So, right, why the heck is the Weekend PT about Switzerland? Well, because I happen to be Swiss, and despite our reputation generally being as politically very boring, I can promise you that we have our own blood-boiling shit-shows going on.
For example: Our legal situation regarding sexual assault. Content warning for depressing — but not surprising — statistics. I don’t blame anyone for skipping all of the rest. Well, those three people who tend to read headers, anyway. It is very depressing, although of course not surprising.
Back in April 2018, the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (a.k.a. the Istanbul Convention) finally came into force in Switzerland. Among other things, that means that our laws on sexual assault need to be updated. And by “updated” I mean “brought forth from the 1930s into the 21st century”. As is not uncommon, sexual assault is still tightly connected to coercion here — physical violence, the threat of it, or psychological violence. So even if the victim actually explicitly says “No”, but then no further violence or threats are used, the assault is not legally rape. Not even a lesser sexual crime. So, legally, there are often absolutely no consequences. To give you an idea: Between 2006 and 2016, there were 1,155 convictions for rape, 327 perpetrators got away with a suspended sentence. Particularly first-time offenders often get away with a suspended sentence.
Now, one would think that this is not in compliance with the Istanbul Convention, wouldn’t one? Alas, our federal government disagrees and the reply to a petition with 37,000 signatures which was handed in to them a few weeks ago demanding a change in our laws on sexual assault was basically that we’re “mostly compliant”. Apparently, “not all experts and circles agree with a reform” such as 32 defense lawyers. Oh, what a convincing argument.
As for the scale of the problem, here’s some depressing numbers for you — not much different than what I’ve seen from other countries, but it’s recent data and as best as I can tell, relatively solid. It was a representative poll among 4,495 girls and women in Switzerland (I took the liberty of translating from German).
Some additional notes from the source reports for those plots: The results essentially mean that about 430,000 girls and women 16 or older have had sex against their will (translated phrasing from the report, not my choice of words), which is roughly the size of our biggest city, Zurich. Also, 68% of all perpetrators were known to the victim.
And yet … apparently we’re doing compliant, according to the government! Apparently we’re doing enough!
*eats hat in rage*
Sources (in German, sorry. If anyone wants something translated, feel free to let me know):
- Amnesty Campaign
- Article with official reply
- Poll, lots more graphs there.
- Number of rape convictions and suspended sentences
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