Switzerland votes against religious freedom
Amnesty International deeply regrets the choice of Swiss voters today to introduce a ban on the construction of minarets into the constitution. The ban, which takes immediate effect, violates both the freedom of religion of Muslims living in the country and the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religious belief as set out in several international human rights instruments that Switzerland is a party to.
"The yes vote comes as a surprise and a great disappointment. That Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of religious tolerance and the provision of refuge to the persecuted, should have accepted such a grotesquely discriminatory proposal is shocking indeed," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director at Amnesty International.
"The general prohibition of the construction of minarets violates the right of Muslims in Switzerland to manifest their religion. It can do lasting damage to their integration."
Islam is the second largest religion in Switzerland after Christianity, and its followers represent over 4 per cent of the country's population.
The ban is expected to be rejected by either the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland or the European Court of Human Rights.
Comments
Danny | Posted on 9 December 2009, 12:18AM | Report comment
BTW: those minarets are more of a cultural thing as well. In the same way that Christians put spires on churches. The thing is most middle-eastern countries which are predominantly muslim would not allow churches to be built there with or without crosses, so the fact that the Swiss or any other western country for that matter, has allowed mosques to be built, is more than accommodating, given the lack of respect we are generally shown.
Danny | Posted on 8 December 2009, 04:16PM | Report comment
Bruno: So what you’re saying is, that we should just accept the gang rapes, and the violence as a matter of course from this gang of hoodlums simply because they were underprivileged.
WRONG!!!!
Their behaviour towards women is more of a cultural thing than from being disadvantaged. They come from a society which does not respect women. In fact, if a woman is raped in their society, SHE is blamed. There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour ever. Especially when they have been born here and grew up here and no doubt have full knowledge of what the laws of this country are.
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 7 December 2009, 11:23PM | Report comment
Bruno: We have people come to Australia, from countries where the people live in real poverty, are disadvantaged, are oppressed, live in fear of torture, from war zones and so on. All are given exactly the same opportunities for a better life. Why then is it that this one particular group are the ones causing most of the trouble? Being poor, abused, disadvantaged, is no excuse for causing this kind of trouble against the very same people who have tried to help. By the way, most of these standover gangs are populated by people who were actually born in Australia, to parents who themselves came here as refugees, fleeing the civil war in Lebanon. They probably took full advantage of the free education system in our Country, so no excuse for being poorly educated. As for living in poverty, most of these people live better, and are housed better,than the indiginous people of this country.
Sandy Beach | Posted on 6 December 2009, 08:37PM | Report comment
Those Minarets look like missiles! They are ugly and intimidating. If someone wanted to put something like that on top of a Church I’d still think they were ugly and still wouldn’t want them there.
Sandy Beach | Posted on 6 December 2009, 08:33PM | Report comment
As for poverty - I am part Aboriginal, however we managed to drag ourselves out of the welfare trap through sheer hard work. I had a good job before I had children. Was the victim of domestic violence, again dragged myself out of that situation, however had to resort to living on welfare to raise my kids. Try raising children, paying private rent, out of $16k per year. We had to wait 7 years for public housing. But we did it and my kids never went without, and I completed TAFE courses and Uni degree while I was doing it. Meanwhile, refugees are housed before people like me who are already struggling, and receive $56k per couple and FTB per child. How many people actually EARN that much money through their job?
Sandy Beach | Posted on 6 December 2009, 08:26PM | Report comment
Bruno: Lebanese people are given the same opportunities as everybody else who lives in Australia, including education and jobs. If you can’t get a job then perhaps its time to take a look at yourself and how you present yourself, instead of blaming everybody else, maybe work harder at school to better yourself instead of hanging in gangs! We have laws in this country to prevent discrimination, based on race, religion or gender.
Sometimes if social problems are experienced is of one’s own making. Walking around with a big chip on one’s shoulder does not engender healthy relationships within the community.
Bruno | Posted on 6 December 2009, 05:44PM | Report comment
Sandy Beach,
The disappointing feature in your comments is that you vilify the Lebanese population for “trash[ing]” suburbs and “bash[ing]” people without making any attempt to understand the social and economic inequalities which lead to these problems. You essentially accuse the Lebanese of violence simply because they are Lebanese, without recognize the poverty, lack of job opportunities and substandard education which leads to such abuses.
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 5 December 2009, 05:48PM | Report comment
Here’s another example of the type of person “invading” out countries, given everything possible for a better life, and still plotted to kill thousands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjcfoD2mzeQ
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 5 December 2009, 05:23PM | Report comment
Nobody is mistreating them in Switzerland by banning a few minarets. They are still allowed to practice their religion in Mosques.
In most cases, even though they enter these countries illegally, they are housed, and given welfare! They also reap the benefits of free education system in most of these countries, and the hospital system - all paid for by the tax-payers of those countries.
In return, we get bombs going off on trains, whole towns taken over, riots, demands for Sharia Law, and for polygamy to be legal, and now in Australia, gangs of young muslim men raping Australian girls which they have deliberately sought out, and religious leaders are preaching that they shouldn’t pay income tax.
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 5 December 2009, 05:20PM | Report comment
Democracy works because it is the majority who decide. The rest of us have to live with decisions sometimes that we don’t like, as in the case of Governments that are elected by the majority of people. We may like it, but we have to live with the majority decision.
