Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-05-02
Switzerland BaIks
AT Use Of Sanctions
To Humanize War
BY George Weller
Foreign Correspondent Of Tbs s,es ord
the Ch,ecoo Dali, Ns,Y.

me Chseo0e Dolly News
GENEVA, Switzerland. May 2
Sanctions are the teeth Of
treaties. How TO put sanctions
into the high-minded rules for
humanizing war now being
adopted here is a mountainous
question for all 81 nations con-
cerned.
Sanctions are hardest Of all for
Switzerland, the host of this Red
Cross conference. The Swiss are
long on moral leverage but bearish
on forcible sanctions.
At stake here are the fates of
four helpless groups Of the next
formally declared war. and per-
haps Of today's civil wars. The
four groups are the wounded, the
sick. the prisoners and the civil
ians.
A partisan fighting behind
enemy lines must wear a distinc-
tive badge, the rule says. II he
is captured, he has a right to be
treated as a prisoner. not shot as
a spy.
Refuses to Join u. N.
But suppose he is caught and
shot, though wearing his badge?
Suppose. in other words. the rules
made here by the $50 delegates OF
81 nations and the Vatican are
broken? What is the penalty?
What are the sanctions to be
taken against the outlaw power?
Sanctions are high politics any
time and anywhere, but particu-
larly In Switzerland. The Swiss
do not believe In sanctions, not
the fang-and-claw kind. They
believe in moral sanctions. the
force of public opinion.
Switzerland refuses to join the
United Nations, because it is not
sufficiently neutral for the Swiss
ideal.
Americans consider the proof OF
U. Ms neutrality the fact that
Western and Eastern blocs speak
out their differences. When both
poles are heard form. the organi-
cation seems neutral to them,
The U. N. is merely system
of collective security" according
to Max Petitpierre, presiding off,
Ger Of the present conference.
On Guard Against Splits.
For themselves the Swiss want
something better. what the head
of the Swiss-run international
Red Cross Max Huber calls "a
state of perpetual neutrality"
The Swiss first tussled with
sanctions back in 1920. when the
League of Nations had to make a
special ground rule to get Switzer-
land into membership. The Swiss
had to agree to join in economic
sanctions like everybody else. but
not in military sanctions.
Being a nation with three lin
guistic groups-French, German
and Italian-the Swiss have al
ways been on their guard against
being rent among themselves by
the varying line-ups of European
wars.
Other nations during the last
war made some inroads on Switz-
erland's former pre-eminence as
a business clearing house between
the warning blocs.
Instances Of Failure Cited.
. Now Switzerland has recovered
part Of its League Of Nations i'm
portance by giving home to some
Of the U. MS functions In the
handsome golden Palace Of Ma
tons by the twinkling blue waters
Of Lake Geneva.
Switzerland is eager that this
Red Cross conference shall make
it once more the Delphi Of Inter-
national humanitarianism. But
it Is against military sanctions and
against economic sanctions
pointing to their failure against
Mussolini's Italy and Frances
Spain.
At present there is no interna-
tional morality to protect the life
of the captured guerrilla with
only q badge knotted around his
arm. The Swiss think that moral
sanctions ought to be enough to
uphold any agreement.
"All the world, however," as
one delegate says. sis not q Switz-
erland.
Chile shortly will have four new