Switzerland has granted a private organisation such an extreme regime of immunities that it is tantamount, in law, to creating an extraterritorial enclave in the heart of Geneva.
This system is not an administrative tool: it represents a major break in the constitutional chain of democratic control.
This system has not been imposed on Switzerland.
It has been signed, approved and incorporated into Swiss law.
Official source of the agreement :
Headquarters Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the GAVI Alliance, 23 June 2009
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2009/541/fr
This agreement is one of the most permissive in the history of contemporary Swiss law.
It establishes - in black and white tamper-proof premises, and tamper-proof archives “at any time and in any place”.”, a full immunity from jurisdiction, a immunity from execution, and total tax exemptions.
All granted to one entity private, A hybrid governance structure with no substantial public transparency requirements.
This is not a simple “administrative agreement”.
This is a precedent of exceptional institutional gravity.
I. A private extraterritorial enclave created by Switzerland itself
A state governed by the rule of law can tolerate proportionate immunities.
It cannot tolerate the creation of a legally impenetrable territory.
In the Switzerland-GAVI agreement :
- No Swiss authority may enter the premises without consent.
- No Swiss authority may seize documents, servers, samples or equipment.
- No searches are possible, even in cases of serious suspicion.
- No civil or criminal action may be brought before a Swiss court.
- Waiver of immunity depends... on GAVI itself.
This ensemble constitutes a effective suspension of the rule of law within the perimeter of the organisation.
For a country that bases its legitimacy on Article 5 of the Constitution (the principle of legality and proportionality), Article 8 (equality before the law) and Article 29a (access to the courts), this agreement amounts to pure and simple abdication.
II. The absolute inviolability of data: a legal abyss
The agreement protects GAVI's archives and data media “at any time and in any place”.
This formulation is extremely rare, and for good reason: it makes it impossible to :
- any IT or scientific audit,
- any judicial seizure,
- any reconstruction of the facts,
- any investigation in the event of a dispute or serious allegation.
In the field of health data, body activity data, biometric technologies and sensitive data flows, this total immunity is an absolute must. structural defect.
But for several years now, radical technologies have been emerging in the biometric ecosystem. These include :
Microsoft patent WO/2020/060606
Title : Cryptocurrency system using body activity data
This patent describes the use of bodily signals picked up by sensors to validate computer operations, illustrating the shift towards an economy where the biological data becomes a strategic asset.
There is no question here of accusing GAVI of anything.
The legal point lies elsewhere:
Absolute data immunity, by definition, provides the ideal environment for sensitive operations to become impossible to audit or challenge.
III. When proof becomes impossible, truth becomes inaccessible
The power of a legal system is measured by its ability to establish the truth.
But the Switzerland-GAVI agreement negates this ability.
By creating an enclave:
- impossible to search,
- impossible to audit,
- impossible to force,
- impossible to judge,
Switzerland has created an area where any activity - legal or illegal - can be carried out. would, by its very nature, be unprovable.
This is precisely what Edward Snowden denounced when he claimed that «transparency must be demanded of the powerful, not of the people».».
And this is what the American expert David Brin reminded us: «A society in which the powerful escape the light always ends in abuse.
This is not speculation.
This is the direct legal logic of a system of total immunity.
IV. Unchecked public funding: a democratic absurdity
Switzerland has contributed - and continues to contribute - tens of millions of Swiss francs to GAVI:
- 30 million announced for 2020; ;
- 10 million for basic programmes 2021-2025 ;
- several hundred million indirectly via COVAX/ACT-A at global level.
At the same time :
- it waives all rights of inspection,
- it waives any right of access to evidence,
- it gives up any possibility of democratic control,
- it renounces all independent supervision.
Switzerland finances.
GAVI operates.
Nobody sees anything.
This is the exact opposite of our democratic model.
V. What Parliament must demand immediately
- Comprehensive legal audit the agreement and the actual use of immunities.
- Mandatory annual publication a detailed report: requests for waiver of immunity, judicial cooperation, contentious cases, compliance.
- Strict review the inviolability of premises and data.
- Introduction of independent arbitration to guarantee access to the courts for third parties.
- Activation of the notice of termination if GAVI refuses substantial reform.
Conclusion: Switzerland must close the loophole it has opened itself
The official Fedlex text shows that Switzerland has created a lawless zone on its own territory for a private organisation.
It's a political mistake, a legal black hole and a dangerous precedent.
The rule of law only exists if the law applies everywhere.
A sovereign state only exists if it controls its territory.
A democracy only exists if the powerful are not placed beyond the reach of justice.
The Switzerland-GAVI headquarters agreement must be reopened, revised or terminated.
Parliament must act.
The people have a right to know.
And Switzerland must regain the control it should never have relinquished.
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