The number of incidents of discrimination reported in Switzerland jumped 24% to 876 cases in 2023, according to a report published by a human rights organisation helping victims of harassment and discrimination.
Of the total, roughly half involved expressions of discrimination and the rest discriminatory treatment. The most common place these events occured was at school, where 181 incidents were reported. Work (124), political settings (62), home hunting (43) and job hunting (36) were the next most frequent settings. These five together accounted for roughly half of the total number of reported incidents.
The most common victims were those discriminated against based on race. There were 387 cases of xenophobia, 328 cases of discrimination against black people, 69 cases against Arabs and 46 cases against Jews reported.
European nationals made up the largest group of the victims (45%), followed by Africans (14%), Middle Easterners (13%), Latin Americans (5%), Asians (5%) and others (17%). 57% of European victims held Swiss nationality.
Incidents of discrimination in Swiss schools are of particular concern to the organisation. These incidents are occurring at school and beyond via social media. The number reported in 2023 (181) was 56% higher than in 2022. The mother of an 11 year old reported regular racist slurs against their child on WhatsApp. However, the school told her these actions were beyond their jurisdiction and that they were unable to intervene. According to the human rights group schools need to do more regarding education on the subject as well as intervention.
Reasons cited in the report for the overall rise in cases in 2023 were the conflicts in the Middle East and the fact that 2023 was an election year, something that fuelled political discussions around immigration.
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