Human Rights Council: 42nd Session of the Universal Periodic Review – Switzerland (Swiss Confederation)

Mr President,

New Zealand welcomes the participation of Switzerland today and commends the progress made since their last review.  We welcome Switzerland’s long-standing commitment to promoting and protecting human rights.

We commend Switzerland’s progress establishing a permanent national human rights institution (NHRI) to strengthen the coordination of human rights activities between the Confederation, the cantons and civil society.

We recommend that Switzerland:

1. Ensure that resourcing is made available to the future NHRI to ensure its independence and enable it to comply with its mandate and the Paris Principles;
2. Advance comprehensive measures against racial discrimination and discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin;
3. Continue efforts to provide full equality for all couples and for the full recognition and protection of children’s rights with same-sex parents, irrespective of the country of their birth and the parents’ marital status;

We wish Switzerland every success in its review.

Thank you Mr President.