With regard to comments made about mistreating our own citizens with impunity - in the majority of cases muslims will not become citizens of Western countries, because they won’t swear allegiance to those countries, or to God.
Most of them are living in European countries which they have entered illegally.
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 5 December 2009, 05:10PM | Report comment
As a matter of fact, the old Europe has been anihilated. My father came to Australia from Spain as a young boy, but has made several trips back over the years to see family we still have there.
The following link relates to only one town, but it’s spreading.
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/news/muslims-rule-sweden
When we see this kind of thing, coupled with riots in the streets of Paris, bombs going off in Madrid and London, and parades through London by Muslims claiming that England is gonna be a muslim country, which we never would have ever thought possible.
Our Western way of life is collapsing through political correctness and the bleeding-heart brigade wanting to bend over backwards to give these groups what they want.
the human flies | Posted on 4 December 2009, 05:29PM | Report comment
lf you allow the islamic takeover of European countries it follows those countries will no longer be ‘tolerant of religious diversity’. There is not one islamic country that is ‘tolerant of religious diversity’. ln effect by allowing islamic takeover of countries you are snuffing out the remaining few candles of freedom. When they too are gone you will lament - but by then it will be too late to bring back the old ‘free’ order. Shame on Amnesty. Go and live in lran, there youll be surrounded by your kind. You disgrace the West and arent worthy of the freedom youve paid nothing for and take so scathingly for granted.
James | Posted on 4 December 2009, 10:26AM | Report comment
Europe has been “almost been totally anihilated by the influx of muslim refugees”? Really Ricky-Lee? Europe seemed pretty good when I visited recently - imminent annihilation didn’t seem to be on the cards.
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 3 December 2009, 03:37PM | Report comment
Your comments about people moving in and taking over were also ludicrous, when you yourself are an immigrant. The thing is, it’s not like those first fleeters were even asked if they wanted to be shipped to the other side of the world. They were then sold as slaves. So early Australian white settlement was built on the backs of slaves. You come here however, and enjoy the lifestyle that has provided for you. Yet dare to make that kind of comment. I hope the irony of that isn’t lost on you. Why did you come to Australia I wonder? Was it because you, like most other Europeans are so thoroughly sick of what’s happening there?
Ricky-Lee Ricardo | Posted on 3 December 2009, 03:33PM | Report comment
It’s almost funny, that you claim to have come to Australia in the last three years, from Europe, which has itself almost been totally anihilated, by the influx of muslim refugees. Even in Europe they take full advantage of the hard-working taxpayers, have their rent paid, end up on welfare, receive free education for their children, and still give nothiing back, instead, making demand after demand afer demand til Europeans are thoroughly sick of them. Then they cry racism, when those Europeans who are watching the gradual erosion of their societies dare to complain.
Sandy Beach | Posted on 3 December 2009, 11:50AM | Report comment
I am a part Aboriginal!
What happened to the welcoming Australia was, we’ve seen the gradual erosion of our once peaceful society, our values, our lifestyle.People can’t go to the beach anymore, for fear of being attacked, by Lebanese standover gangs.
We see whole suburbs succumbing to violence,by these same gangs. We have people spinning sob stories, mostly untrue, because they hear about our great welfare system, housing, free education and hospitals and so on, which they have never had where they come from. Then, after taking advantage of the benefits the hard-working Australian tax-payers provide, and don’t want to pay tax, claiming it’s against their religion, and don’t want to give anything back, meanwhile creating havoc in our suburbs, and turning our country into the same place they claim to have been persecuted in.
You can’t blame people for feeling resentful.
stephen mckay | Posted on 2 December 2009, 11:59PM | Report comment
Coming from an Australian, the statement “So what happens in the case of those people who didn’t want their suburb trashed, conflict with another group, who want to move in and take over that particular area?”, is almost funny. I hope you see the irony… Seriously though, I don’t think anyone’s coming in to ‘trash’ your neighbourhood. It’s that insular attitude that leads people to protest when councils propose new housing commission buildings. Little do they know that it isn’t to help burglars and muggers live closer to work, but to house women fleeing domestic violence (as in the Bentleigh protests against 49 proposed units in Melbourne this year - a prime example of the aforementioned “leafy suburb”). Whatever happened to the welcoming, multicultural Australia that opened it’s arms to me 3 years ago as a white European male…
Sandy Beach | Posted on 2 December 2009, 11:36PM | Report comment
So what happens in the case of those people who didn’t want their suburb trashed, conflict with another group, who want to move in and take over that particular area? Both will claim their human rights, but nobody can serve two masters. The problem arises when the rights of the majority are swept aside, and this is where resentment starts.
stephen mckay | Posted on 2 December 2009, 11:29PM | Report comment
Why do people keep saying “whose rights do you look after?’. I look after HUMAN rights, YOUR rights, hence I support Amnesty. And also that is the reason why I condemn any inequality of prejudice or persecution, regardless of the skin colours involved.
stephen mckay | Posted on 2 December 2009, 11:23PM | Report comment
Ricky-lee, I should point out that if you are currently in Australia, you do not HAVE freedom of speech, only freedom of political expression, as you have no human rights charter. One of the many campaigns, along with domestic violence, that Amnesty has taken up to stop us ‘non-muslims’,as you say, being persecuted’. Please read this fantastic website fully and see the bigger picture.