Expatica Pattern
09/04/2022

Switzerland protests Kramatorsk rail station bombing

Switzerland has formally protested the bombing of the Kramatorsk railway station in Ukraine to the Russian ambassador to Bern. At least 50 people are reported killed and many more left injured by Friday’s missile strike on the train station in…
06/04/2022

Explainer: what can the Red Cross do and not do in Ukraine?

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been victim of several online disinformation campaigns since the beginning of the war in Ukraine that are putting at risk its staff and those it seeks to help.  Over the last few…
09/03/2022

Swiss filmmaker heads back to war-torn Ukraine

Swiss expat Marc Raymond Wilkins was determined that he and his Ukrainian wife, Olga, would stay in Kyiv, no matter what. But when war broke out, they fled. Now the couple are back in Ukraine. “I never thought I would…
28/02/2022

The US plays its credibility at the UN Human Rights Council

After four years, the United States is back as a member of the Human Rights Council. They say they want to counter authoritarian regimes and hold rights abusers to account. Will they do so impartially? The United States returns this…
28/02/2022

Russia-Ukraine conflict enters the UN Human Rights Council

The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) decided on Monday to hold an urgent debate on the deteriorating rights situation in Ukraine following Russia’s attack. Twenty-nine of the 47 council members voted in favour of the meeting requested by Ukraine….
23/02/2022

Report: Swiss Pilatus planes used for attacks in Afghanistan

Swiss-built Pilatus aircraft have been involved in attacks in Afghanistan, according to a joint investigation by a transnational network of journalists. At least one PC-12 plane was used in air raids on Taliban positions in a town in eastern Afghanistan…
08/02/2022

Cyber-attacks: what are the risks for aid agencies?

Healthy bank accounts and cyber vulnerabilities make aid organisations a risk, but cyber-attacks on them also have real humanitarian consequences. Every day, the ICRC’s restoring family links programme reunites, on average, 12 missing people with their families. These are people…
25/01/2022

What can a 19th century battle teach us about war and humanitarianism?

Some humanitarians believe that the Geneva Conventions are not keeping up with developments in warfare. Way back in 2009 I visited Solferino in Italy. The site of a huge battle, in June 1859, between Napoleon III and King Victor Emmanuel II…
26/11/2021

Inflation swells cost of replacing Swiss fighter jet fleet

The final cost of replacing Switzerland’s fleet of military jets has again been called into question by some sections of the media. In September 2020, Swiss voters agreed to CHF6 billion ($6.4 billion) being spent on replacing Switzerland’s ageing fleet…

In other news

31/01/2023

Expatica Launches Expansion to Italy
13/01/2023

SWISS pilots approve new collective labour agreement
13/01/2023

Switzerland’s largest ‘open air’ solar farm planned at Bern Airport
13/01/2023

UN urges charges dropped in Greek migrant rescue trial
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