International human rights protect the rights of women
The right of protection from discrimination and the equality of men and women are basic rights that are regarded as fundamental tenets of international human rights.
Switzerland slow to ratify
In comparison with its European neighbours, Switzerland adopted general human rights standards at a relatively late date: the European Convention on Human Rights in 1974, the two human rights covenants in 1992, the Convention on Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1997.
The two human rights covenants
Both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Covenant 1) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Covenant II) forbid discrimination (article 2). Both these human rights treaties include the imperative of equality between men and women (article 3). The state parties undertake to actively combat gender discrimination and to ensure the de facto equality of men and women in the exercise of all their human rights.
