Why Switzerland is snubbing the ECHR – and it’s causing panic

The Swiss government is pushing back against a landmark case won by a group of older Swiss women at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

An association of more than 2,000 women, known as the KlimaSeniorinnen, said that their age and gender made them vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change.

In April, the court ruled in favour of the women stating for the first time that insufficient government inaction to tackle greenhouse gas emissions is a breach of human rights.

The ruling was binding and could influence the law in 46 countries in Europe including the UK.

From the beginning, there had been resistance in Switzerland from the rightwing People’s Party which accused the court of overreach and called for the country to leave the Council of Europe.

Last week, politicians in Switzerland voted to declare that the country was already doing enough to cut its emissions and so no further action was needed, snubbing the ECHR ruling.

The Swiss parliament’s upper house has also already passed a non-binding motion labelling the court’s ruling as “inadmissible and disproportionate judicial activism.”

The lower house has also followed suit voting 111 votes in favour and 72 against.

In a statement, the parliament’s lower chamber said the ECHR had “exceeded the limits of permissible legal development and disregarded Switzerland’s democratic decision-making processes.”

But the votes have caused serious concern for climate campaigners and members of the KlimaSeniorinnen.

George Klinger, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace Switzerland who supported the women’s lawsuit said the Swiss court’s actions were “shocking.”

“We knew from the beginning that the right-wing party will attack the court. But we didn’t expect that the whole middle party – the Christian Democrats and also the Liberals – will join that attack. To me it was quite shocking to see what they did,” Klinger said.

Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti, co-president of the KlimaSeniorinnen, also described the move by the Swiss government as a “betrayal.”

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She said: “The declaration is not worthy of a constitutional state. [It] is an attempt to continue to prevent climate protection required by human rights for political reasons, instead of recognising that climate change is a scientific reality that affects everyone.”

Raphael Mahaim, a lawyer for the women’s group and an MP for the Greens, said a “red line was crossed” and it was a “dishonour for parliament.”

Isabela Keuschnigg, legal researcher with the London School of Economics said if the government refused to implement the ruling it would “set a concerning precedent, undermining the role of legal oversight in democratic governance.”

If formalised, it would be unprecedented in the Council of Europe.

The move by the Swiss government can be seen as part of a broader political pushback against international climate action across Europe after far-right gains in June’s European parliament election.