against Women

Forty-fourth session

Summary record of the 894th meeting (Chamber B)

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 27 July 2009, at 10 a.m.

Chairperson: Ms. Gabr

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Tribute to the memory of Ms. Hannah Beate Schöpp-Schilling

Third periodic report of Switzerland

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Tribute to the memory of Ms. Hannah Beate Schöpp-Schilling

1.At the invitation of the Chairperson, the Committee observed a minute of silence in memory of Ms. Schöpp-Schilling, a long-serving member of the Committee.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Third periodic report of Switzerland (CEDAW/C/CHE/3; CEDAW/C/CHE/Q/3 and Add.1)

2. At the invitation of the Chairperson, the members of the delegation of Switzerland took places at the Committee table.

3.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland), introducing her country’s third periodic report (CEDAW/C/CHE/3), said that in line with recommendations made after the examination of Switzerland’s first and second reports, measures to combat domestic violence had been extended and strengthened, and various measures had been introduced to assist women to reconcile family life and working life. In response to a further recommendation by the Committee, Switzerland had taken various measures to make the Convention better known in the country. In addition, in December 2008 Switzerland had ratified the Optional Protocol, and it had also withdrawn its reservation to article 7 (b) of the Convention.

4.Switzerland’s federal structure, with its 26 cantons, added a level of complexity to the implementation of the Convention, with implementation varying from one region to another. On the other hand, the federal structure did offer some opportunities in the sense that an innovation could be tried out in one canton and the results could provide useful information to others.

5.Switzerland was aware of the difficulties that sometimes faced migrant women in the country, as a result of linguistic difficulties, shortage of social contacts and a lack of vocational qualifications recognized by Switzerland. It thus attached great importance to the integration of such women into its society, by providing educational opportunities and working towards recognition of non-Swiss qualifications.

6.Turning to the matter of violence against women, she observed that views had changed: domestic violence was no longer regarded as a private matter, but as a major infringement of the victim’s rights. Legislative measures had been taken, and violence, the threat of violence and forced sexual activity were automatically subject to criminal proceedings. At the same time, under civil law, a new provision gave long-term protection to victims of violence. In addition, various counselling and mediation facilities had been set up. Despite all these efforts, domestic violence remained a serious problem, and actions against it would be intensified. Provision had also been made for specific penalties for female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

7.Another essential area was that of equality in working life. Despite years of efforts, the pay gap between men and women had still not been eliminated: it averaged 9.7 per cent in the private sector and 3.2 per cent in government positions. With the support of the Federal Government, a project had been launched to eliminate salary discrimination within five years. Within the federal administration, more than 30 per cent of positions were now held by women. In senior management, the target of 12 per cent had been achieved. However, more effort was needed to raise the numbers of women in middle management positions. To that end, the Government was taking measures to help women balance family and working life. For example, all working mothers received a grant equal to 80 per cent of their salary for the 14 weeks that followed the birth of a child. Additionally, an eight-year programme to increase childcare facilities had been launched. Provision had been made to lighten the tax burden of married couples.

8.Ms. Arioli (Switzerland), a representative of the government of the canton of Zurich, gave some further information from the standpoint of the cantons. She described some of the legislative and administrative steps taken against domestic violence at cantonal level. Additionally, cantonal childcare facilities were being established, thereby enabling mothers to go on working beyond the hour at which their young children came out of school.

9.One interesting aspect of federalism was that it fostered healthy competition among the cantons. That competition extended even to the domain of their progress in achieving gender equality, with the federal statistical authorities publishing data that allowed cantons to check their progress against that of others.

10.Efforts were also being made at cantonal level to facilitate the reconciliation of family life and working life, through measures such as cantonal tax relief for married couples, and inducements to companies to make family-friendly arrangements for their workers. Some cantons were making efforts to achieve total parity between men and women in the working sphere, and also to encourage young women, who might otherwise drop out of the working world when they had children, to consider taking up a permanent professional activity.

11.Every year since 2001, Switzerland had held a national day, based on a recommendation from the Committee, for boys and girls to address their ideas on gender stereotypes, which included visits by girls and boys to vocational areas traditionally chosen by the other sex. Such initiatives needed to be intensified, however, because Swiss universities and colleges were still more marked than most of the other countries of Europe by the traditional gravitation of male students to the technical fields and female ones to social, medical and people-related fields. However, the number of female students overall entering university-level education continued to climb steadily, although the proportion dropped sharply in second degree or doctoral studies. Federal programmes were in place to equalize opportunities for males and females in higher education and also to increase the number of female university teaching staff. Some of the goals of those programmes had already been achieved.

