By Alfred de Zayas, June 29, 2026
We the peoples of Switzerland are a free and independent people, determined to work with the international community in advancing the cause of peace and human dignity, working for the realization of the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter.
We the Council on Swiss Neutrality pledge ourselves to guard over the Swiss Constitution and to strengthen our system of semi-direct democracy, including the right of initiative and to conduct regular consultations with the people and organize referenda. We shall call out violations of international law wherever they occur, because as citizens of a neutral country, we are conscious that our security depends on respect of the international rule of law by all countries. Civilization rests on the uniform application of agreed norms, without selectivity, without double standards.
We reaffirm the historical importance of Swiss neutrality[1] and the positive role that Switzerland has played in mediating conflicts and contributing to just, peaceful settlement of disputes. Switzerland’s authority and credibility, however, depend on proven neutrality, on demonstrating that we do not belong to any bloc and do not cater to interests other than facilitating solutions as a truly honest broker.
Since 2002 Switzerland has been a member of the United Nations and practiced good will to all peoples in the world, respectful of the sovereignty of other States and of the self-determination of all peoples. We adhere to the purposes and principles enunciated in the United Nations Charter, notably the promotion of peace, human rights and development. At the same time, we are committed to strengthen our national institutions and maintain our values and traditions, the heritage of centuries of development by ethical citizens like Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487), patron of peace through mediation.
We reject the concept of the “clash of civilizations” and want to contribute to the fruitful cooperation among all cultures and civilizations in the sense of the UNESCO Constitution, and the realization that we need education for peace and mediation, as stated in the UNESCO preamble “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”[2]. We reject intransigence, confrontational policies, provocations, as well as the threat or the use of force, which are prohibited in article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Instead, we demand the daily implementation the obligation to settle disputes by peaceful means as required in article 2(3) of the Charter[3].
We believe in the necessity of world demilitarization and endorse the motto of the International Labour Organisation, founded in 1919 under the League of Nations in Geneva, si vis pacem cole iustitiam[4], if we want peace, we must first cultivate justice. We adhere to the vision of a nuclear-free world and promote the concept of disarmament for development.
As members of the Council on Swiss Neutrality we have a mission to pro-actively work for peace and justice, to speak truth to power, to reject short-term policies that will ultimately erode human rights and international solidarity. We have a mandate to defend Swiss Neutrality against encroachment by foreign governments and institutions.
The Swiss Constitution[5] commits all of us to true neutrality, not just pro-forma neutrality. We recall Article 173 which stipulates: “The Federal Assembly has the following additional duties and powers: a. Taking measures to safeguard external security and the independence and neutrality of Switzerland.” We also recall Article 185 which stipulates “The Federal Council takes measures to safeguard external security, independence and neutrality of Switzerland.”
What is Neutrality?
Neutrality is not an abstract legalistic concept, but it is part of our ontology, our identity as a free and independent nation, emerging from centuries of democratic traditions and a commitment to the rule of law.
Neutrality entails confidence-building, a pro-active commitment to building bridges, preventive diplomacy, formulating compromises, finding solutions. Neutrality does not mean isolationism, nor does it mean keeping silent when injustice is being done, when gross violations of the Geneva Red Cross Conventions and Protocols[6] are being committed, when perfidy[7] is perpetrated by major powers. We reject the “crime of silence”, because qui tacet consentire videtur, whoever keeps silent may be seen as consenting and may even become indirectly complicit in the injustice.
Neutrality is more than just military abstinence and non-involvement in foreign armed conflicts. It is good that Switzerland has not participated in foreign wars since its neutrality was established by the Treaty of Paris of 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic wars and the Congress of Vienna. But neutrality also requires refusal to participate indirectly in foreign conflicts, entails not providing weapons or military intelligence to warring parties, not colluding in the information war, not disseminating fake news, fake history, fake law and other propaganda issued by the warring parties, not implementing extra-territorial measures adopted by foreign countries such as unilateral coercive measures[8], which have been condemned yearly by the United Nations General Assembly[9], by the Human Rights Council[10], and by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights[11].
The erosion of Swiss neutrality
We members of the Council on Swiss Neutrality believe that our neutrality is being challenged by multiple developments including diplomatic and economic pressures from foreign entities including the European Union and NATO. We must be alert and adopt the necessary measures to prevent and arrest the erosion of our neutrality and our way of life.
