John in Basel
February 13th, 2004, 10:09 AM
"Menschenrechte" oder Wille des Schweizer Volkes? (http://www.freiestimme.ch/)
My translation:
“Human rights“ or the Will of the People? – Freie Stimme
Last Weekend’s referendum (7-8th Feb.) in Switzerland – the result of a petition by two young women requiring the detainment of extremely dangerous sexual and criminal offenders “for life” – will at least have one interesting upshot. By dropping a very clear “yes vote” in the ballot boxes the Swiss “Volk” clearly demands a law that just happens to be in conflict with the Human Rights Convention. The Convention requires that in the cases of detained people a regular judicial review of the possibility of therapeutically treating them should be made. However, the citizens' petition for a referendum provides for a review only when there are new scientific findings that demonstrate the ability of successfully treating them. The head of the Department of Justice (EJPD) Christoph Blocher holds the opinion that the petition can be implemented in agreement with the Human Rights Convention. But in an interview with the newspaper "Mittellandzeitung" he made it clear that in the worst case he would consider withdrawing from the Human Rights Convention. Herr Blocher has certainly not taken complete leave of his senses and knows quite well what consequences terminating the European Human Rights Convention would have. Admittedly, bombs would not fall on Berne and a “preventive first strike” against Switzerland is also improbable. But that a certain minority section of the community would have no pleasure at all should the Human Rights Convention be terminated cannot be disputed.
My comment:
I can assure all of you that the Swiss Government doesn’t like it one bit when the ‘sovereign’ knows better than the public servant. They would dearly like to have a proper ‘democracy’ where they can dictate democratic decisions to the people, i.e. just like in other countries.
PPS I noted in this morning’s Swiss radio news that Californicatia (sorry, I think I misspelled that) has just allowed homosexuals to get legally married. And this in spite of the fact that in a recent referendum the people there voted to disallow such marriages. This is the sort of democracy that the Swiss government would like to have....
John
My translation:
“Human rights“ or the Will of the People? – Freie Stimme
Last Weekend’s referendum (7-8th Feb.) in Switzerland – the result of a petition by two young women requiring the detainment of extremely dangerous sexual and criminal offenders “for life” – will at least have one interesting upshot. By dropping a very clear “yes vote” in the ballot boxes the Swiss “Volk” clearly demands a law that just happens to be in conflict with the Human Rights Convention. The Convention requires that in the cases of detained people a regular judicial review of the possibility of therapeutically treating them should be made. However, the citizens' petition for a referendum provides for a review only when there are new scientific findings that demonstrate the ability of successfully treating them. The head of the Department of Justice (EJPD) Christoph Blocher holds the opinion that the petition can be implemented in agreement with the Human Rights Convention. But in an interview with the newspaper "Mittellandzeitung" he made it clear that in the worst case he would consider withdrawing from the Human Rights Convention. Herr Blocher has certainly not taken complete leave of his senses and knows quite well what consequences terminating the European Human Rights Convention would have. Admittedly, bombs would not fall on Berne and a “preventive first strike” against Switzerland is also improbable. But that a certain minority section of the community would have no pleasure at all should the Human Rights Convention be terminated cannot be disputed.
My comment:
I can assure all of you that the Swiss Government doesn’t like it one bit when the ‘sovereign’ knows better than the public servant. They would dearly like to have a proper ‘democracy’ where they can dictate democratic decisions to the people, i.e. just like in other countries.
PPS I noted in this morning’s Swiss radio news that Californicatia (sorry, I think I misspelled that) has just allowed homosexuals to get legally married. And this in spite of the fact that in a recent referendum the people there voted to disallow such marriages. This is the sort of democracy that the Swiss government would like to have....
John