Articles 1 to 6

12.Mr. Flinterman observed that the Convention appeared to be an exception to the rule that international human rights conventions were directly applicable in Switzerland, enabling any individual to invoke them directly before the federal or cantonal courts. The report appeared to indicate that the applicability of the provisions of the Convention was determined by the judiciary, which generally took the view that they were not directly applicable. That led to a paradox: with Switzerland’s recent ratification of the Optional Protocol, women in Switzerland could submit complaints of a violation of any of the provisions to the Committee but they could not invoke the Convention before the domestic courts. He sought the views of the delegation on that contradiction. Secondly, he asked for information on the steps that the Government had taken to make the Optional Protocol widely known, as required by its article 13.

13.The Federal Supreme Court had not used the Convention in conjunction with the Constitution, in interpreting the concept of discrimination. As paragraph 69 of the report stated, the ban on discrimination within the meaning of article 8, paragraph 2 of the Constitution did not confer any right to establish equality in fact. Thus the definition of discrimination used by the Supreme Court was much narrower than that in the Convention. Consequently, he suggested that there was still a need to incorporate into domestic law the definition of discrimination as contained in article 1 of the Convention.

14.The report indicated that Switzerland’s federal structure caused legal and factual disparities to exist between different cantons and regions in domains relevant to the Convention such as education, health, social aid and justice. While paragraph 74 indicated that some uniformity had emerged in areas falling under cantonal jurisdiction, “some uniformity” was not enough: what further measures was the Federal Government considering in order to bring the cantons fully into line with the obligations of the Swiss Confederation under the Convention?

15.He also sought assurance that all branches of the Government did full justice to the concept of equality between men and women, because paragraph 64 of the report stated that the Supreme Court took the view that the judicial branch should confine itself to ensuring equality from a formal standpoint, ensuring the neutrality of legal rules and ensuring protection against all formal discrimination. Once again, that was a very narrow reading of the obligations of the State party under the Convention.

16.Ms. Šimonović said that, while she understood the view that a federal structure offered the advantage that one canton could try out a legal innovation and others could learn from that experience, there was no scope for discrepancies in different parts of the country when it came to the obligation of the State to eliminate discrimination against women. She requested clarification whether some articles of the Convention were considered to be directly applicable while others were not.

17.Noting Switzerland’s withdrawal of its reservation to article 7 (b) of the Convention, she asked whether it planned to make any further commitments with respect to reservations.

18.Ms. Zou Xiaoqiao recalled that the Committee, in its concluding comments after considering the combined initial and second periodic report of Switzerland (CEDAW/C/CHE/1-2), had recommended that the State should strengthen the existing gender equality machinery by providing adequate human and financial resources at all levels. It was therefore disappointing that the Federal Bureau for Gender Equality had in fact been weakened by budget and staffing cuts, while some cantonal offices for gender equality had been closed down. Although she understood that such cuts had been implemented as a result of budgetary concerns, she wondered whether the federal and cantonal governments gave sufficient recognition to the importance of gender equality and whether they had the political will to allocate the necessary resources to that issue.

19.Ms. Ameline said that, while she welcomed the areas of progress described in the report, she was surprised at the administrative and legislative complexity of institutional mechanisms, which seemed to be hindering implementation of the Convention. She would appreciate additional information on the way in which competence for equality issues was shared between the federal and local levels. Bearing in mind that legislation was one of the most effective ways of achieving progress, and noting that a number of aspects of family law were decided at the local level, she wondered how Switzerland reconciled the need to ensure gender equality with the need to respect local autonomy, especially where the local administration was not as effective in promoting equality as might be expected. It was unclear whether in such cases the Federal Government could take the initiative and pass legislation that was binding on the cantons and municipalities. She also would welcome further information on the Federal Government’s capacity to monitor implementation of the provisions of the Convention and on its ability to take action to harmonize the measures taken at the local level.