Switzerland must not become complicit in the implementation of illegal unilateral coercive measures and must require corporations registered and operating in Switzerland to abide by Swiss law and not to submit to illegal foreign “sanctions”, which are not legitimate, because the only legal sanctions are those imposed by the UN Security Council. Numerous reports by the UN rapporteurs on unilateral coercive Measures[12], studies by Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Marc Weisbrot[13] and the British medical journal The Lancet[14], have documented that UCMs have killed tens of thousands of human beings worldwide. By not prohibiting the implementation of UCMs by Swiss enterprises, Switzerland has broken its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[15] and has acted contrary to its constitutional neutrality.
We reject the efforts of some forces in Switzerland to move us closer to the European Union, which threatens the right of Swiss citizens to conduct peoples’ initiatives, referenda and exercise semi-direct democracy.
We reject the extra-judicial imposition of “sanctions” on Swiss citizens, including Colonel Jacques Baud[16], by the Council of the European Union. Such extra-judicial EU measures are contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, as outlined in a paper by the Geneva International Peace Research Institute.[17] The threat to academic freedom, freedom of information, freedom of opinion and expression posed by the European Union is so serious that the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs must take measures to protest against EU measures that have adverse effects in Switzerland and must exercise diplomatic protection on behalf of Swiss citizens. This is active neutrality, pushing back against the violation of the human rights of Swiss citizens, no matter from whom the violations emanate.
The military-industrial complex in the United States and Europe as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also pose a significant political and economic threat to Swiss neutrality. The FDFA has an obligation to steer clear of commitments to purchase weapons such as F-35 from the United States, weapons that Switzerland does not need.
There are forces in Switzerland that would like to get closer to NATO, an organization that should have been dismantled in 1991, immediately after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. NATO, however, persisted and morphed from being initially a legitimate defensive alliance and transforming itself into a war coalition that since the 1990’s has committed multiple aggressions, contrary to the UN Charter, in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran etc. NATO is no longer a regional organization under article 52 of the UN Charter, because it consistently acts in manners contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations and engages in serious provocations and aggressions contrary to articles 2(3) and 2(4) of the Charter, as has been documented by many scholars including Professors John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs.
The Council on Swiss Neutrality therefore warns against any rapprochement to NATO and protests against the establishment of a NATO office at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva, which is simply not compatible with Swiss neutrality.
In June 2024 Switzerland committed an embarrassing breach of neutrality by convening a partisan “peace conference” at the Bürgenstock[18], which provided a platform to Ukraine, one of the warring parties, while not inviting Russia. Neutrality means “audiatur et altera pars”, listening to all sides of an argument. The so-called summit was a total failure and did not contribute anything to the settlement of the conflict between NATO countries and Russia. The diplomatic debacle cost Switzerland its reputation as a potential mediator in the conflict.
The Council on Swiss Neutrality calls on the people of Switzerland and the FDFA to recommit to neutrality and gradually rebuild Switzerland’s venerable traditions as an honest broker in the international stage, a country internationally recognized and respected for its experience in quiet diplomacy and successful efforts to devise just and peaceful solutions that advance the international rule of law and human rights.
[1] https://www.eda.admin.ch/en/neutrality
https://www.eda.admin.ch/en/neutrality#Neutrality-in-the-Federal-Constitution
[2] https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution
[3] https://www.unonline.org/en/about-us/un-charter.html
[4] https://www.un.org/en/about-us/nobel-peace-prize/ilo-1969
[5] https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1999/404/en
[6] https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/geneva-conventions-and-their-commentaries
[7] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-37
[8] https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-unilateral-coercive-measures
[9] https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/80/209
[10] https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/RES/58/3
[11] https://docs.un.org/A/HRC/19/33
[12] Alena Douhan (ed.), Sanctions, Business and Human Rights, Clarity Press, Atlanta 2025. Alena Douhan, Humanitarian Impact of Unilateral Sanctions and Over-compliance, Académie de Geopolitique de Paris, 2024.
[13] https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf
[14] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(25)00189-5/fulltext
[15] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=international+covenant+on+civil+and+political&atb=v314-1&ia=web
[16] https://data.europa.eu/apps/eusanctionstracker/subjects/180245
[18] https://www.eda.admin.ch/en/summit-on-peace-in-ukraine
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