A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service.
The Swiss Civilian Service is a Swiss institution, created in 1996 as a civilian substitute service to military service. It was introduced as part of the so-called Vision 95 reform package. Anyone who is unable to do military service for reasons of conscience can submit an application to perform civilian service instead. Formerly, the applicant was then forced to attend a hearing where they had to explain their reasons for refusal. Now, they must simply take part in a one-day introductory session to civilian service within three months of submitting their application.
The Federal Republic of Germany had conscription for male citizens between 1956 and 2011. On 22 November 2010, the German Minister of Defence proposed to the government to put conscription into abeyance on 1 July 2011. The constitution, however, retains provisions that would legalize the potential reintroduction of conscription.
Zivildienst is the German denomination for the alternative civilian service for conscripted persons who are conscientious objectors to fulfill their national service, typically in the fields of social work and, although rarely, environmental protection, agriculture, and public administration. As such, it is exempt from the general ban of forced labor by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Alfredo Valerio Borgatte dos Santos was a Swiss procurer, businessman and convicted triple murderer. In 1989, he was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison, for murdering two prostitutes and her husband of his then girlfriend. He was released in 1999 and then engaged in several activities which he once self described as “30 percent as a legal adviser, 30 percent as an estate agent and 40 percent as an adviser for the red light-scene”. He gained his knowledge about jurisprudence autodidactically and wasn't officially permitted to practice his law advisory business. Previous to his conviction he also worked as real estate broker.
Alternative civilian service, also called alternative services, civilian service, non-military service, and substitute service, is a form of national service performed in lieu of military conscription for various reasons, such as conscientious objection, inadequate health, or political reasons. Alternative service usually involves some kind of labor.
The S3 is a regional railway service of the Zürich S-Bahn on the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), the Zürich transportation network. It is operated by Swiss Federal Railways.
The Zivildienst is the most common mandatory alternative service for conscientious objectors of the national military service in the Austrian Armed Forces. Officially called Zivildienstleistender (ZDL) or Zivildiener it is common to call them Zivi. Since 1975, drafted men may refuse the military service on conscientious reasons and serve in the compulsory alternative community service instead. This generally involves work in social services like hospitals, youth organisations, nursing homes, rescue services, emergency medical services, and care of the disabled. The service usually lasts nine months. About more than 40% of the drafted male citizens in Austria choose this option by declaring a conflict of conscience. There is no conscription for women, therefore women are not obliged to serve as a Zivi, which is just a substitute for the still existing mandatory military service.
Edition VFO, Verein für Originalgraphik, is a non-profit arts institution, edition publisher and gallery based in Zürich.
Dadvan Ismat Yousuf Yousuf is an Iraqi cryptocurrency investor and businessman whose early bitcoin investments made him the youngest self-made billionaire in Switzerland. Yousuf and his companies have been the subject of a number of investigations into financial impropriety.
The Movement for Socialism is a Swiss leftist political organisation founded in March 2002. It has observer status in the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. The MpS has 2 members in the Grand Council of Ticino as of 2023.
Lilian Studer is a Swiss politician. She currently serves as a member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Evangelical People's Party since 2 December 2019. Since 2021, she also serves as the president of the Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland.
Hans Jakob Vontobel was a Swiss private banker and philanthropist. He was the former president of Vontobel between 1984 and 1994 and honorary president until his death. He held approximately 20% of controlling shares of the private bank. He was the patriarch of the Vontobel banking family.
Jon Andri Pult is a Swiss consultant, historian and politician who currently serves as a member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Social Democratic Party since 2019. He previously served on the Grand Council of Grisons between 2010 and 2018. In the 2023 Swiss federal election, Pult declared official candidacy for Federal Council (Switzerland), to succeed Alain Berset.
Filippo Franz Saverio Leutenegger is a Swiss journalist, economist and politician. He currently serves as a member of the City Council of Zürich for The Liberals where he serves as the Head of the Department of Education and Schools. He is a former member of the National Council (Switzerland) from 2003 to 2014. He is the former Editor-in-chief of Swiss Radio and Television (SRF).
Georg Kreis is a Swiss historian. He is a professor emeritus of modern general history and history of Switzerland at the University of Basel and was head of the University’s Europa Institute until July 2011. Aside from his academic duties, Kreis was the President of the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism, a Swiss government-supported commission of experts, from its founding in 1995 until 2011.
Doris Yvonne Fiala is a Swiss politician who served on the National Council (Switzerland) for The Liberals between 2007 and 2023. Concurrently, she served as president of The Liberals Women between 2017 and 2020. Fiala has also been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where she chaired the committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons from 2018 to 2020. She was also referred to as a Swiss version of Sarah Palin.
Dominik Blunschy is a Swiss software engineer and politician who currently is member-elect of the National Council (Switzerland) for The Centre after being elected during the 2023 Swiss federal election. He assumed office on 4 December 2023.
Anne Lévy is a Swiss manager and Director-General of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) in Switzerland since 2020.
Hans-Ulrich Bigler is a Swiss association functionary and politician. He served as director of the Swiss Trade Association from 2008 to 2023 and on the National Council (Switzerland) from 2015 to 2019 for the Free Democratic Party where he was succeeded by Andri Silberschmidt. In 2022 he officially changed his political party affiliation from The Liberals to the Swiss People's Party.