Child rights in Switzerland: worrying gaps
We participated in the preparation of the 2020 report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Every five years, Swiss NGOs and the Swiss Federal Government review the situation regarding the measures put in place by Switzerland to ensure that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Switzerland in 1997, is properly implemented.
Last June, the Swiss Network for the Rights of the Child included our observations concerning the shortcomings in the disappearance of minors in the "LOIPR" report addressed to the Confederation.
In Switzerland, there are currently no national statistics on missing children. Whether with regard to those who have run away from home or family, those who have been abducted by a relative in the country or abroad, or unaccompanied minor asylum seekers who have disappeared, it is impossible to reliably quantify the phenomenon.
Therefore, our question is: what measures are planned to improve the collection of data on all missing children? The Confederation and the cantons have until 15 October 2020 to respond in the form of a state report.
It should be noted that in 2014, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued similar observations, recommending that Switzerland improve its collection of statistics on minors in vulnerable situations. But since then, no changes have been noted.
