Swiss Child Poverty Exposes Unequal Family Support

About 114,000 children in Switzerland live in poverty, and another 315,000 are at risk, according to the Swiss Network for Children's Rights. Children in single-parent households and large families face particular exposure. The network is calling for a national strategy to combat child poverty.

Poverty and children's rights

The network said poverty damages children's living standards and limits their education, development and health opportunities, as well as their ability to participate in society. Its call for a national strategy includes binding targets and systematic performance reviews. It also wants child poverty included as a distinct part of the National Poverty Monitoring System.

The network wants nationwide minimum standards for family benefits. At present, the support a family receives depends on its canton of residence and residency status, it said. The network is calling for one national approach instead of a patchwork of cantonal benefits.

Key children's rights in Switzerland still aren't being satisfactorily implemented, the network said. It called for action on recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and said current arrangements leave important gaps in assessment and information.

Child rights impact assessment appears only in message guidelines, according to the network. Data gaps remain, too. They include information about children placed outside their families and the reasons for child protection measures.

A national strategy and accountability

The network's proposed strategy would set binding targets and require systematic performance reviews. It also wants child poverty tracked through a child-specific component in the National Poverty Monitoring System, alongside nationwide minimum standards for family benefits.

The network said the present system ties support to where a family lives and its residency status. National standards, it said, would address differences between cantonal benefits that leave support dependent on residence. The proposed strategy would replace that patchwork with a countrywide framework.

The network said the shortfall showed most clearly in the Ombudsman's Office for Children's Rights. Parliament issued the office's mandate in 2020. During consultation, a clear majority supported an independent body that would advise children individually and mediate when necessary.

The Ombudsman's Office

The network said the federal government “is sticking to a watered-down solution that omits precisely these elements”. It identified those elements as an independent office, individual advice for children and mediation when necessary.

The network linked the proposed office to wider gaps in children's rights implementation. It said child rights impact assessment remains limited to message guidelines, while information is missing about children placed outside their families and the reasons for child protection measures.

The network wants a national strategy, binding targets, regular performance reviews, child-specific poverty monitoring and minimum standards for family benefits. It also wants an independent Ombudsman's Office for Children's Rights with the functions a clear majority supported during consultation. Its figures put 114,000 children in Switzerland in poverty and another 315,000 at risk; children in single-parent households and large families face particular exposure.