Switzerland joins the UN in making children’s voices heard

Federal Council to subsidize children’s rights organizations and training providers for five years

People who work with and for children need to know about and comply with children’s rights
People who work with and for children need to be better informed about children’s rights and comply with them.
The Federal Council considers the right of children and young people to be heard and to participate to be particularly important, for example when parents divorce or when a child is placed outside the family home.

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At its meeting on March 5, 2021, the Federal Council decided to support organizations that raise awareness of children’s rights in the education and training sector with financial aid for a period of five years.
In this way, the Executive is also fulfilling recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child aimed at improving the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Judges, lawyers, social workers, social pedagogues, police officers, teachers, migration specialists and other professionals need to be able to take children’s rights into account in their daily work.
Professional groups should be encouraged to include children’s rights in their training and continuing education courses. Practical aids such as memos and checklists for different professional groups should also be developed and disseminated.

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To this end, the Federal Council plans to grant financial aid amounting to 200,000 Swiss francs per year for a period of five years to organizations that implement such measures.
The necessary funds come from the “Protection of Children / Rights of the Child” credit, which Parliament increased to CHF 2 million in the last winter session.
It is particularly important that children and young people are heard and involved in a way that is appropriate to their age. In the context of court decisions or decisions by the child protection authority, this contributes significantly to finding solutions that take better account of the good of the child than when only the adult perspective is considered.

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Furthermore, in the event of divorce, threats to the welfare of children or extra-familial placement, the right to be heard and to participate can help the children and young people concerned to cope better with the stressful situation.
With these measures, the Federal Council is also implementing recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. By ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1997, Switzerland undertook to implement international standards and to report periodically, every five years, to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.