Tibetan and Uighur protesters are being targeted by Chinese repression in Switzerland.
Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi
Last year, the federal government acknowledged for the first time the repression targeting Swiss-based Tibetan and Uyghur communities, who are victims of the Chinese authorities’ long arm. Today, NGOs are denouncing the lack of concrete measures to protect the victims.
“We are very disappointed that nothing has actually changed,” says Selina Morell, China programme manager at Voices, a Bern-based NGO.
Just over a year ago, the Swiss government’s executive body, the Federal Council, acknowledged for the first time the surveillance and pressure exerted by the Chinese government on Tibetan and Uyghur communities in Switzerland, victims of “transnational repression”. This intimidation takes various forms – physical and virtual, direct and indirect, such as targeting relatives – but the invariable aim is to silence dissenting voices abroad.
“After the report was published, we assumed the Swiss government would take action to protect the victims of transnational repression. Yet this has not happened,” says Morell.
There are no figures to precisely quantify the repression taking place on Swiss soil, but observers say the trend is on the rise. The NGO Freedom HouseExternal link has documented 1,375 cases worldwide since 2014, but these only include the most serious “physical” incidents: abductions, arbitrary detention, assaults or illegal expulsions. So acts of surveillance and intimidation remain outside the statistics.
One year later
In its reportExternal link published in February 2025, the Swiss government outlined several measures aimed at tackling the problem. These included bilateral dialogue with Beijing, awareness-raising among those likely to encounter the phenomenon, exchanges with the diaspora, and the setting up of a counselling service for victims. However, no timetable was set.
When contacted, the justice ministry stated that “work on national measures […] has begun”, notably with the establishment of a strategic support group. Active since February, this group is tasked with producing, by the end of the year, “a comprehensive overview of competencies in the field of transnational repression at municipal, cantonal and national levels”.
Next year, the group will focus on “examining channels of communication with the relevant diasporas, as well as on awareness-raising and prevention”, the justice ministry explained. The establishment of a counselling service for those affected and witnesses will also be “examined”.
Morell welcomes the creation of this group, which is led by Swiss Security Network delegate Martin von Muralt, but she regrets the slowness of the process in the face of a situation which, she believes, requires concrete measures in the short term.
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Continuing pressure
Disappointment and frustration are also rife among associations representing the Tibetan and Uyghur communities in Switzerland.
“The publication of the report was a relief, as it proves that what we have been denouncing for years – the surveillance, pressure and threats we face – is very real,” says Rizwana Ilham, president of the Uyghur Association of Switzerland. “But in practice, almost nothing has changed.”
Ilham, who is from Urumqi, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Xinjiang (East Turkestan, as it is known to Uyghur independence activists), explains that, “like every Uyghur”, she has been exposed to intimidation attempts. “At every demonstration, people from China follow us, take our photos, ask who the organiser is – clearly without any fear of doing so. It is shocking that this is going on in Switzerland.”
“We know that these images will probably be sent to the Chinese embassy, which checks whether we have relatives in Tibet that the Chinese authorities could put pressure on,” says Arya Amipa, co-president of the Association of Young Tibetans in Europe. “If we confront them, they always say they are tourists or exchange students, just passing through by chance.”
Amipa, whose grandparents fled Tibet, says he has also been the target of anonymous phone calls aimed at intimidating him, as well as several hacking attempts. He believes these acts are linked to his commitment to the Tibetan cause.
Deterrent effect
“These actions are coordinated from China, sometimes with the complicity, in Switzerland, of diplomatic staff or members of the diaspora recruited by the Chinese authorities,” says Morell. She acknowledges, however, that this is a “difficult problem” for the Swiss authorities to manage, not least because different players in several countries are involved.
When contacted, the Chinese embassy in Bern did not respond to our queries.
“The sad reality is that it’s working. Fewer and fewer people are taking part in the demonstrations,” Amipa laments. “Some young people tell me they no longer dare to come because they fear for their loved ones in Tibet. It’s a real risk. The families of some demonstrators have been visited by Chinese police who threatened them, to put pressure on their relatives in Switzerland.”
Amipa says he no longer has contact with his family members living in Tibet, in order to protect them. And while he does not feel directly threatened as a Swiss citizen, he acknowledges that his activism leads to isolation, as members of the diaspora are afraid to be seen with him.
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According to VoicesExternal link and diaspora organisations, priority should be given to establishing a contact point for victims, which would serve, in particular, to document cases.
“It is vital that victims can safely report the threats they have faced, knowing they will be taken seriously and protected,” Ilham says.
More must also be done, she adds, to raise awareness among law enforcement officials, immigration services and universities so that they can recognise the problem and its seriousness.
Last year, Ilham went to the police station to report the appearance of fake accounts active in her name on social media. It was an experience that left a bitter taste. “I tried to explain my situation to them, that I was a Uyghur and that I’d been a target of transnational repression. But they didn’t know anything about it,” she recalls. “They told me it wasn’t within their jurisdiction. It was a very frustrating experience.”
When asked about the steps taken to raise awareness among law enforcement officers, the justice ministry replied that “no concrete measures have yet been taken” by the strategic support group, which is due to set a timetable for their implementation.
Need for swift action
While technology offers new tools – deepfake videos, automated disinformation and smear campaigns – to states engaging in transnational repression, NGOs are calling for the swift implementation of the measures planned by the Swiss government.
“If the Swiss government does not act more quickly, even more people will be targeted, as the Chinese government will feel emboldened seeing that this is an effective tactic for silencing dissenting voices abroad,” says Amipa, who fears that the government’s report will become obsolete in the face of a constantly evolving threat.
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Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland fear long arm of China
The Swiss authorities’ slowness, he suggests, is in part due to the ongoing negotiations between Bern and Beijing on updating their free trade agreement. Against a backdrop of trade tensions with the United States, Switzerland is seeking to avoid upsetting its third-largest trading partner, he says. This argument had already been put forward to explain the delay in publishing the report on transnational repression.
The justice ministry states that “even though the issues addressed in the report have no link with trade, they are an important part of the public debate in Switzerland on China”. “Switzerland has therefore also raised these points in the context of the free trade agreement negotiations to highlight its concerns in these areas,” it adds.
“The problem is that the longer we wait, the more dependent we will become on China. And perhaps one day, it won’t be Tibetans or Uyghurs who are targeted, but the executives of Swiss companies,” says Amipa.
Edited by Virginie Mangin. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam/gw.
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