Switzerland: World Trade Organization Summit to take place in Geneva June 11-15

Event

The UN's World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference will take place June 12-15 in Geneva. The Conference will take place in the WTO Headquarters at the Centre William Rappard, 154 Rue de Lausanne, which is 2.4 km (1.5 miles) north of the city center. Senior government ministers from member countries will travel to the city to attend the event. Heightened security is likely to be in place in the vicinity and on approach roads. Sporadic disruption is likely at nearby transport hubs, such as Geneva Airport (GVA), as security services escort attendees to and from the summit.

Activists plan to demonstrate at Geneva's Place Lise Girardin from 14:00 June 11. Protest groups including CETIM and La Via Campesina are denouncing free trade agreements and calling for global peasants' rights and food sovereignty. A separate demonstration for Kurdish rights will also take place at Place Lise Girardin from 14:00. Attendance across the two events could reach into the hundreds. Further protests are likely in Geneva during the course of the WTO Conference.

Additional police will likely deploy to monitor and facilitate these events. The demonstrations themselves and related security measures will likely prompt localized travel disruption in the vicinity of Place Lise Girardin, possibly impacting nearby Geneva Cornavin Station. Isolated clashes with security services cannot be ruled out, particularly if activists attempt to breach any security cordons.

Context

Activist groups demonstrate annually against the WTO Summits. These protests have occasionally become violent, for example in 2001 and 2009.

Advice

Confirm travel arrangements if in Geneva June 11-15. Allow extra time for travel around the conference center and at transport hubs such as GVA as increased security measures will cause transport disruptions. Avoid all demonstrations as a routine security precaution and to mitigate associated disruptions; allow extra time for travel around demonstration sites. Heed instructions from security services and withdraw from the area in the event of violence.