From my understanding in the US a part of the problem is military veterans who sometimes have mental health issues that are not being treated.

Many many years ago I was on a convention in downtown Houston. Houston's downtown was, and still is AFAIK, a hotspot for begging and panhandling and you can't walk more than a block without somebody trying to beg money off you.

This was the first day of the convention and due to jet lag I was wide awake at some silly hour in the morning so decided to leave the hotel and get away from the awful air conditioning and go for a walk. It didn't take long until one of these guys started talking to me. It was early in the morning and I had plenty of time. I said I wasn't giving him money but if he wanted he could come and have breakfast with me. To my surprise he agreed immediately and he said he wanted to go the Macdonalds (which i guess was the only place to be open) so that's where we went and he basically told me his life story. Veteran who didn't develop mental health problems until many years after discharge. His wife couldn't deal with it, kicked him out. And somehow over the years he had wandered from Phoenix to Houston.

AND: Basel introduces a "masterplan" with strict controls on begging, to especially outlaw organized begging and groups sleeping outside and occupying public space...

https://www.20min.ch/story/das-ist-b...s-861370410327

Great solution! Will even help them in their "home country" ... win, win

No 9 Tram. He seems to do a pretty good job of collecting coins as he does the whole " i bi Bärner und singe Mani Matter" schtick. His dog passed away a year or two ago but I see he's gotten a decent ersatz pupper.

I really struggle with the fact that Strasbourg thinks they can tell Basel how to manage what is ultimately a safety issue. If locals have fallen through the cracks of the system and it's just a handful of people who for whatever reason don't find a place in the normal social services channels, I don't think the police would bother them even if there was a ban on begging in place.

The issue is people who travel to a place in groups for the express purpose of begging and who refuse to adhere to the customs of said place, causing a problem for the people living there. They have no way of supporting themselves other than begging, nor do they intend to find another way. They often have animals and children with them who are not treated properly but serve to provoke sympathy. I once paid for a homeless person's dog to be taken to the vet in the past to have an abscess treated, so it clearly works (for the cynics: I arranged the appointment and went along, mainly to make sure everything was covered including any medication).

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop at the begging; a policeman friend told me that there is a whole supply chain in place, which also includes people who don't want to wait for charity - they just help themselves. Those who wander about begging also keep an eye out for information and objects that are high value. For example, an expensively dressed person getting into a certain car can lead to an address that may be worth "visiting". Or if they see nice bikes always at the same spot at the same times, it's easy to plan for a "collection tour" by people with the tools to break open the locks.

Shoplifting can also be facilitated by people seemingly "just minding their own business" while begging, holding goods that were passed on while the shoplifter disappears. "Street artist" beggers often create a distraction to help pickpockets operate undisturbed.

And finally, to complete the full set of misdemeanours: human trafficking or prostitution out of external expectation rather than personal choice (I differentiate the two because the former usually involves the "buyer" having clear indicators of a trafficking situation but not caring whereas the latter may be almost impossible to detect). I don't know what the situation is in Basel but when we briefly had a few of those groups wandering about Zurich, I noticed there were never any healthy, fit women in the 18 - 25 age group doing the begging. Children, older women with kids, women with some kind of physical disability, "crones", and men of all ages, but never attractive young women. Presumably, they were tasked with more gainful employment.

Since (almost) everyone wants to make a better life for themselves and their family, the approach of supporting local efforts to provide more opportunity is certainly the right way to go - in theory. Unfortunately, the people running these begging/thieving/fencing/pimping supply chains have zero interest in getting a 9 to 5 job in an office for a normal salary. So unless their entire demographic can be put behind bars until everyone that benefits from them finds a different and legal way of making a living, such support efforts will not really yield the results needed.

Really? I played with his pup last summer... Perhaps it is the new one? Such a lovely dog ...

that must be the new one.

If you sign up for an international court that's what you get: an independent oversight which holds everyone to the same standards... In the same way it tells Hungary how to not treat refugees or Germany that they cannot introduce a highway fee for foreigners only.

Everyone always agrees to it when the court tells other countries off but is pissed off when it limits the own decisions. I personally know some lawyers working there and find it one of the very best ideas of the EU... we need this on a global level, but the US is blocking as it would mean they could be held accountable for the things they do...