On December 12, 2025, the Swiss Federal Council released a draft Security Policy Strategy of Switzerland 2026 and announced a period of public and parliamentary consultation on the draft lasting until March 31, 2026.
The draft policy highlights a "significant deterioration of Switzerland's security situation and the increasing range of threats." It identifies the main aspects of these threats and Switzerland's vulnerabilities in relation to them. "To counter these threats and protect the country, the Federal Council is pursuing a comprehensive approach that encompasses civil and military resources, federal and cantonal actors, and all aspects of foreign, domestic and economic policy relevant to security."
Basel Peace Office has prepared a food-for-thought paper A Nobel Effort: Opportunities for Switzerland to advance nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament in 2026 as a contribution to the consultation. The paper analyses the political environment with regard to nuclear risk-reduction, arms control and disarmament, and makes 16 recommendations to the Swiss government.
The paper notes that the current and emerging political environment "makes it difficult to make concrete progress on nuclear risk reduction and disarmament initiatives, unless these are accompanied by diplomatic and legal approaches to effectively prevent aggression and to resolve international disputes peacefully." The paper suggests that the best approach to do so is through strengthening common security, and includes recommendations to this end.
It also highlights key forums in which Switzerland could take forward these recommendations, including the 2026 NPT Review Conference, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Inter-Parliamentary Union, UN General Assembly, UN Human Rights Council, International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court.
A Nobel Effort notes that 2026 is the 125th anniversary of the very first Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded jointly to Henri Dunant (Switzerland) for founding the International Committee of the Red Cross and to Frédéric Passy (France) for co-founding the Inter-Parliamentary Union and for being instrumental for the establishment of the first international tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Their examples can provide inspiration for the continued development and implementation of common security and international law in 2026 and beyond.
A draft of A Nobel Effort was released for discussion at the Basel Intergenerational Forum Reversing the Doomsday Clock on January 23, 2026. It will be discussed further at A Nobel Effort: Preventing aggression and advancing nuclear disarmament in 2026, an event in the Swiss parliament on March 3.