Does Switzerland Have An Issue Combating Systemic Racism Against Black Citizens?

If you ask the United Nations Human Rights Council, Switzerland has a huge, unchecked problem concerning systemic racism in their country. A new 55-page report by the council published on Monday claims the racism problem directed towards people of African descent still needs improvement, according to the Independent. The U.N. provided many examples, from police brutality to a children’s game.

In case people don’t know, the children’s game is a version of hide and seek called “Who is afraid of the Black man?” They also cited the case of Nzoy Roger Wilhelm, a Black man shot dead by Swiss police while having a panic attack at a train station. Other examples ranged from drug policies targeting Black men, to people of African descent not seeing representation reflected in high places of Swiss society. The U.N. first spoke about this back in January.

From the United Nations:

“Racial profiling and police controls of Black people humiliate, criminalize and stigmatize,” Dominique Day, head of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, said in a statement. “According to information received, police operations include brutal arrests, racial profiling, humiliating and degrading treatment, and reinforcing negative racial stereotypes in the public realm. These are a violation of human rights.”

Swiss ambassador to the U.N Jurg Lauber accepted the findings of the report. However, the pushback came from questioning the experts’ “use of a limited number of examples to draw wider conclusions.”

“Switzerland agrees with your observation that racism and racial discrimination - including against people of African descent - are problems that must be tackled as a matter of urgency,” Lauber said to the council in Geneva.