Fake Listings Plague Basel Apartment Market; Corona Virus Identified In Switzerland; Referendum Sought To Compel Civic Service

News For 25 February 2020

The Basel Prosecutors Office has begun cracking down on fake advertisements listing apartments for sale at fantastically low prices.  The listings appear on most of the popular real estate related websites, including Comparis, and have recently even offered an apartment for sale that was owned by the Canton.  The listings usually recycle photos from other legitimate listings, but generally can be identified by the unusually low prices.  Although the authorities have been successful in asking web hosts to remove the bogus listings, those making the offers are rarely caught, and in some cases succeed in collecting deposits and down-payments from unwitting customers.

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The first confirmed case of the Covid19 virus, commonly referred to as "Coronavirus" has been identified in the southern canton of Ticino in Switzerland.  Health authorities in neighboring northern Italy have quarantined several regions and communities, as the virus there has spread rapidly, and has already seven people dead in its wake.  According to the WHO, based on analysis of 44,000 cases of COVID-19 in China, around 80% of patients only have a mild form of the disease, 14% developed more severe disease such as pneumonia, 5% have critical disease, and 2% of cases are fatal.[68] Among those who died initially, many had preexisting conditions.

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A Swiss association for the promotion of militia service called ServiceCitoyen.ch wants to launch a popular initiative in 2020 that would oblige every Swiss citizen to perform militia service. This could be done either as military service or as an equivalent service of civic duty. The association hopes that through this initiative, the country can solve existing "collective ecological and demographic challenges" while also recognizing women as "full citizens".  By "demographic challenges", the initiators are mainly referring to the crisis in the care sector. Noémie Roten, co-president of the association, says that the "health system is facing serious cost and staffing problems" and believes that civic duty could alleviate these issues in long-term care. However, there is a catch to the idea of mandatory civic duty. According to international human rights conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and UN conventions, no one may be obliged to do forced or compulsory labour. Military service and alternative civilian service undertaken for moral reasons, services in the event of emergencies and disasters, and services that are part of the duties of citizens are not considered forced labour. However, civic duty is not an exception to the forced labour ban under international law, and in a report commissioned by the government, a research committee could not conclude whether an obligation to serve is compatible with the forced labour ban. Furthermore, according to law professor Rainer J. Schweizer, the initiative has little chance of being approved, as civic service does not correspond with current Swiss mentality. He notes that the "average Swiss citizen today wants above all to earn money and provide for themselves and their family, not to serve the public at large." Regardless of whether the initiative passes through parliament, it might compel at least some citizens to consider public service.