Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Switzerland (Ratification: 1961)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Effective protection against discrimination in employment and occupation. Legislation. For many years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that the legal measures in force are inadequate to ensure the effective and comprehensive protection of workers against discrimination in employment and occupation and to enable them to assert their rights in this respect. The relevant constitutional provisions (in particular section 8 of the Federal Constitution) are not directly applicable to relations between individuals, and the penal provision (section 261 bis of the Penal Code) is not often applicable in the field of employment. In addition, only discrimination on the basis of sex is prohibited by a specific law (the Federal Act on Equality between Women and Men) which covers all aspects of employment and occupation. On several occasions the Committee has asked the Government to take the measures necessary to establish, in addition to the Federal Act on equality between women and men, an effective legal framework adapted to the world of work to prohibit discrimination on the grounds enumerated in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has issued similar recommendations to Switzerland specifically concerning racial discrimination (CERD/C/CHE/CO/10-12, paragraph 6(a)). The Committee therefore notes with regret that the Government does not refer in its report to any progress in this respect. The Government is convinced that the existing legal framework ensures effective protection of workers against discrimination in employment and occupation and enables them to assert their rights effectively. It considers that Switzerland has an effective legal framework adapted to the world of work, which also guarantees effective access to justice for victims of discrimination in these matters, and that the scarcity of judicial decisions on issues of discrimination is a relevant indicator in this respect. In this regard, the Committee recalls that where no cases or complaints, or very few, are being lodged, this is likely to indicate a lack of an appropriate legal framework, lack of awareness of rights, lack of confidence in or absence of practical access to procedures, or fear of reprisals (see the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 870).

The Committee notes that a large amount of information is available on the extent of issues of discrimination in practice. In particular, it notes with concern information from the work of the Service for Combating Racism (SLR) indicating that in 2022, 17 per cent of the Swiss resident population reported having experienced racial discrimination in the previous five years and that almost 70 per cent of such cases took place in the world of work. In addition, a study commissioned by the SLR to examine structural racism in various areas of life concluded that there is particularly substantial evidence of discrimination in the world of work. The Committee notes in this respect that, according to information available on the Federal Commission against Racism (CFR)’s website, two of its four priority areas for 2024–27 are: (1) improving protection against racial discrimination in civil law and (2) structural racism. The Committee recalls that, given the persisting patterns of discrimination on the grounds of race, colour and national extraction, in most cases there is a need for comprehensive legislation containing explicit provisions defining and prohibiting discrimination in all aspects of employment and occupation, in order to ensure full application of the Convention. In this regard, it refers the Government to its general observation on discrimination based on race, colour and national extraction, adopted in 2018.

In this context, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the measures necessary to establish a comprehensive legal framework adapted to the world of work that: (i) includes a definition and a prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination; (ii) covers at least all the grounds enumerated in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, which are not yet covered, that is, colour, race, religion, political opinion, national extraction and social origin; (iii) applies to all stages of employment and occupation (access to vocational training, access to employment and to particular occupations, and terms and conditions of employment); and (iv) establishes enforcement mechanisms and ensure effective access to justice for victims of such discrimination.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.