A Neutrality Council is founded in Solothurn ahead of the 27 September vote

The Neutrality Council was presented in Solothurn, a body set up in preparation for the 27 September vote on the popular initiative. Its declared aim is to return Swiss neutrality to its original meaning, namely as a bulwark of international law in relations between states.

The founding group comprises twelve figures from diplomacy, the armed forces, law and scientific research. Its members include former ambassador Jean-Daniel Ruch and retired colonel Jacques Baud, the latter sanctioned by the European Union over alleged propaganda activity.

The body’s central claim is that Switzerland’s security rests on the resilience of the global legal order, and not solely on the country’s military capability. The Council states that it adheres to the United Nations Charter and to the right of peoples to self-determination. It opposes unilateral sanctions and coercive measures that lack a mandate from the UN Security Council.

The group’s first report focuses on a technical point of the law of war: article 37 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits perfidy in military engagements. The founders recommend that the Federal Council take an unequivocal position on breaches of the principles of good faith during peace negotiations.