Switzerland has been criticised by human rights organisation Amnesty International for showing too little solidarity with poorer countries, for adopting “draconian” anti-terrorism laws and for its rights-limiting response to Covid-19. “Between March and June, the government ruled by emergency powers in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, impacting a range of rights,” it wrote in its annual report for 2020/21, published on Wednesday. “At the start of the pandemic, the police lacked clear guidelines to implement emergency measures and disproportionately limited protesters’ right to freedom of peaceful assembly by imposing blanket bans on demonstrations in public and handing out fines in certain cantons.” But from a human rights perspective, Amnesty regretted above all governments taking their eye off the bigger picture. “We can only break this impasse by working together internationally. The G-20 countries and international financial institutions must offer debt cuts for the...
