United Nations CERD/C/CHE/7-9 International Convention on Distr.: General 14 May 2013 the Elimination of All Forms English of Racial Discrimination Original: French Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Reports submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention Seventh to ninth periodic reports of States parties due in 2012 Switzerland*, ** [20 December 2012] * This document contains the seventh to ninth periodic reports of the Swiss Confederation, due in 2010 and 2012 respectively, submitted in one document. For the fourth to sixth periodic reports and the summary records of the meetings at which the Committee considered them, see documents CERD/C/CHE/6 and CERD/C/SR.1892 and CERD/C/SR.1893. ** In accordance with the information transmitted to States parties regarding the processing of their reports, the present document was not edited before being sent to the United Nations translation services. GE.13-43665 (EXT) CERD/C/CHE/7-9 Contents Paragraphs Page Introduction............................................................................................................. 1–7 4 I. General information ................................................................................................ 8–118 5 1. Changes in demographic structure.................................................................. 9–23 5 2. Constitutional and legislative foundations...................................................... 24–51 7 3. General policy against racial discrimination................................................... 52–118 14 II. Consideration of the implementation of articles 2 to 7 of the Convention ..... 119–250 35 1. Article 1: Definition of racial discrimination.................................................. 119–127 35 2. Article 2: Condemnation of racial discrimination........................................... 128–131 37 3. Article 3: Condemnation of apartheid............................................................. 132 38 4. Article 4: Measures to make certain acts of racial discrimination punishable by law ............................................................................................................. 133–141 39 5. Article 5: Elimination of racial discrimination with regard to certain human rights ............................................................................................................... 142–227 42 6. Article 6: Effective remedies .......................................................................... 228–234 59 7. Article 7: Measures in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information ..................................................................................................... 235–250 60 III. Response to the Committee’s concluding observations of 14 August 2008............ 251–385 64 1. General remark ............................................................................................... 251 64 2. Persistence of hostility towards certain minorities (paragraph 7of the concluding observations) ................................................................................ 252–258 64 3. Federalism (paragraph 8 of the concluding observations) .............................. 259–262 66 4. Anti-discrimination legislation at all levels and lack of a national plan of action (paragraph 9 of the concluding observations) ...................................... 263–268 66 5. Lack of an independent national human rights institution (paragraph 10 of the concluding observations) .......................................................................... 269–274 68 6. Lack of a clear and full definition of direct or indirect racial discrimination (paragraph 11 of the concluding observations)............................................... 275–277 69 7. Information on the activities undertaken by the cantons (paragraph 12 of the concluding observations) .......................................................................... 278–280 70 8. Reservation to article 2 of the Convention (paragraph 13 of the concluding observations)................................................................................................... 281–291 70 9. Racial profiling (paragraph 14 of the concluding observations)..................... 292–296 72 10. Reservation to article 4 of the Convention (paragraph 15 of the concluding observations)................................................................................................... 297–301 73 11. Police violence (paragraph 16 of the concluding observations) ..................... 302–325 74 12. Legislation on foreign nationals and asylum-seekers (paragraph 17 of the concluding observations) ................................................................................ 326–335 80 2 GE.13-43665 (EXT) CERD/C/CHE/7-9 13. Naturalization process (paragraph 18 of the concluding observations) .......... 336–342 82 14. Travellers (paragraph 19 of the concluding observations).............................. 343–367 85 15. Ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (paragraph 20 of the concluding observations) .......................................................................... 368–371 91 16. Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (paragraph 21 of the concluding observations)............................................... 372–376 91 17. Ratification of the amendment to article 8, paragraph 6, of the Convention (paragraph 22 of the concluding observations)............................................... 377–378 92 18. Publication of the report and concluding recommendations (paragraph 23 of the concluding observations)...................................................................... 379–382 93 19. Consultation of organizations of civil society and other actors (paragraph 24 of the concluding observations)............................................... 383–384 93 20. Other recommendations to the State party (paragraphs 25 to 27 of the concluding observations) ................................................................................ 385 94 Acronyms and abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ 95 Annexes............................................................................................................................................................ 97 GE.13-43665 (EXT) 3 CERD/C/CHE/7-9 Introduction 1. Switzerland acceded to the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter “the Convention”) on 29 November 1994.1 The Convention entered into force for Switzerland on 29 December 1994.2 In its article 9, States parties undertake to submit periodic reports on the legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures that they adopt to give effect to the provisions of the Convention. 2. In its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter “the Committee”) requested Switzerland to submit its seventh and eighth periodic reports, due on 14 November 2010, in a single document.3 As a result of the delay in its submission, it was agreed that these reports should be merged with the following one, namely the ninth. 3. The present report has been drawn up in accordance with the Committee’s guidelines, taking into account the decision not to draft a new common core document.4 Switzerland’s main demographic, economic and social characteristics and the description of its political system can therefore be found in the country’s core document.5 4. The present document, containing the seventh, eighth and ninth periodic reports, covers the period from August 2008 to December 2011. The statistical data run to the end of December 2010; where it has been possible to take account of more recent data, this is indicated. This report follows on from the fourth, fifth and sixth periodic reports, together with the supplementary report,6 that the Swiss delegation presented to the Committee on 8 and 11 August 2008.7 Where data are unchanged in relation to a previous period, reference is made to the report in question. 5. For ease of reading, the present report is divided into three parts: • Part I, “General Information”, contains information on changes in Switzerland’s demographic structure and in Swiss law and policy in the areas covered by the Convention since the submission of the previous reports. • Part II examines those changes in the light of the provisions of the Convention and contains an updated commentary on its articles 1–7. • Part III addresses the Committee’s concluding observations on the country’s fourth, fifth and sixth periodic reports. It sets out Switzerland’s position on the questions on which the Committee had expressed concern and the points regarding which the Committee had requested additional information. 6. This report has been drawn up by the Directorate of Public International Law (DDIP) of the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs (DFAE) in collaboration with the Service for Combating Racism (SLR) of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (DFI). The other federal administrative offices concerned were invited to give their opinions in accordance with the established procedure. The Federal Commission against Racism 1 Official Compendium of Federal Statutes (RO 1995 1163 ff); Official Gazette (FF 1992, III, 265). 2 Systematic Compendium of Federal Law (RS 0.104). 3