Slow justice for Europe’s travelling people 

The Swiss government has officially recognised as a “crime against humanity” its persecution of the nomadic group known as the Yenish. Such an admission has not yet been made in Norway or Scotland, where similar injustices happened. But even in Switzerland decades of advocacy were required to get to this step. Forcible removal of children from Yenish families by the State between 1926 and 1973 constituted a crime against humanity. This was the conclusion of a government-sponsored research report by law professor Oliver Diggelmann. Switzerland accepts this finding. The federal interior ministry commissioned Diggelmann about a year ago to determine whether the wholesale removal of children from their families met the definition of genocide or a “crime against humanity”. Two advocacy organisations had called for the episode to be recognised as a case of genocide. Crime against humanity In late February the federal government published the report and accepted the finding that there had ...