Open lettre of an American naturalised in Switzerland

Dear Madam President of the Swiss Confederation, Ms Viola Amherd
Dear Federal Councillor, Mr Ignazio Cassis

NATO is neither a peace nor a defence alliance, but since 1991 an organisation that has been trying to usurp the tasks of the United Nations.

NATO is an organisation that is incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations (Art. 52) and acts against the objectives of the UN.

Since 1997, it has been an organisation that systematically provokes other states and thus blatantly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits not only the “use of force” but also the “threat of force” against “the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

Since 1999, NATO has been a “criminal organisation” in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 of the Statute of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal (London Agreement of 8 August 1945) and the Nuremberg Judgement of 1946.

NATO has committed crimes against peace (Art. 6a, Nuremberg Statute), war crimes (Art. 6b) and crimes against humanity (Art. 6c). It has committed atrocious crimes in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. – with complete impunity. Actually, the International Criminal Court should initiate investigations in accordance with Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute.

We do not understand why Switzerland – as a neutral country – wants to establish ever closer ties with such an organisation.

How can one consider placing a NATO liaison office in the Maison de la Paix [House of Peace] in the city of Geneva? This really is an Orwellian proposal that seems like a parody of the concept of peace. It is a disgrace.

The Swiss people have never voted in favour of such a rapprochement with NATO.

Personally, as a “new Swiss” since 2017, I am disgusted by this. As a former senior official of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary of the Human Rights Committee and Head of the Petitions Division, and as a former independent expert of the Human Rights Council on the international order, I am astonished by this ethical and legal aberration.

For more information, please consult my trilogy on human rights:
https://www.claritypress.com/book-author/alfred-de-zayas/
https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/ie-international-order/mr-alfred-maurice-de-zayas-former-independent-expert-2012-2018

https://lecourrier.ch/2024/06/20/lotan-nest-pas-la-bienvenue-a-geneve/

Alfred de Zayas, Geneva, 22 June 2024
www.alfreddezayas.com

* Alfred de Zayas, jurist, international lawyer, historian and former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order. Member of the Board of the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI).* Alfred de Zayas, jurist, international lawyer, historian and former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order. Member of the Board of the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI).

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)

NO TO THE NATO OFFICE IN GENEVA!
NO TO THE WAR OFFICE!

The still unofficial plan to open a NATO office in Geneva would move Switzerland even further away from its traditional neutrality.

Switzerland, which joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) in 1996 and later the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), obediently followed US and EU instructions to support sanctions against the Russian Federation, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria and numerous other countries. It also represents the positions of the USA and the EU in supporting the crimes committed by Israel.

Following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO should have been dissolved, fundamentally reformed and placed under the authority of the UN Security Council and its Staff Committee (Articles 46 and 47 of the Charter).

The opening of a NATO office in Geneva would be a further step towards undermining Swiss neutrality, which would jeopardise the role and credibility of Switzerland and International Geneva in its mediation initiatives and good offices, particularly as a host state of the United Nations. At the same time, it would also jeopardise the ability of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to be perceived as an impartial actor in its operations on the ground. The motto of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969, is rightly Si vis pacem, cole justiciam (“If you want peace, cultivate justice”).

The Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI) and the Asociación Española para el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos (AEDIDH) declare their firm opposition to the planned establishment of a NATO liaison office in the “Maison de la Paix” (House of Peace) in Geneva.

Geneva, 20 June 2024