Switzerland considers making incest legal: Report

Incest could soon become legal in Switzerland as the Swiss government is considering repealing its laws on sexual relations between family members, according to a media report.

The government is claiming that the law banning incest is 'obsolete' and there have been only three such cases since 1984, the Telegraph reported. "The upper house of the Swiss parliament has drafted a law decriminalising sex between consenting family members which must now be considered by the government," it said.

Switzerland, which recently held a referendum passing a draconian law that will boot out foreigners convicted of committing the smallest of crimes, however, insists that children within families will continue to be protected by laws governing abuse and paedophilia.

Daniel Vischer, a Green party MP, said he saw nothing wrong with two consenting adults having sex, even if they were related. "Incest is a difficult moral question, but not one that is answered by penal law," he was quoted as saying.

Barbara Schmid Federer of The Christian People's Party of Switzerland, however, said the proposal from the upper house was "completely repugnant". "I for one could not countenance painting out such a law from the statute books."

The Protestant People's Party is also opposed to decriminalising the offence which at present carries a maximum three year jail term. A spokesman for the party said: "Murder is also quite rare in Switzerland but no one suggests that we remove that as an office from the statutes."