SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Liburn Mehmetaj, Roxane Allot and Andreas Hösli, Walder Wyss Ltd
rights violations. For example, in recent years, Switzerland halted exports of certain surveil - lance technology to authoritarian regimes due to human rights concerns. Swiss customs and SECO also enforce economic sanc - tions, including those targeting human rights abusers. Non-compliance with sanctions can result in criminal penalties, reinforcing the obligations of Swiss businesses to avoid con - tributing to human rights violations through trade. 4.2 Case Law Case law in Switzerland specifically on BHR is still developing, but there are some judicial decisions and ongoing proceedings that shed light on how courts and prosecution authorities handle BHR-related issues. Below are a few illustrative cases in administrative, criminal and civil law. Administrative Law • Verein Klimaseniorinnen et al v. Switzerland On 9 April 2024, in a near unanimous deci - sion, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a landmark decision in the case of • Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland . Ruling on a complaint brought by four individual women and a Swiss asso - ciation composed of more than 2,000 elderly women above the age of 64, the Court found that Switzerland breached its positive duties under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by failing to take sufficient action to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on human rights. In particu - lar, the ECtHR found that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 6 (right to a fair trial) ECHR. The judgment clarifies that
Article 8 includes a right to effective protec - tion by the public authorities from the serious adverse impacts of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life. Criminal Law • In several cases, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has fined companies with pen - alty orders in the context of bribery of foreign officials (and sometimes money laundering). In most of these cases, the OAG seized very substantial sums in illicit profits, in addition to ordering the companies to pay criminal fines of up to CHF5 million. While corruption is typically at their core, these cases often carry BHR relevance since corruption is often seen as facilitating human rights abuses and undermining governance in resource- rich countries. In these penalty orders, the OAG outlined how the absence of adequate compliance measures within the companies enabled corrupt practices. By extension, this reasoning could be applied to human rights violations – ie, if a company lacks due dili - gence and an abuse happens, that lack could be viewed as organisational failure. • At least in one criminal investigation (brought against a Swiss bank), allegations of money laundering were expressly related to adverse environmental and related human rights impacts (arising from the logging of primary forests). Civil Cases • Domestic Labour Cases: Swiss courts have ruled on numerous cases on workplace- related human rights issues – for example, cases about workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, or wrongful termination for whistle-blowing. The Federal Supreme Court has affirmed strong protections against discrimination, for example by confirming that
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