20.Ms. Neubauer, recalling the recent budget and staffing cuts faced by the gender equality machinery, and the previous uneven efforts to strengthen that machinery at the cantonal and municipal levels, said that it would be useful to learn how many cantons, and which large municipalities, had explicit gender equality institutional structures at the executive level. She also wondered whether the Federal Parliament and cantonal parliaments had structures in place to ensure due consideration for gender equality in their work. Moreover, gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting was not integrated to the same extent in all departments of the administration. Given the successful implementation of gender mainstreaming by the Directorate for Development and Cooperation — which showed its importance to the federal administration — the Government should explain why it had not been better incorporated at the domestic level.

21.Ms. Popescu, stressing that temporary special measures were important tools for accelerating de facto equality between men and women, expressed concern that no such measures, other than awareness-raising initiatives, had been taken at the federal level, while only a few cantons had adopted flexible quotas to increase the proportion of women in various areas. According to article 4 of the Convention, temporary special measures were not a form of discrimination but were intended to be remedies redressing historical imbalances between the sexes. In the case of Switzerland, universal suffrage had been adopted relatively recently, in 1971, and full equality had not yet been attained in all political mechanisms. Nonetheless, the introduction of strict quotas had been rejected both in referendums and by the courts, on the grounds that it violated the provisions of article 8 of the Constitution, even though the Federal Supreme Court recognized the acceptability of quotas for ensuring the participation of linguistic minorities. Since the Federal Supreme Court had also confirmed the acceptability in principle of quotas applied to electoral lists that balanced the proportion of men and women for elections, it would be useful to know whether any political parties had used such quotas. Furthermore, it was disappointing that the Federal Supreme Court had ruled against using employment quotas in the recruitment process for an associate professor at the University of Fribourg, despite the very serious underrepresentation of women at that university.

22.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland) explained that her country’s Constitution was based on the principle of monism; in other words, once the State party had concluded an international treaty, no legislative measures were needed for its applicability under domestic law. However, the question of whether an individual article of the treaty was directly applicable, or “self-enforcing”, was a different issue; that was decided by the courts, depending on whether the article was precise enough to allow direct application. Some articles of the Convention were self-enforcing while others were not; legislative measures were required to apply those that were not, which would also be the case with any other convention. On the issue of federalism, it was important to clarify that, pursuant to article 3 of the Federal Constitution, all powers lay with the cantons unless the Constitution expressly specified otherwise.

23.The Convention was binding at the federal, cantonal and municipal levels of government. Though the differences between the various cantons in terms of their implementation of the Convention were not particularly great, the federal system gave them considerable freedom as to how they implemented its provisions, allowing them to achieve the same objectives in different ways. That said, decisions of the Federal Supreme Court in the areas of equality and non-discrimination had led to some uniformity of implementation within the Confederation.

24.Ms. Arioli (Switzerland) said that some cantons had given women the right to vote well before universal suffrage had been adopted in Switzerland in 1971. That demonstrated the strength of the federalist system and showed that in some cases the cantons were ahead of the Confederation in implementing new legislation.

25.Ms. Müller (Switzerland) said that while her Government recognized the importance of temporary special measures for advancing equality between men and women, it also sought to protect the individual rights of men who would be affected by them. The Federal Supreme Court was responsible for balancing the interests at stake. No temporary special measures had been adopted at the political level because the Government was not permitted to impose the use of quotas on political parties. Such measures had, however, been successfully taken to increase the number of women postgraduate students in universities.

26.Mr. Spenlé (Switzerland), explaining how the Convention was applied in the courts, said that it was important to explain how the symmetric and asymmetric use of discrimination concepts was interpreted. Since the principle of equal rights between men and women had been expressly introduced into the Federal Constitution, the Federal Supreme Court had often used the concept of discrimination as an antonym of equality. However, in recent years it had nuanced the concept of formal equality; for example, as indicated in paragraph 61 of the report, the federal insurance court in its decisions relating to gender equality in social insurance law was now taking into account the actual effect on one sex or the other in social reality. According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, affirmative measures by the State designed to compensate for historical discrimination were justified on the basis of article 8 of the Constitution, provided that they did not violate the constitutional rights of men to equal treatment and non-discrimination on the basis of sex. In the area of working life, article 3 of the Federal Equality Act took an asymmetric interpretation of discrimination by expressly providing that “appropriate steps” aimed at promoting de facto equality between men and women did not constitute discrimination.

