Alliance of 28 Parties and Groups Launches Campaign Against Easing Arms Export Rules
An alliance of 28 parties and organisations launched its campaign in Bern on Monday 12 October against a proposed relaxation of Switzerland's War Materiel Act governing arms exports. The revision goes to a popular vote on 29 November.
The alliance includes left-wing parties, the Evangelical People's Party, and civil-society and religious bodies such as Caritas Switzerland, the Group for a Switzerland without an Army, Justitia et Pax and a commission of the Swiss Bishops' Conference. Campaigners called the revision 'immoral' and 'anti-Ukrainian', arguing that looser rules would widen the possibility of Swiss weapons being re-exported via third countries — at odds, they say, with Switzerland's neutrality tradition and humanitarian image.
Supporters of the revision counter that current rules are so strict they have undermined the competitiveness of Switzerland's defence industry and hindered security cooperation with partner countries, and they seek greater export room within a neutral framework.
Switzerland is a permanently neutral state whose arms exports have long been tightly regulated; the issue has repeatedly stirred domestic debate since 2022. The 29 November vote will set the course of Swiss arms export policy for years to come.
Sources: Swiss Observer reporting of 12 October and swissinfo.ch background material.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 瑞士陆军“食人鱼”轮式装甲车，Kecko 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
