Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Bern, 02.04.2008 - The Federal Council has approved Switzerland’s third report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, of 18 December 1979. It will now be submitted to the supervisory body of the Convention.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) not only obliges states parties to comply with specific legal provisions but also to change or renounce practices that discriminate against women. In addition, it requires among other things that all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender be forbidden by law, and places additional obligations on states parties to combat and to prevent such discrimination. Switzerland acceded to the Convention on 27 March 1997. As at 15 February 2008, 185 states had become party to the Convention.
Switzerland’s first report on CEDAW was completed in December 2001 and examined by the Convention’s supervisory body in January 2003. The current follow-up report describes overall legal and political developments in Switzerland since the presentation of the first and second reports.
The third report also describes the many measures have been taken at federal, cantonal and municipal levels during the last few years, in particular the introduction of a maternity insurance scheme, tougher measures against domestic violence, improvements to child-care facilities to assist families, as well as preparatory measures for ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (OP CEDAW), which provides for the possibility to submit individual reports of specific cases of discrimination against women to the CEDAW Committee.
For further information, please contact:
Directorate of International Law, 3003 Bern
E-mail: dv-menschenrechte@eda.admin.ch, Tel. 031 325 07 68, Fax 031 325 07 67.
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