27.Ms. Müller (Switzerland) said that the resources allocated to the Federal Bureau for Gender Equality had increased from 5.5 million Swiss francs in 2000 (8 full-time posts) to 7 million Swiss francs in 2006 (12 full-time posts) and 7.8 million Swiss francs (12 full-time posts) in 2009. The figure for 2009 was lower than originally envisaged, owing to an across-the-board percentage budget reduction applicable to all federal administration departments.

28.Ms. Arioli (Switzerland) said that there were 25 gender equality offices at the federal level, while such offices also existed in 17 cantons and five cities, namely Berne, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne and Winterthur. In June 2008, Basel had voted in favour of keeping open its gender equality office. Although cantonal gender equality offices were not subject to budget restrictions, their structures varied greatly. While the office in Zurich had five full-time posts, those in small cantons often had just one employee.

29.Ms. Müller (Switzerland) agreed that gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting was a key issue for the Directorate for Development and Cooperation, which had had time to build up considerable know-how in the area. Though efforts were being made to integrate gender mainstreaming throughout the federal administration, that was not proving an easy task. The Federal Bureau for Gender Equality provided support for departments willing to apply that principle to their activities, and also referred them to the Directorate for Development and Cooperation so that they could draw on its extensive know-how.

30.Public awareness-raising measures were vital to ensure implementation of the Convention and the Optional Protocol. A series of actions had been undertaken in that regard, some of which were described in the third periodic report. A brochure describing the areas of equality directly concerned by the Convention and explaining the Optional Protocol mechanism had also been prepared, and a number of seminars had been organized, in conjunction with other federal bodies, for specific target groups.

31.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland) said that while her Government would not be withdrawing its reservation to article 15 of the Convention, regarding disputes over matrimonial property, the transitional law in question only applied to a limited number of married couples, and the problem would resolve itself in due course. As for article 16 on the question of family names, the Swiss reservation to it would stand until the National Council, which had proposed that husbands might use a dual name as wives currently did, finished deliberating on the matter at that year’s parliamentary session and found a viable solution.

32.Ms. Müller (Switzerland) said that while no special structure existed in the Federal Parliament to address gender issues exclusively, all new laws elaborated in Switzerland were submitted to the Federal Bureau for Gender Equality for consideration; furthermore, politicians interested in gender equality questions met informally at each session of Parliament to discuss strategies for action.

33.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland) said that the Directorate for Public International Law and the Federal Commission on Women’s Issues could also give their opinions on proposed legislation.

34.Mr. Flinterman said that the consequences of the judiciary’s conclusion that, as a general rule, the provisions of the Convention could not be applied fully, were far-reaching: women’s organizations could not invoke the Convention’s provisions directly in court, and the Supreme Court itself could not take them into account when interpreting Swiss law. As a result, the scope of Supreme Court decisions such as the University of Fribourg case was narrower in terms of discrimination, equality and temporary special measures, than it would have been had the Convention been invoked.

35.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland) said that the executive branch, not the judiciary, had determined that the norms of international conventions were not self-executing. The Supreme Court did not take the provisions of the Convention into account mainly because it needed to become better familiarized with them; there was certainly work to be done in that respect.

36.Ms. Šimonović said that she would like to know what would happen in the event that the Federal Council decided that articles 9, 15, 7 and 16 of the Convention were directly applicable but the others were merely programmatic, as stated in the response to question 1 of the list of issues. Could the courts decide at a later date to apply, for instance, articles 2 or 4 in specific cases?

37.Mr. Spenlé (Switzerland) said that Switzerland applied the principle of monism, meaning that provisions of treaties to which it was a party could indeed be invoked directly in the national courts. For that reason, his Government was always careful to determine whether the Swiss Constitution was compatible with an international convention before ratifying it. While the Government might have expressed the view that the main articles of the conventions it had ratified were programmatic, and thus not directly applicable, the courts were not bound by the views of the executive branch. Thus, in courts at the cantonal level, for instance, judges could decide for themselves what provisions they considered to be applicable. With regard to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, Switzerland had ratified it only recently, on 29 December 2008, and as yet no communications had been submitted under the Optional Protocol.

