Bilateral and multilateral activities
Bilaterally, Switzerland supports initiatives for dealing with the past upon request in various priority contexts. The FDFA advises and supports partner states and accompanies political processes such truth and reconciliation commissions and programmes concerned with the rehabilitation and compensation of victims, as well as the reform of authorities and institutions or the construction of memorials.
Multilaterally, Switzerland launches initiatives and initiates resolutions. The mandate for a UN special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence resulted from one such initiative. In 2019, the Human Rights Council also adopted a resolution on dealing with the past that emerged from a Swiss initiative.
Switzerland is also involved in the education and training of experts and helps to develop new ideas and approaches for dealing with the past. For example, Switzerland is supporting methods to protect and improve access to archives that are important in efforts to deal with the past. In 2019, the International Council on Archives approved the Guiding Principles for Safe Havens for Archives at Risk, which were drawn up by international experts in a process launched by Switzerland.
The four pillars of dealing with the past (PDF, 54.2 kB, English)