Protecting and promoting the rights of the poorest

Rule of law is based on an independent judiciary, the equality of all citizens before the law, the priority of the constitution and respect for human rights at civic and political level.

SDC focus

On the ground, the SDC encourages governance in countries of the East and South so as to improve the social, political, economic and environmental conditions of their citizens. Empowerment – the emancipation of individuals and of poor and extremely poor groups – and the encouragement of equal participation by women and men rank high among its concerns.

In conflict or post-conflict situations, the SDC supports national human rights institutions in order to protect refugees and internally displaced persons. In Afghanistan, Nepal and Colombia for instance the SDC also cooperates closely with multilateral organizations like the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights or the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Background

Rule of law requires the existence of a consistent, binding legal framework for the work of government authorities. This also entails the application of immutable rules for peaceful coexistence in society, as well as respecting the dignity and rights of the individual, including the poorest and socially most marginalized.

That is why international cooperation makes every effort to foster access to justice and to promote rule of law, supporting reform of the judiciary, police and institutions responsible for penal enforcement. In addition, it cooperates with national human rights committees and NGOs to protect and nurture the rights of the individual and of poor and disadvantaged groups.

Links

Voices of the poor
Study of the World Bank collecting the voices of more than 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries, in an unprecedented effort to understand poverty from the perspective of the poor themselves.

Current projects

Object 1 – 12 of 14

OCHA Core Contribution 2024-2025

01.01.2024 - 31.12.2025

Switzerland’s objective is to support the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) with high-quality funding while advocating for new, more inclusive and forward-looking ways of working to enable an efficient and effective humanitarian response to people in need in accordance with humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law. OCHA is a priority organization for Switzerland.


Improved Resilience of Children with Disabilities through DRR

01.03.2016 - 28.02.2017

The project seeks to improve the resilience of Children with Disabilities living in the Pongsan School for the Deaf through the development of their DRR capacities and the improvement of their living environment. The activities are considered as an inception of a further project focused on six schools for children with sensory impairments and lays an emphasis on the introduction of a School-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (SBDRR) Plan, which aims to strengthening the capacities of the children, their teachers and caretakers, the surrounding community and the relevant provincial and national authorities while also improving their infrastructure.


Réduction des risques de catastrophes « naturelles » dans le Département du Sud-Est d’Haïti (RRC / Sud-Est)

01.02.2016 - 31.08.2018

Dans un contexte de catastrophes « naturelles » récurrentes qui minent les efforts de redressement du pays, le projet vise à réduire les risques de catastrophes pour les populations rurales et périurbaines de la munici­palité de Jacmel (département du Sud-Est) en créant d’une part des conditions favorables à la prise de me­sures de prévention grâce à des actions de formation et de promotion d’une gouvernance locale du risque, et en stimulant d’autre part une demande pour des mesures par une sensibilisation de la population.


Forging a common «Nile culture» through music and academic training

Nile Project musicians on a boat.

01.05.2015 - 10.10.2021

To make the Nile Basin a common ground and shared ecosystem for the inhabitants of the eleven countries through which the Nile River flows, the SDC supports the innovative musical and educational Nile Project. The project brings together artists, students and concerned citizens. A series of acclaimed concerts has taken place since 2013; at the same time, students are developing initiatives to foster a better use of water resources.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Egypt
Culture / development awareness
Employment & economic development
Education
Climate change and environment
Gender
Governance
Migration
Other
Vocational training
Human rights
Rule of Law - Democracy - Human rights
Culture & recreation
SME development
Education policy
Disaster risk reduction DRR
Women’s equality organisations and institutions
Democratic participation and civil society
Information and communication technology (ICT)
Migration generally (development aspects and partnerships)
Sector not specified
Development awareness
Business support & economic inclusion
Environmental policy
Public sector policy
Vocational training
Biosphere protection
Legal and judicial development
Human rights (incl. Women's rights)

01.05.2015 - 10.10.2021


CHF  750’000



CARITAS programme contribution South and Humanitarian Aid 2015 - 2016

01.01.2015 - 31.12.2016

CARITAS Switzerland is committed to a world in which the rights and dignity of every human being are re­spected and all people – regardless of their race, sex, religion or political persuasion – have access to food, water, shelter, health, education and work. Being committed to the Human Rights and Millennium Develop­ment Goals, CARITAS engages in long-term development cooperation, disaster risk reduction and humani­tarian aid.


Disaster risk reduction

01.06.2014 - 31.12.2018

The effects of climate change and the impact of natural hazards keep affecting rural vulnerable livelihoods. The Bolivian Government prioritised food security to reduce extreme poverty through major increase of public investments in sectors of water resources (dam) & on rural development (irrigation system, soil conservation, and early warning system). The risk of failure of these infrastructures because of disasters is high for lack of integrated risk management and climate change adaptation (CCA). The SDC project intends to strengthen the resilience of the existing and future infrastructures in the sectors.


Programa de Reduccion de Riesgo de Desastres -PRRD 4: Promoting culture of Resilience

18.03.2014 - 31.12.2018

Bolivia is one of the countries worldwide with highest risk from impact of climate change (CC). The latter affects the socio-economic development of the country and in particular rural vulnerable livelihoods. Disaster Risk Reduction is not properly developed in public policies although the Bolivian Government is keen to reduce the vulnerability. The SDC project intends to develop a lasting/sustainable culture of resilience among public sector with training of key agents of change and raising awareness among population.



Institutional Support to Network of Associations of Local Authorities in South East Europe (NALAS)

01.07.2013 - 31.12.2027

With an institutional support to the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South – East Europe (NALAS), SDC supports the decentralization and democratization processes as well as stability in South East Europe (SEE). NALAS strengthens national associations of local governments and fosters communication and cooperation among them. Through its advocacy activities, NALAS will support local governments in SEE to become more visible and taken into account, both by national governments and European institutions.


Culture and Small Action Project

01.01.2013 - 31.12.2016

SDC's Small Action Projects are a flexible and efficient tool to respond to local needs that couldn’t be directly addressed by the main programmes within the Swiss Cooperation Strategy (CS), while Culture Projects support local cultural initiatives and Swiss-Mongolian exchanges.


Improved Access to Human Rights for People in Bangladesh

15.07.2012 - 31.12.2016

Despite the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Human Rights (HR) violations are still very much present in Bangladesh, especially in the rural areas. The present project will make available funding to support the NHRC as well as the country’s leading HR NGO in their endeavour to improve promotion and protection of HR country-wide. The project is part of a joint undertaking of a consortium of like-minded donor partners.


Object 1 – 12 of 14