There must be no expansion of the free trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China without human rights: This is the demand set out in a petition that was submitted by the STP, together with its Uyghur and Tibetan partner organisations, in mid-September. The STP has been campaigning for years to ensure that human rights play an explicit role in the agreement.
« The Chinese state has tortured me and 100 000 other people. Switzerland’s intention to now intensify trade with China without addressing human rights is a no-go. To prevent this, please sign the petition to the Swiss Federal Coucil. »
Gulbahar Haitiwaji, eyewitness to the Chinese detention camps
Any expansion of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the People’s Republic of China must substantially incorporate human rights: This is the red line defined for the Federal Council and Parliament in mid-September 2024, with regard to the upcoming negotiations with Beijing. The Society for Threatened Peoples, the Swiss Uyghur Association, the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association, the Tibetan Women’s Organisation Switzerland, the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, the Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and Campax have submitted a petition to this effect.
Before the petition was submitted, the participating organisations and members of parliament jointly drew a symbolic red line across Bundesplatz. The Federal Chancellery was also presented with a red rope measuring 140.63 metres in length, one centimetre for each of the 14,063 signatures. The aim of the event was to remind the Federal Council, in the context of negotiations with the People’s Republic of China, that the promotion of human rights is mandated in the Swiss Federal Constitution (art. 54 para. 2) and must therefore also be included in the upcoming negotiations.
The negotiations on further development of the free trade agreement between Switzerland and China began on the 23rd of September 2024. The Federal Council and the committee refused to carry out a human rights impact assessment of the FTA beforehand. They also refrained from including any binding human rights provisions in the negotiating mandate. The STP and its partners are adhering to their demand: There must be no expansion of free trade with the People’s Republic of China unless human rights are incorporated. If their voices remain unheard, they will seriously consider a referendum.
Chronology of a separate path
Switzerland is the only European country to have signed a free trade agreement with China, apart from Iceland and Serbia. Switzerland’s closest trading partners in Europe, as well as the USA, are increasingly imposing sanctions on the Chinese government, so as to hold it to account for its human rights violations. In contrast, Switzerland is still prioritising trade interests over human rights. The Federal Council and Parliament have opposed greater incorporation of human rights into the agreement with the People’s Republic of China, even though the human rights situation there is continuing to deteriorate.
Around a million Uyghurs have so far been locked up in so-called ‘re-education camps’, where they are indoctrinated, and in many cases also tortured and raped. Forced labour and forced sterilisation are widespread as well. Meanwhile, up to a million Tibetan children are being forced to live in boarding schools. Tibetan nomads and Tibetan villages are being forcibly relocated hundreds of kilometres away. Even in Switzerland, Tibetans and Uyghurs are not safe from Chinese repression. The extent of this form of cross-border repression carried out by Chinese agents should soon be revealed in a report responding to postulate 20.4333, and this report should at least be included in the negotiations on the free trade agreement.
Even before the free trade agreement with China came into force around ten years ago, the STP was already campaigning for human rights to be explicitly incorporated into it. To this end, it has been persistently taking action ever since. If the expansion of the free trade agreement is implemented without addressing human rights, the STP will seriously consider a referendum.