38.The Chairperson, speaking in her capacity as an expert, said that while significant progress had been made on the issue of negative stereotypes of women in Swiss society, she hoped that the remaining problems would be addressed, possibly through temporary special measures. As a country hosting large numbers of foreigners and asylum-seekers, Switzerland must also remedy the poor image and lack of respect for the cultural specificities of foreigners, in addition to addressing violence targeting them. With regard to human trafficking, there was a gap in data regarding trafficking of women and girls, and more information was also needed on the rights of victims, the manner in which they were treated by the authorities and availability of shelters.

39.Ms. Murillo de la Vega said that the disparity in number of hours per week devoted to family life by women and men, an average of 32 and 18 hours respectively, had a negative impact on the image of women in society, while enabling men to participate more fully in civic life than women. Noting with concern that a gender perspective had been introduced into a mere third of national research programmes, she requested clarification on the measures envisaged to raise awareness of the Convention in Swiss universities. An explanation was also needed of the different career paths and profiles set forth in the projects approved by the Federal Office for Professional (Vocational) Education and Technology.

40.Ms. Awori commended the actions taken in the area of trafficking and the prosecutions and convictions under new article 182 of the Penal Code. She inquired about the status of the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Turning to the 2009 amendment to the law on assistance to victims of trafficking, she noted that cantons must take into account the needs of different categories of victims. Noting with pleasure the measures taken on victim protection, she inquired whether it was still contingent upon victims’ cooperation with investigations conducted by the authorities. She also wondered whether Switzerland adhered to the non-refoulement principle, and requested additional information on long-term residence permits. In addition, she would like to know more about the level of federal funding for rehabilitation of victims of trafficking, including through job training and confidential health care.

41.Ms. Chutikul said that she would like to know the reason for the delay in setting up cooperative mechanisms to assist and protect victims of human trafficking, given that out of 26 cantons, only 9 currently had such mechanisms in place. She also requested clarification of the stipulation in the new Law on Foreign Nationals that required victims and witnesses of human trafficking to cooperate with authorities conducting an investigation in order to be granted a residence permit, and to do so without being guaranteed comprehensive protection by the Government. Such a requirement ran counter to the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking proposed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2002.

42.She would appreciate further details on the specific aid given to victims of human trafficking under the provisions of the revised Victim Support Act that had entered into force on 1 January 2009. Moreover, it would be useful to know what measures were envisaged to stop forced prostitution of women who were in the country illegally. Lastly, she saw a need for a comprehensive strategic plan against human trafficking, and wondered whether Switzerland might undertake to formulate such a plan.

43.Ms. Begum, noting the rising proportion of elderly persons mentioned in the report, along with the fact that 66 per cent of persons aged 79 and older were women, said that she would like to know what mechanisms were in place to protect elderly women from violence, ageism and sexual exploitation. With regard to nursing homes, she also wondered how the Government went about monitoring the conduct of caregivers, who in many cases were the perpetrators of elder abuse.

44.In addition, she expressed concern at the situation of foreign women, many of whom were subjected to discrimination and domestic violence but were afraid to seek legal remedies because of their temporary residence permits. In that connection, she urged the delegation to facilitate foreign women’s access to justice, and to pay special attention to the situation of migrant women, who were particularly vulnerable.

45.The number of shelters for battered women was insufficient for the more than 10,000 women who sought police protection every year; it would be useful to know whether there were plans to build additional shelters, and to adopt a law on domestic violence that protected the victims. Lastly, what steps were envisaged to address the rise in AIDS infection and forced female genital mutilation among women?

46.Ms. Pimentel said that migrant women who suffered domestic violence were often reluctant to return to their country of origin, fearing that they would lose custody of their children and that they would be ostracized by society. Foreign spouses were permitted to live in Switzerland under family reunification measures, in view of which she asked what measures were being taken to guarantee the right of residence of victims of violent spouses where the family broke up. Did the Government intend to relax the provisions of the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals requiring foreign spouses to show that social reintegration in a country of origin would be difficult, or in cases where factors outside the control of the spouse prevented integration in Switzerland? That would allow victims of domestic violence to obtain a residence permit without fulfilling other conditions.

47.It appeared that migrant workers fell into two categories: those from Europe or North America, and those from the rest of the world. She asked if that was so. She also wondered why the L residence permit applied only to cabaret dancers and not to other short-term workers.

