News

Julian Assange’s detention persists: Switzerland has to offer him asylum

The CETIM welcomes the decision of the British judge Vanessa Baraitser declaring that the health condition of Julian Assange, currently imprisoned in London, excludes the possibility of transferring him to the United States. This is an example of respect of the right to health, a subject that, for years, the CETIM has been advocating for.

Chevron’s Impunity in Ecuador: urgent Call from International Civil Society

In solidarity with tens of thousands of people affected by the biggest environmental disaster that has hit the Ecuadorian Amazon, more than 240 organizations, networks, movements, and unions –representing more than 285 million people internationally – are asking the government of Ecuador to appeal the arbitration award issued by the Dutch justice system in favor […]

India: unprecedented mobilization of workers and peasants

Press release Geneva, 15th December 2020 – Over the last two weeks, India has been the scene of an unprecedented general strike. According to some media reports, it is believed to be the largest mobilization in the history of mankind: a human river of 250 million people, workers and peasants, hand in hand, marching […]

Brazil: Environmental crimes and corporate impunity

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (45th session) In a previous statement during this session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on toxic waste, Mr. Tuncak, made clear recommendations, based on the manifest deficiency of national regulation on transnational corporates in Brazil, calling for independent investigations into abuses of power by these entities.

Elections in Bolivia: human rights violations and political persecution

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (45th session) Alarmed by information from our partners on the ground, a coalition of international and Latin American NGOs, of which CETIM is a member, recalled the worrying political situation in the country and urged the de facto government to put an end to the abuses and to guarantee access to justice […]

The systematic violation of the right to water in Chile

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (45th session) CETIM and the Movement in Defense of Water, Land and Environmental Protection (MODATIMA), an active movement in defense of the right to water in Chile, collaborated in the framework of the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council to denounce the violations of the right to water in the […]

UN Special Rapporteur concerned about the new orientation of the Swiss cooperation policy

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development presented his report on his visit to Switzerland at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council. CETIM intervened during the debate that followed this presentation to express its concerns.

Statement of the Global Campaign on the second revised draft of the binding treaty

CETIM and its partners express their concerns about the new version of the treaty in the framework of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group in charge of negotiating the “legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with regard to human rights”.

Switzerland’s foreign policy and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

Switzerland played a key role during the negotiation of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. However, a study commissioned by several Swiss NGOs shows that its foreign policy leaves much to be desired in this area.