Erich Vontobel stands with the flag of Artsakh in front of the Swiss parliament on March 18, 2025. The Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh is a parliamentary-backed diplomatic effort to facilitate dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of the displaced Armenian population. It seeks to convene an international peace forum under Swiss mediation to… Read more »
CSI made a statement on the displaced ethnic Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. un web tv Media Release GENEVA – In the nearly 22 months since Azerbaijan expelled 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their homeland in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan has exhibited “flagrant disregard” for international law and the Convention… Read more »
The Swiss Peace Initiative will be presented on July 8 in Washington DC. Architect of the Capitol, Wikimedia Media Release Next week, CSI’s President John Eibner will join two Swiss members of parliament – Erich Vontobel and Lukas Reimann – and ex-Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian in Washington DC to present the Swiss Peace Initiative… Read more »
At the UN, Professor Fabrice Balanche speaks about the massacres of Alawite Muslims in Syria in March 2025. csi Watch the full event here: GENEVA – “Despite some happy words at the beginning of this new interim constitution, it in fact establishes an authoritarian presidential system,” said Joshua Landis, a leading scholar on Syria, at… Read more »
Suleiman Khalil in 2017. csi. Media Release GENEVA – The daughter of Suleiman Khalil, the former mayor of Sadad in Syria, has written to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Geir Pedersen, asking him to intervene on behalf of her imprisoned father. Natalie Khalil, the eldest daughter of the imprisoned former mayor, also made… Read more »
French President Macron expressed support for Armenian Premier Pashinyan. www.primeminister.am CSI statement CSI calls for release of imprisoned archbishops and respect for separation of church and state On June 29 French President Emmanuel Macron assured Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of his “solidarity” as he intensifies a wave of arrests and other coercive measures against the… Read more »
Abi McDougal reads out a CSI statement on Syria at the UN Human Rights Council. Video screenshot: csi On the evening of June 22, two assailants stormed the Mar Elias Orthodox church in Damascus’s old city district, opening fire with an automatic weapon and detonating a bomb. Close to 30 worshipers were killed, including… Read more »
Swiss parliamentarians express support for Nagorno Karabakh during Azerbaijan’s blockade, February 27, 2023. csi Erich Vontobel and Stefan Müller-Altermatt In this piece, first published in the Tages Anzeiger, Swiss MPs Erich Vontobel and Stefan Müller-Altermatt react to the Swiss Federal Council’s claim that it cannot fulfill its obligation to hold a peace forum for… Read more »
One of the victims of a Hindu nationalist attack on a Christian prayer service in Odisha state, India, on June 21. Photo: Bishop Pallab Lima More than 30 Christians who had gathered for a prayer meeting were injured in an attack by a large mob in eastern India’s Odisha state on the morning of… Read more »
The Christian Solidarity Podcast: Understanding the conflict in the Caucasus In this pilot episode of the Christian Solidarity Podcast, host Abi McDougal talks with CSI’s director of advocacy, Dr. Joel Veldkamp, about Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Armenian Christians from Nagorno Karabakh. They explore the historical context of the conflict, the implications of the Swiss… Read more »
