One law for all

All children have rights, regardless of where they are raised, the religion they are born into or the relative wealth of their family. Despite the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, child rights are frequently disregarded. This is unacceptable.

Access to education

We are committed to improving children’s access to schools in twelve countries around the world. We empower children and youths to claim their rights and make use of them. Simultaneously, we work together with actors at state level and support them to ensure a consistent level of compliance with child rights.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989. All countries except the United States have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The treaty creates a uniform basis for all children in the world. It is based on the principles of protection, support and participation, and comprises 54 articles.

Monitoring of the convention

The countries that have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child regularly update the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva with regard to the state of its implementation. However, these reports are often submitted late. This has been the case for Switzerland in the past. Switzerland only submitted its second report in 2012 – this was after a delay of five years. This makes shadow reports by independent non-governmental organisations particularly important.

Published shadow reports

The Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation is a founding member of the Child Rights Network Switzerland. It has been a vocal advocate of the consistent implementation of child rights in Switzerland since the country’s ratification of the Child Rights Convention. The Child Rights Network has published multiple reports and was last consulted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 on the topic of the implementation of child rights in Switzerland.