Position papers | Caritas Switzerland

Enforce human dignity in labour migration

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Today, almost a quarter of a billion people worldwide live outside their country of origin. Nearly one hundred million have migrated within or between developing regions in the hope of escaping from poverty, lack of prospects or violence. Around 25 million workers from developing countries, particularly from South and South East Asia, live in the Gulf States alone. They often become victims of various forms of exploitation and discrimination – during recruitment, on their journey or at their new place of work. Migration can offer these people prospects if they are able to work in decent conditions in their new location. In this Position Paper, Caritas Switzerland exposes the abuses that occur in the context of povertyrelated “South-South” labour migration and identifies key areas in which Switzerland can contribute, both in its foreign policy and as part of its international cooperation, to the enforcement of the human right to decent work. (September 2016) Download

The 2030 Agenda: a challenge for Switzerland

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Switzerland is committed to sustainable development. It has given its backing to the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015.This Position Paper focuses on the significance of the 2030 Agenda in terms of domestic policies and shows, by looking at individual policy areas, what the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals means in practice. At the same time, Caritas Switzerland calls on the government and administration to create the financial, political, structural and institutional conditions for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the interest of sustainable development. (June 2016) Download

Climate policy is integral to development policy

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International climate policy is facing key decisions. What is at stake is a binding World Climate Treaty with the overarching objective of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Switzerland must work to ensure that the urgently needed measures to protect the climate are not taken at the expense of sustainable development in the interest of disadvantaged and poor people. Because climate policy is also development policy. In this position paper, Caritas outlines how Swiss policy can meet this requirement. (November 2012) Download