48.The third periodic report indicated that, in 2006, 86 per cent of persons convicted of rape were male. Notwithstanding revision of the Penal Code in 2004 to facilitate prosecution in cases of domestic violence, in practice proceedings were often suspended in such cases. What measures were being taken to remedy that situation and to ensure that perpetrators were punished?

49.Ms. Rasekh noted the lack of uniform statistical data and of regular reports on violence against women owing to the division of authority between the Confederation and the cantons. States parties had an obligation to take special measures to combat violence against women, the first step being identification of the problem through data collection. She wished to know what plans the Government had to establish an appropriate system for the collection of data on domestic violence.

50.The report indicated that there were only 18 women’s shelters, which was not enough. Migrant women might be reluctant to bring charges against abusive spouses if they could not be placed in shelters.

51.She asked what the status of ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was. Lastly, what action was being taken to prevent and combat child pornography, especially as it affected young girls?

52.Mr. Mesaric (Switzerland) said that the Swiss Government had decided to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in 2008, but the fact that its provisions affected both the Federal Government and the cantons, meant that new legislation would be required. Consultations with the cantons and civil society should be concluded by the end of 2009; in 2010 the draft legislation should go before Parliament, enabling ratification of the Convention in 2011. That was an extremely fast time frame compared with the ratification process for other international instruments.

53.On the issue of residence permits for victims of trafficking, in fact victims could apply for permits in view of their special need, whether or not they cooperated with prosecutors and the police. The Federal Office for Migration intended to issue a new directive to provide cantons with guidance in that regard.

54.The federal system in Switzerland made it difficult to collect uniform data, since cantons collected data in different ways. In fact, in 2009, a new unified data collection system had been established for police use, and should produce updated statistics by 2010, thereby allowing a clearer understanding of the situation.

55.In 2007, the Swiss Coordination Unit against the Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (KSMM) had issued a report setting out the country’s priorities in combating trafficking in the form of a national action plan.

56.Under the 2009 law on victim assistance, cantons were required to take account of the special needs of victims of trafficking, thereby providing a firmer legal basis for support by non-governmental organizations. The new legislation allowed cantons to entrust responsibility for care to specialized organizations, including non-governmental organizations. Responsibility for funding lay with the cantons. The initial focus was on French-speaking cantons, with support being provided by the Coordination Unit against Trafficking in Persons. Funding was also a subject of discussion at the round tables established in certain cantons, which brought together the various agencies involved in combating human trafficking. While only 13 cantons had so far established such round tables, the Federal Government was encouraging their establishment, but could not impose any specific structure on the cantons, which were competent in such matters.

57.Ms. Zbinden (Switzerland) said that the integration of migrant women was a major concern in policy on aliens at the level of the Confederation as well as of the cantons and communes, as provided for in new legislation adopted in 2008. The Federal Office for Migration had spent some 13 million Swiss francs on integration projects designed to allow migrant women to enter the labour market through the provision of mentoring and language courses. Awareness-raising activities would also be conducted in order to counter stereotypes.

58.As stated, foreign spouses who suffered domestic violence could remain in Switzerland, as could divorced spouses who had spent three years in the country. New legislation had reduced cantonal discretion in that area. Lastly, with regard to health care, the Federal Office of Public Health had a number of programmes to promote the health of migrant women, including sexual and reproductive health programmes.

59.Ms. Arioli (Switzerland) said that the FIZ Makasi centre in Zurich provided services for victims of trafficking throughout German-speaking Switzerland. The State provided one third of its funding, the remainder coming from private sources. Other organizations operated in other cantons.

60.Ms. Mascetta (Switzerland) said that child pornography was prohibited under the Penal Code. Outreach activities were conducted in schools to raise awareness. Activities were also conducted for professionals dealing with children. The Swiss Alliance for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse, a grouping of non‑governmental organizations, was also active in conducting outreach activities, including seminars on cyber crime and paedophilia. In 2003, a national service had been established to coordinate measures against such crime, and in 2008 a national symposium had been conducted. The National Service provided information and also monitored Internet use.

61.Ms. Weichelt (Switzerland) said there had been public outrage at recent cases of abuse of elderly women, and that the perpetrators would be prosecuted and punished as provided for by the Penal Code.

The meeting rose at 1.05 p.m.