Human Rights Issues Raised During Rouhani's Meeting with Swiss Counterpart

With the visit of the President of Switzerland to Tehran, human rights issues have returned to Iran-Switzerland negotiations after 15 years. Johann Schneider-Ammann, the President of Switzerland, who is on an official visit to Iran, stated on Saturday, March 8, following negotiations with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and a joint press conference, that this visit would enhance the '140-year relationship' between the two countries. Mr. Schneider-Ammann arrived in Tehran on Friday, March 7, coinciding with the elections for the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts in Iran, for a three-day visit. According to Iranian media, Hassan Rouhani officially welcomed his Swiss counterpart at Saadabad Palace on Saturday, March 8. The President of Switzerland is accompanied by a 40-member delegation from political, economic, and scientific sectors. Members of the Swiss President's delegation include 'major industrialists, investors,' and in the scientific field, 'presidents and figures from prestigious Swiss universities.' Following the visit of the Greek Prime Minister to Tehran three weeks ago, Mr. Schneider-Ammann is the second high-ranking European figure to visit Iran after the implementation of the JCPOA. Iranian media reported that the Swiss President promised assistance for Iran's membership in the World Trade Organization during the press conference at Saadabad Palace on Saturday. Establishing a direct flight from Tehran to Geneva, facilitating visa issuance, cooperation in upstream oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, and easing banking transactions were among the topics of agreement between Schneider-Ammann and Rouhani. Mr. Rouhani mentioned that cooperation on other regional issues, such as Syria and Yemen, was also discussed, stating that 'there is no way but for countries of the world to cooperate on these problems.' According to ISNA, Hassan Rouhani confirmed in the joint press conference on Saturday that human rights issues were raised in his discussions with his Swiss counterpart. The Iranian President stated, 'We talked a lot about human rights... We believe that the issue of human rights has not reached an optimal point, and all countries should help each other to achieve these rights.' However, according to Hassan Rouhani, most of his discussions with his Swiss counterpart were about the human rights of people in other countries. Mr. Rouhani added regarding the situation in Iran, 'The political and cultural atmosphere in Iran is different from the past... The atmosphere in universities has changed, social freedoms have increased, and the bandwidth of cyberspace has expanded.' Swiss-Iranian discussions aimed at improving the Islamic Republic's human rights record have a history; five rounds of human rights negotiations between the two countries took place from 2003 to 2010. Mehdi Abedi, Iran's chargé d'affaires in Bern, recently told ISNA that 'new human rights discussions, alongside discussions regarding the grounds for judicial cooperation between the two countries, are likely to resume next spring (Spring 2016).' The chargé d'affaires also mentioned that before sanctions, about three hundred Swiss companies operated in various sectors in Iran, and the volume of trade reached three to four billion euros, but during the sanctions, this figure dropped to about one billion dollars. According to Mr. Abedi, 'It is expected that in the post-JCPOA era, the economic and financial exchanges between Iran and Switzerland will return to pre-sanction conditions, and new capacities will also be added to the cooperation between the two countries.' Switzerland was among the first countries to lift sanctions against Iran after the announcement of the implementation of the JCPOA. For the past 36 years, after the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the severance of relations between Washington and Tehran, Switzerland has been the protector of U.S. interests in Iran. Switzerland has played a role in many crises between Iran and the U.S., including the release of several Americans and Iranian-Americans who have been imprisoned in Iran in recent years. Switzerland also hosted part of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and global powers but has recently found a more significant role in Iran's international relations. Shortly after Saudi Arabia's decision two months ago to sever relations with Iran, Switzerland also took on the protection of Saudi interests in Iran and Iranian interests in Saudi Arabia.