Racial discrimination on rise in Switzerland

The number of reported discrimination incidents has increased in recent years in Switzerland, especially among younger people, and racial discrimination is increasingly perceived as a serious social problem, according to a monitoring report published by the Service for Combating Racism (SCRA) on Tuesday.

The report says that 40 percent of young people in the 15 to 24 age group in the country and 39 percent of 25 to 39-year-olds have experienced discrimination in the past five years, reported Xinhua, quoting the report.

Discrimination affects all areas of life, the report says, adding that most claims of discrimination are related to employment.

The report, published every two years by the SCRA, points out that 58 percent of the Swiss population considers racism a serious social problem, and almost a third believes that more needs to be done to combat it.

Systematic countermeasures are still in an early stage of development and implementation, the report says, calling on the government, civil society actors, internet users and platform operators to coordinate ways to provide a secure, non-discriminatory and racism-free environment.