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In Switzerland, a young student has founded an organisation offering online classes to women and girls in Afghanistan. Mahbube Ibrahimi left Afghanistan as a child and now lives in Zurich. If she were still in Afghanistan, she would be confined to her home, banned from education beyond primary school. This led her to start Wild Flower. “It’s more than helping,” says Ibrahimi. “For many girls, it’s not just about learning. They have a friend in another part of the world and know that people outside Afghanistan are aware of what’s happening to them.” From Bangladesh to Switzerland, grassroots efforts are multiplying to help Afghan women and girls study online despite the education ban. Rights advocates are urging states to increase pressure on the Taliban to restore this basic right. Many also argue that by recognising the situation in Afghanistan as gender apartheid - an institutionalised pattern of systemic domination and oppression on the basis of gender – states could hold the Taliban accountable for rights abuses “Codifying gender apartheid [under international law] would allow us to take girls’ education out of the political footballing we’re seeing around engagement with the Taliban,” says Sahar Halaimzai, who leads the Afghanistan Initiative at Malala Fund. “It means there would be clear obligations for principled engagement with the Taliban. Girls’ education is non-negotiable. This is a red line that we’re just not seeing at the moment.” A growing number of states, including Austria, Mexico, Malta, and the Philippines, are backing the inclusion of gender apartheid in the draft treaty on crimes against humanity. “It would be a huge win if Switzerland, as a champion of international law and human rights, joined this push for codification,” said Halaimzai. We asked the Swiss foreign ministry for their stance on the issue. Read our full article to find out their response. 👉https://lnkd.in/ds3JJi6u   #LetAfghanGirlsLearn #Afghanistan #Taliban #Women #GirlsEducation #GenderApartheid Asian University for Women ALPA | Afghanistan Law & Political Science Association Malala Fund Bashir Mobasher, PhD Geraldine W. Nargis Nehan Richard Bennett

Swiss solar panel manufacturer Meyer Burger to shift solar cell manufacturing from Colorado to Arizona in the United States as it restructures production line.

Switzerland's top managers earned on average 143 times more than their lowest paid employees in 2023. According to trade union Unia, the pay gap continues to widen. UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti earned CHF14.4 million in nine months, or CHF84,000 per working day. In a single day, Ermotti took home 1.5 times more than the annual pay of the lowest-paid employee at UBS. Five Swiss company CEOs earned more than CHF10 million, according to Unia research.

In the latest episode of our Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes speaks with human rights defender Fereshta Abbasi about life in Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover three years ago. Abbasi recalls the fear she and other women felt when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, knowing this would lead to even greater repression of women. “No matter what we have done in the past three years, we haven’t been able to reverse a single decree of the Taliban that is restricting women’s rights,” she says. So, how can we help the women of Afghanistan? Listen to our podcast to find out. 🎧Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e5NDN89Q 🎧Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eRidXmYj

Swiss eco-adventurer Noam Yaron's bid to set a new world record for the longest wetsuit swim without leaving the water has ended after almost 100 kms. https://buff.ly/3T4Y3Ue

Switzerland intends to cut funding for development cooperation in favour of increasing military spending. The geopolitically significant Western Balkans would also be affected. In neutral Switzerland, the signs point to rearmament. The Senate has proposed a CHF4 billion ($4.6 billion) increase for the Swiss army budget over the next four years. But where will the money come from? Public finances are tighter than in the past, and Switzerland cannot buy weapons on credit. The debt brake mechanism, which requires a balanced state budget, prohibits this. One proposal, which is primarily backed by the centre-right conservative parties, is to divert half of the extra funds for the army from the development cooperation budget. The largest portion of this would be saved from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), likely resulting in a withdrawal from six to eight of the 34 focus countries of Swiss development policy. This would include Albania, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina – countries with large diasporas in Switzerland. Full article 👉 https://lnkd.in/e3Rke3Gi Giannis Mavris Helvetas Matthias Herr Adnan Ćerimagić European Stability Initiative

Swiss corporate air travel picked up above European average in the first half of the year. Swiss firms bought 10% more flight tickets compared to 1.6% by other European firms.

The struggling German pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals group Bayer is to cut around 150 of its 1,000 full-time jobs in Basel, Switzerland. Bayer is known to be in crisis, the German group having cut more than 3,000 jobs worldwide since the beginning of the year. The Swiss job cuts will mainly affect the Consumer Health division, headquartered in Basel, and should be completed by 2025.

The strong franc helped the Swiss National Bank keep inflation low compared with the United States and the euro area, says SNB chair Thomas Jordan. Swiss price growth never exceeded 3.5% in recent years, compared to a 9.1% peak in the Us and 9.1% and 10.6% in the euro area in 2022. “If you want to protect yourself against imported inflation, then the franc must appreciate,” Jordan said. The SNB raised its policy rate to 1.75% before starting to ease in March.