Access to Justice and Protection against Discrimination

SCHR has been focusing its work since 2016 on the following three long-term main research areas: Restriction and deprivation of freedom, access to justice and rights of particularly vulnerable groups in practice. Two subprojects focusing on access to justice deal with the hearing of children and access of women to the courts. The 2016 Annual Report presents these two subprojects in greater detail and explains why access to justice is so important for the realisation of basic human rights and for the rule of law. An interview with ombudswoman Claudia Kaufmann shows how access to justice can be impeded also in Switzerland.

The Annual Report also engages with the study entitled "Zugang zur Justiz in Diskriminierungsfällen", published in May 2016. This study addresses the issue of the protection offered in Switzerland against unlawful discrimination and how effective this protection may be considered to be. In addition, the Annual Report provides an overview of the publications, events and other activities of SCHR in 2016, provides information concerning the organisational structure, financing and usage of funds and presents the most important ongoing projects and challenges faced by the Centre.