Switzerland: University of Geneva Student Associations Act Against Article 23 Legislation in Hong Kong

The following notice could be seen posted on the public boards of many faculties at the University of Geneva, as well as at some higher education establishments in Geneva: “We invite you to join a march during the Commission on Human Rights, to say ‘No to Article 23!’ ” Five student associations that have denounced the extent of the human rights violations of this draft legislation are CUAE (Geneva University’s Group of Student Associations), AESPRI (Student Association for Political Sciences and International Relations), AEFG (Geneva University’s Falun Gong Student Association), MEG (Geographical Student Movement) and EDHO (Student Association for Human Rights and Dignity). Together they invite the academic world to take action against Article 23. Some printed posters and others helped to display these posters; some suggested posting news regarding action taken against Article 23 on their association’s web site; still others, from several faculties of the University of Geneva throughout the city, have held information stands, and asked people to sign petitions. Thus there were several days of general campaigning against Article 23 in the University and other colleges between 10 and 14 March 2003.

In the University of Geneva, students, professors, and people from all walks of life were shocked to learn that a Government could consider implementing a law that would seriously jeopardise the fundamental freedoms of its own people and threaten those of citizens worldwide.

During this brief campaign, spontaneous support and offers of help flowed in from all sides. A person responsible for authorising the use of the university building wrote: “I congratulate you and encourage you in this enterprise!” A member of the University’s Amnesty International group, sorry not to have participated in this campaign, took many copies of the petition to collect signatures. A student in international relations had even thought about presenting this subject at a seminar in international public law and had offered to bring a person from the information stand on Article 23 to meet the professor’s assistants, one of whom subsequently made slides in order to showing them during the seminar. One student offered an impromptu invitation to a person from the information stand to speak for five minutes on the proposed draft law and the petition at the opening of a conference on human rights and refugees that same evening. A considerable number of non governmental organisations also signed the petition. Although the campaign only lasted a couple of days, the lively reactions of many concerned people shows the degree of sensitivity and indignation at this threat to individual freedom, thus linking them with the great international outcry against Article 23 that has already occurred.

University of Geneva’s Falun Gong Student Association