Reservations by Switzerland to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Upon ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Switzerland made seven reservations about five articles (AS 1996 2053, in French / in German). The following reservations are still valid today:
- Concerning article 10 (1), which ensures family reunification: Swiss legislation, which does not guarantee family reunification to certain categories of aliens, is unaffected.
- Concerning art. 37 (c) which ensures that children in detention are being kept separate from adults: the Swiss legislation does not guarantee minors to be separated from adults at all times.
- Concerning art. 40, which ensures penal law for minor (despite the latest modification of the Swiss Penal Code (message FF 1999, 1977)).
The reservation concerning
article 7 (2) (right to acquire a nationality) fell because of the modification of the Swiss
legislation on nationality (entry into force on 1 January, 2006, see art. 30), which guarantees the right to stateless children who lived in Switzerland for at least 5 years to acquire
Swiss nationality. This was announced on 4 April 2007.
The reservation concerning art. 40 (2b), which ensures certain guarantees in juvenile penal law, was also withdrawn. The new Swiss legislation on Federal Penal Tribunal that entered into force in 2003 made it irrelevent. An older reservation on art. 5 (rights and duties of parents) was withdrawn upon a Council of States decision on 18 March 2004. In January 2004 already, the reservation concerning the free assistance of an interpreter was withdrawn.
Update: 25.09.2008
