Next weekend (16th/17th) a referendum will be held in Switzerland about
a new 'Sexualstrafrecht'.

I cannot think of a direct translation of the term 'Sexualstrafrecht' to
English; Sexualstrafrecht covers all legislation in the context of 'criminal
offenses against sexual integrity'. The new Sexualstrafrecht is intended to
replace the 50 years old present legislation.

The most important aspects/changes of the new Sexualstrafrecht are:

- The age of consent remains at 16. A time-frame of 3 years is newly
  introduced: sexual acts between consenting minors whose age difference
  is less than three years will not be prosecuted.

- A distinction between heterosexual and homosexual activities is no
  longer made. Both forms of sexuality are treated equally. (Age of
  consent for homosexual acts used to be at 20).

- Homosexuality in the army is no longer illegal, thus a homosexual
  act between two consenting members of the army can no longer be
  prosecuted. (Note that every male Swiss between the age of 20 and
  50 is a member of the Swiss army. There are very few professional
  members of the army. Swiss army does not exclude members of the
  army because of their sexual orientation.)

- Hard pornography is illegal. Hard pornography is pornography with
  children, animals, excrements or violence. (Note that this implies
  that soft pornography becomes legal. In theory it has been illegal
  so far, in practice it has been tolerated.)

- 'rape in marriage' is new explicitly defined as a criminal act that
  can be prosecuted. (This applies only to women raped by their husbands
  but not vice-versa.)


For the new Sexualstrafrecht to come into effect, the majority of the
people who will vote next weekend has to vote YES. All the big parties
in Switzerland support the new Sexualstrafrecht and recommend to vote in
favor of it.

Results of the vote will be due to late Sunday afternoon. I'll keep 
you informed.

"This is Markus Kiser, Switzerland, reporting for soc.motss..."

New laws in Switzerland usually come into effect a couple of months
after they have passed in the Nationalrat (representatives of the
people in Switzerland) and in the Staenderat (representatives of the
'cantons' (states) of Switzerland).

There is, however, a possibility for people who object to new laws
to ask for a referendum to be held after the law has passed Nationalrat
and Staenderat. To enforce such a referendum, they have to collect
50'000 or more signatures against the new law within 3 months.

In the context of the Sexualstrafrecht two committees were able to
collect more than 140000 signatures together against it. One committee
is a small political party in Switzerland called Eidgenoessisch
Demokratische Union, the other committee is named 'Ja zum Leben'.
Their major objections are that the new Sexualstrafrecht undermines
traditional values of christian culture, like the family or certain
limits of sexual freedom. Another of their objections is, that the new
legislation is anti-woman because it does not prohibit soft pornography.


The four major parties in Switzerland support the new Sexualstrafrecht,
as I have already mentioned in my previous article. The GLB groups in
Switzerland have also formed a task force to support the new laws, and
to inform the G&L people in Switzerland of how important it is to us.
Several youth organizations in Switzerland are also in favor of the
new Sexualstrafrecht.
Groups opposing the new laws exists, but they do not seem to be very
strong and do not have much influence.

Will it be a clear case next weekend, then?

The problem in Switzerland is a certain referendum-weariness of the
people. Referendums are held 4 to 6 times a year in Switzerland. It
is not uncommon that only about 30 to 35 percent of the potential voters
actually do vote. (Note that referendums do only require a relative
majority, but not an absolute majority of the votes). Furthermore, too
many people might actually think that the Sexualstrafrecht will pass
anyway and will therefore not go to vote themselves.

Another problem is, that there are actually 6 more bills to vote about
next weekend, one of which is about an option to do civil service instead
of the service in the army and another one is about genetic engineering
and artificial insemination, two items which might attract an unusually
high number of conservative voters. 

However, the odds for the new Sexualstrafrecht to pass are still quite 
good, in my opinion. Very soon we will know for sure.

--markus

The new Sexualstrafrecht in Switzerland has succeeded in this weekend's
referendum. 1'255'327 people voted in favor of the new Sexualstrafrecht,
461'655 against it. This is in a ratio of 73,11% pro and 26.89% cons.
Of the 26 cantons of Switzerland only one vote against. 37,7% of the
potential voters did actually vote this weekend. This is a fairly high
turnout.

A quick reminder of the motss-relevant highlights of the new
Sexualstrafrecht:

- Homosexuality and Heterosexuality are treated equally
- Homosexuality in the army in no longer illegal
- The age of consent is at 16. Consenting partners below and above
  this age who are having sex and whose age difference is less than
  three years may not be prosecuted.

I can say that I am very pleased that the new Sexualstrafrecht has
succeeded. What makes me even happier is the fact that it has been
accepted with such a clear majority.

--markus