Yet another thing the Swiss get right!! --------------------------------------------------- "Switzerland has rejected citizenship requests from two Muslim girls for refusing to take part in swimming lessons with boys at school. The 12- and 14-year-old will no longer be considered for naturalised citizenship because they have not complied with the school curriculum, authorities in Basel said. The girls are understood to have refused to take part in school swimming lessons because boys were present and their religion forbade that form of interaction, according to USA Today. Their applications for Swiss passports have now been overturned. Meanwhile, the father of two other girls who refused to let his daughters swim with boys was fined $4,000 swiss francs (around £2,900) by a district court in another part of the country. Stefan Wehrle, president of the country's naturalisation committee, told TV station SRF that "whoever doesn't fulfil these conditions, violates the law and therefore cannot be naturalised." The father, who was fined by a court in Altstaeten in the north-east of the country, had been in trouble with authorities previously for requiring his daughters to wear head veils in school, according to The Local. In the end, his eldest daughter was granted the right to wear a veil to school by Switzerland's highest court on the grounds of religious freedom. Parts of the Qu'ran and the collection of oral traditions laid out in the Hadith, which follow the example of the Prophet Mohammed, advise Muslims on interactions between men and women. These include unrelated men and women avoiding physical contact and women being dressed modestly. The explicit requirement to cover the head and face is not in the Qu'ran. The two cases in Switzerland are the latest in a series of refusals by authorities to grant immigrants citizenship for cultural reasons. Two Muslim brothers who refused to shake hands with their female teacher on the grounds of religious restriction were soon the centre of widespread media coverage and public uproar. The boys' father, an imam at the Basel mosque, immediately had his naturalisation request suspended by authorities, while any parent or guardian who refuses to shake a teacher's hand can now expect a $5,000 fine. Yet the case is not always limited to instances of religious difference. The resident-led committees which lead recommendations for immigrants in their communities gaining citizenship have previously rejected applications before on the grounds of people not seeming "Swiss enough". One immigrant family from Kosovo who had been in the country for a decade was told their tendency to wear shabby clothing in the street and not greet passersby was proof of their lack of integration. And an American who had lived in the country for 40 years had his application refused after being unable to name any Swiss friends or nearby villages. Switzerland has been a top destination for immigrants coming to Europe and, along with Australia, it has the highest proportion of immigrants in the developed world. But the country has also been accused of outright racism after 60 per cent of Swiss citizens voted in 2009 "against the construction of minarets" - the towers that deliver the call to prayer on either side of mosques - in the country. Britain has said before that it would like controlled immigration as in Switzerland or Australia. As a consequence of ending the free movement of people, Switzerland lost full access to the Single Market." http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...refuse-to-swim-with-boys-at-school/ar-AAhQ3qk
Another beacon of light in Europe http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/iceland/11717761/Iceland-makes-blasphemy-legal.html Iceland's parliament on Friday voted widely in favour of decriminalising blasphemy, in the name of freedom of expression in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. The bill was adopted after 43 of 63 members of parliament voted in favour. One lawmaker voted against, 16 were absent and three abstained. The bill had been put forward by the Pirate Party in February, after the January attacks in which 12 people were gunned down in the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. "Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy. It is a fundamental point in a free society that people can express themselves without fear of punishment of any kind, whether on behalf of the authorities or others," the Pirate Party said in presenting its bill.
The comment "Switzerland has been a top destination for immigrants coming to Europe and, along with Australia, it has the highest proportion of immigrants in the developed world." ... alone completely disqualifies the author of the article because it is factually incorrect.
For once we agree. I certainly did a doubletake when I read that. My impression is that Switzerland is one of the toughest places in the world to emigrate to. Maybe they have a large percentage because of the small native population but they are very strict.
The author didn't distinguish between expats and refugees. Switzerland actually is in the world top when it comes to expats. They make up a very large part of the work force.
Here are the stats. As of 2013, 23.8% of the permanent residents are from outside of Switzerland - which places it near the top in this category. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Switzerland#Nationality
Lol, that bestows of course confidence in the author that he did not differentiate between immigrants and expats. And how the Swiss abuse those who bring the most skills and finances into the country we could joyfully watch how expats were treated in Zug. Seems the Swiss started to pee their pants when they heard people speaking and ordering food in English. Swiss are some of the most racist and discriminating bunch in the world.
Almost all of which are expats and highly skilled professionals who are suddenly alienated and accused of flooding Switzerland (yes the same country that sucked expats' cock to have them add value in Zug and other cities and have them bring with them vast amounts of money and other goods and services). The Swiss have the same mentality as the Brits. "Once we milked the expats and sucked them dry we don't need them anymore". Or maybe we should all remind ourselves that Switzerland already applied very interesting immigration policies when they shut their borders to fleeing Jews during the 3rd Reich to leave them right at the border on the German side for the Nazis to pick them up to ship them to the gas chambers unless they were already killed on the spot. Or how about the gold deposits at private banks where Swiss banks "took possession" of said holdings of Jewish families as soon as relatives could not be located. Switzerland has a very funny understanding of give and take and that is why all it has left is a country of overpriced milk and chocolate after its highly questionable advantage of banking privacy has been destroyed by American regulators.