Swiss Neutrality – a “damage to reputation”?

pk. Recently, public statements, even official interference in our internal affairs, have been accumulating in our country, putting pressure on the Swiss Federal Council to participate immediately in the arms deliveries of other countries to Ukraine. His refusal so far is not understood in friendly foreign countries and is thus rejected. This would damage Switzerland’s reputation. Such tones are new. Until now, the opposite has been the case both here and abroad: high recognition of Swiss neutrality.

Non-Swiss people of the generation which still have witnessed the horrors of war and not just “know” about them by hearsay, express their gratitude for the fact that, amidst the inferno, there had been a place which did not belong to a belligerent block. This has been confirmed for our history-forgotten time, among others by the article of Gotthard Frick (Snuggling up to NATO will lead Switzerland into the next possible war!) in Current Concerns No 11 of 16 May 2023). Much alleviation of suffering for the people affected was possible as a result. It is true that during this time trains passed through Switzerland with cargoes that served the war. This could not be avoided if the Federal Council wanted to fulfil its other obligation: security for the population. Retouching “pure” neutrality was not kowtowing to Hitler, but arose from the need to feed the population (with the numerous internees and refugees) and get them through the cold wartime winters. Trains carrying wounded soldiers from the war zones also passed through Switzerland. They were cared for by Swiss volunteers, without regard to their uniform, simply because they were human beings.
  In our constitution, the preservation of Switzerland’s independence is an unalterable state objective. For neutral Switzerland, this includes consistent non-alignment. The original Swiss insistence on neutrality has preserved the independence of this small country. In times of crisis, the Swiss people showed great solidarity with those in distress – with the people, not with one power bloc or another. Since when should it be dishonourable to stand up for people all over the world? As a host country of the International Red Cross, Switzerland has a special mandate here. We should not forget an important statement made in a recent interview by the President of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It also touched on the problem that the ICRC can no longer fully perform its basic tasks of alleviating suffering in wars, due to lack of funds (it is financed by voluntary contributions, mainly governmental). The ICRC president said there:

“Because of our neutrality and independence, we are often the only organisation that can provide aid. I was in the north-east of Syria and in Russia. Apart from us, no one has access to prisoners there.”

The President was alluding to the beneficial work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in its contacts in prison camps in current war theatres around the world. What does it look like for a prisoner of war when he knows that no one in the world cares about him anymore?
  Neutrality is a foreign policy orientation. But it is also an attitude, a profoundly anti-war one. As long as it consistently shapes state action, it is taken seriously. But if Geneva, with its UN headquarters and the seat of the ICRC, were to be located in the future in a state that is in fact aligned with a military alliance that receives its orders from NATO headquarters and implements them with zeal, as is actually the case with the EU today, then much damage would result – for Switzerland as well as for humanity, and not only damage to its reputation. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which originated in Switzerland and has its headquarters in Switzerland, would then also have to change its emblem, the red cross in a white field. And if Switzerland were still consistent, it would also have to change its flag, the deep red of loyalty to the alliance, even with fellow citizens who speak other languages and think differently, to a very pale Brussels blue.  •