Evaluation of the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights

The Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights (SCHR) was a pilot project on behalf of the Swiss Federal Government. It aimed at promoting the implementation of international human rights obligations in Switzerland and at advising and supporting the authorities, the civil society and the business sector.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR), together with the Swiss Consultancy Econcept, Zurich, was commissioned to evaluate the SCHR with the perspective of the further status and tasks of the Centre.

In the course of the evaluation, benefit and added value of the SCHR were analysed and recommendations on possible transformation and development of the organisation were elaborated.

The evaluation will be one of the cornerstones for the decision of the Swiss Federal Council whether or not the SCHR should be transformed into an independent National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) which conforms to the internationally valid ”Paris Principles”.

The LBI-GMR elaborated a comparative study on different models of NHRI (comparison of five NHRI – Germany, Austria, France, Ireland, and Norway) in order to give an overview of strengths and weaknesses of the different models.