UN experts have issued a report stating that people of African descent face face "routine invasive screenings, perquisitions, racial insults, violence and impunity expectations" in Switzerland, following their visit to the country.

The report was presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday (October 3).

While the authors acknowledged that positive measures had been taken by Switzerland, they also found that strong structural racial discrimination and anti-African racism had "severe repercussions on economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights" for people of African descent.

Black people in Switzerland often victims of police brutality

Catherine Namakula, president of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, declared that for black people in Switzerland, "police operations include brutal arrests, degrading treatment and a reinforcement of negative stereotypes."

"Victims are dissuaded with violence from pressing charges, all of this with the support of the judicial system," said Namakula, who along with colleagues visited the western European country in January of this year.

The report found that police officers seldomly face consequences after these incidents.

The experts also found that the presence of anti-African racism is often underestimated and attributed to the victim's supposed sensitivity, thus not taken seriously by many Swiss authorities, in particular on a local and municipal level.

Negative stereotypes reinforced by political campaigns

The experts found that in the Swiss public, negative stereotypes of black people are commonly held and reinforced by political campaigns and authorities where black people are "shown as drug-traffickers, social parasites or unwanted asylum seekers."

The recommendations made in the report include opening inquiries into all deaths that took place in prison and in shelters for asylum seekers.

Switzerland working to improve the situation

The Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations said at the Monday meeting that his country was taking measures to improve the situation.

"Switzerland agrees with your observation that racism and racial discrimination -- including against people of African descent -- are problems that must be tackled as a matter of urgency," Jürg Lauber was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

He added that several measures had been launched to combat discrimination, including cantonal consultation centers for victims of racism and changes in police training programs.