Cultural genocide in international law: Swiss government rejects MP Josiane Aubert's Motion

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Swiss government rejects MP Josiane Aubert's Motion

Mrs. Josiane Aubert, Member of the Swiss parliament (National Council) and President of its Culture and Education Commission submitted a motion signed by 82 lawmakers inviting the federal government to elaborate and propose legislation on cultural genocide prevention. The Parliamentarian took this initiative on 9 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of the Genocide Convention, as a reply to the United Nations Secretary-General’s call of strengthening the international community's “ability to take timely and decisive measures in the face of serious human rights violations that may degenerate into genocide.”

On 13 May 2009, the Swiss government ("Federal Council") replied by rejecting Mrs. Aubert's parliamentary initiative.

Read MP Josiane Aubert's motion of 9 December 2008 and the Federal Council reply of 13 May 2009 in French, German or Italian.

See also the article in Le Courrier of 9 December 2008 La Suisse est invitée à s'équiper contre le "génocide culturel" by Samuel Schellenberg.

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Christophe Germann is conducting research on peace related human diversity in international law. He focuses on the desirability to introduce a new crime against human diversity as aggravating the crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. Such further development of international criminal law could contribute to prevent systematic or widespread "tabula rasa" attacks against the diversity of cultural, religious, social, political and ethnic expressions. He also explores novel normative approaches to promote the diversity of human expressions under the existing international intellectual property and competition law systems as well as under a desirable new cosmopolitan order.

For further information, see interview with Christophe Germann, Challenging Conventions Speaker Series at the Critical Research Laboratory, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada.

This research agenda is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (www.fns.ch) and will result in a book publication scheduled for 2014.

Over the last ten years, Christophe Germann has worked in various positions at the University of Berne and as a visiting academic at the European University Institute of Florence (Max Weber Fellow), the Comparative Law Institute (UMRDC) of Paris – Sorbonne /CNRS, at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies of Yale University, at the Lauterpacht Center for International Law of the University of Cambridge and, most recently, at the law schools of Columbia University (New York), Birkbeck University of London and the University of Oxford (Intellectual Property Research Centre).

Christophe Germann holds a PhD from the Faculty of Law of the University of Bern. He is also an attorney at law practicing in Geneva and is a co-author of the 2010 Study for the European Parliament on the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity (www.diversitystudy.eu).

Contact: chris@boheme.net

Cultural genocide in international law

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Swiss government rejects MP Josiane Aubert's Motion

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