58 Recommendations for Improving Human Rights

Introduce a more efficient, transparent, and participatory process for prioritizing recommendations. Additionally, assume greater leadership responsibility and allocate more operational resources to the implementation of international recommendations.

Enact a binding code of ethics for journalists that enshrines the principles of truth, freedom of expression, and protection against discrimination.

Enact a law on religious communities that guarantees freedom of religion and equal treatment for all religions.

Urgently resume efforts to establish burial sites for Muslims that comply with their religious beliefs.

Urgently enact a comprehensive equal treatment law (anti-discrimination law).

Adopt a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy for the public sector, a code of conduct against corruption for the state police, and binding rules for state legislators on how to handle conflicts of interest, confidential information, outside employment, contacts with third parties, and the acceptance of gifts.

Take concrete steps to address human rights violations committed by individuals subject to U.S. sanctions in Liechtenstein.

Develop an action plan against human trafficking and raise awareness of the national human trafficking hotline. Train judges, police officers, immigration authorities, and specialized human trafficking agencies.

Establish an independent body to investigate torture and handle complaints against the actions of police and correctional officers.

To establish the framework that will enable Liechtenstein authorities and the Liechtenstein National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to visit persons detained abroad.

Require audio or video recordings of all police interrogations. In all cases, automatically provide minors with a trusted person and legal counsel during interrogations.

Abolish the statute of limitations for torture in the Criminal Code and introduce appropriate penalties.

Establish the framework for a medical evaluation and a determination of fitness for detention within 24 hours of incarceration, and provide the necessary medical and psychiatric staff for the state prison.

Implement separate housing for people in deportation detention.

Urgently establish a standard procedure for the detention and supervision of minors, as well as rules governing children’s right to visit parents who are in prison or in pretrial detention.

Initiate a strategic process to expand the state prison in order to address deficiencies in infrastructure, as well as in educational and occupational programs.

Überprüfen, ob die Richtlinien für bewegungseinschränkende Massnahmen in allen sozialen Einrichtungen umgesetzt werden.

Establish a legal framework for residential care and create an independent ombudsman’s office for residents of nursing homes and social care facilities, as well as their relatives.

Establish a psychological emergency response service or implement a training, counseling, or support system for physicians in the event of psychological emergencies.

Enforce the treaty with Switzerland regarding the involuntary commitment of persons from Liechtenstein.

Revise the legal provisions on victim protection so that victims of crimes are not required to repay legal aid.

Introduce a right of association to file complaints in the area of human rights for recognized organizations and associations.

Rapidly ratify the Council of Europe’s Framework Law on AI and defend the EU’s AI Regulation and General Data Protection Regulation against attempts to weaken them.

Review the elimination of wage garnishment for asylum seekers.

Quickly conclude a new service agreement between the government and the refugee aid organization that also clarifies the issue of the organization’s independent representation of interests.

Examine alternatives to having laypeople represent asylum seekers in asylum proceedings and, if necessary, replace this with pro bono legal representation.

Establish a formal protection status in place of temporary admission for persons in need of protection who are not recognized as refugees.

Raise the age limit in Article 9 of the Asylum Ordinance for the accommodation and care of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers (UMAs) from 16 to 18 years of age, thereby bringing it into line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Allocate more resources for the implementation of the integration strategy.

Expand the availability of interpretation services in doctors’ offices to cover all health care services and other areas of society. Standardize funding and raise awareness of these services.

Introduce a hardship provision for family reunification in the Aliens Act and withdraw the reservation to Article 10 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Urgently introduce a standard employment contract for 24-hour care in private households.

Revise the standard employment contract for agricultural interns regarding working hours, minimum wage, meals, and housing.

Revise the implementing regulation on the deferral of health insurance payments so that emergency treatment is clearly defined and services not utilized during the deferral period are not counted as debt.

Conduct an in-depth analysis of the causes, risk factors, and consequences of poverty in order to develop a national action plan to address it. Allocate the necessary resources to implement this plan.

When implementing the aging strategy, pay particular attention to the challenges faced by vulnerable groups, such as older adults with a migrant background. In addition, allocate sufficient financial resources for its implementation.

Coordinate and fully implement the urgent recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in particular by developing a strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities.

Implement the recommendations of the Obsorge Working Group on child custody law and ensure a child-friendly justice system in accordance with international standards.

Take immediate steps to ensure the protection of children and young people when they use digital school devices unsupervised.

Undertake targeted government initiatives to ensure that state and local governments take a leading role in providing vocational training programs.

Develop and implement a prevention program to promote the mental health of children and adolescents, with a focus on disadvantaged children and adolescents.

Develop a national action plan to prevent and combat all forms of violence against children, based on the GREVIO recommendations and the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Rapidly finalize and implement a plan for the domestic juvenile justice system and abolish immigration detention for persons under the age of 18.

Provide the resources needed to develop an action plan for implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and establish the framework for collecting the necessary statistical data.

Consistently promote the development of accessible websites and mobile applications, while publishing key content in plain language.

Make election materials and processes accessible and inclusive. Bring procedures for disqualifying individuals from voting rights into line with the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Ensure that existing public and private victim assistance and counseling centers are designed to be inclusive and receive training so that they are accessible to people with disabilities.

Quickly implement a silent, accessible emergency call system for people at risk.

Finalize the gender equality strategy that has been consulted on as soon as possible and launch a coordinated implementation process with the necessary resources and the involvement of civil society.

Conduct a broad-based training program on the Istanbul Convention for the judiciary, the police, and government and nongovernmental agencies.

Implement a standardized data system for recording domestic violence in accordance with the Istanbul Convention.

Provide more resources and a national strategy to prevent violence in order to implement the Istanbul Convention.

Decriminalize abortion and cover it through health insurance. Ensure access to information and safe abortion and post-abortion care services for women and girls.

Prohibit gender-assigning surgeries on intersex children without medical necessity and without informed consent, and investigate medical counseling and treatment practices for intersex children.

Implement the ECRI’s 2018 urgent recommendation regarding the collection of data on the situation of LGBTIQA+ individuals in Liechtenstein.

Enact a modern civil status law that allows for the inclusion of a third gender category in the civil registry and other official documents, and establishes a human rights-compliant framework for gender reassignment.

Establish a legal framework for the rehabilitation and redress of individuals who were prosecuted in Liechtenstein in the past on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Demonstrate greater determination and commitment in implementing sustainability goals, and involve civil society in the development of implementation plans as well as through funding programs for sustainability projects.