrorism were among the most prominent problems facing European countries. Therefore, many EU countries embarked on legal changes that would allow them to seriously deal with the dangers arising from ideological extremism. But the new law chosen by Switzerland in this context has raised a lot of confusion about human rights standards and the future of the country’s record in this regard.

Terrorist threat against Switzerland is high

In 2020, the Swiss parliament approved a new law submitted by Bern to regulate police dealings with potential terrorist attacks following fears that the country would be targeted with major operations such as the one that struck France in 2015. Although Switzerland has not yet experienced major attacks, it assesses that the terrorist threat on its soil is high.

The government considers that Switzerland is still a target of extremist attacks, and it classifies the two attacks that occurred in 2020 through stabbings as terrorist attacks, noting that it has information about a significant increase in the violent activities of the left and the far right, which poses a threat to the security and stability of the country.

Swiss law and human rights problems

The Swiss law allows new powers for police forces to enable them to monitor suspects and impose house arrests after court approval, while reducing the age of surveillance and security follow-up to 12 years. Suspects can even be placed under house arrest beginning from the age of 15.

In the past, the procedures followed by the police were to investigate and arrest the person after his actual involvement in a crime or terrorist attack, but with the new law, the security forces will have new tools that enable them to arrest anyone simply because they suspect his behavior or beliefs, without sufficient evidence of his involvement in an offense.

Consequently, human rights groups fear that the new law may prevent innocent people from leaving the country and placing them under house arrest until the authorities make sure that they are involved in terrorist crimes or not.

Switzerland’s insistence on implementing the law shows the extent of European concerns towards terrorist groups, as well as governments’ desire to confront the legal problems that impede the comprehensive fight against violent extremism while dispelling the legal loopholes that extremists have long used to freely access the eurozone.

However, the new amendments to the law raised many concerns about human rights and what Switzerland’s future is in preserving civil and human rights, as it is one of the most important European countries that preserve human rights, in addition to hosting the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the Geneva Conventions of Human Rights.

For its part, the United Nations issued an official statement on September 11, 2020, in which it expressed its fear of the new law violating human rights, as well as its adoption of a broad definition of terrorism and its practices, which threatens the personal rights of citizens and affects Switzerland’s record in this regard. The law will also make Switzerland the first country in the region to adopt to imprison suspects without sufficient evidence of crimes.