International Reporting

The visits, reports, and recommendations from international expert bodies of the UN and the Council of Europe are of inestimable value to Liechtenstein. They provide independent, well-founded, and comparable assessments of the implementation of human rights, thereby enabling targeted improvements. Through their recommendations, they promote the continuous advancement of human rights. Regular exchanges with these expert bodies strengthen domestic cooperation and promote knowledge transfer between government and non-governmental agencies. This creates synergies in the field of human rights protection. Without these external inputs, the advancement of human rights protection would proceed significantly more slowly and be less effective. All reports from human rights bodies, as well as the government’s national reports to these bodies, are available on the website of the Office of Foreign Affairs. The reports from the VMR and civil society (“shadow reports”) are published on the VMR’s website.

CPT – Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture

The CPT conducted a periodic visit to Liechtenstein from April 7 to 11, 2025. During this visit, the situation of persons in the national prison was examined, with particular attention to detention conditions and safeguards. In addition to the State Prison, the delegation also visited the Innsbruck and Saxerriet detention facilities, where Liechtenstein prisoners are held. It also visited the State Police and held discussions with government agencies, the District Court, and civil society. The report was adopted at the CPT plenary session from June 30 to July 4, 2025, but has not yet been published. It will be published only after the Liechtenstein authorities have agreed to lift its confidentiality.

GRECO – Council of Europe Group of Experts on Combating Corruption

During the reporting year, two reports by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Corruption (GRECO) on Liechtenstein were published: In its“ ” (First Evaluation Report of the 5th Round), “ ” published on May 27, 2025, the expert group assesses the effectiveness of Liechtenstein’s measures to prevent corruption and promote integrity within the government and law enforcement agencies. It contains a total of 20 recommendations. Among other things, GRECO reiterates its longstanding concern regarding the Prince’s powers to block or discontinue criminal proceedings against individuals holding the highest executive offices—powers that are viewed as a potential threat to the independence of the criminal justice system. In its second compliance report of the 4th round, published in December 2025, GRECO notes progress in implementing the 2020 recommendations regarding members of parliament, judges, and prosecutors. Of the 16 recommendations in total, Liechtenstein has now fully implemented ten and partially implemented five. One recommendation remains unimplemented.

GRETA – Council of Europe Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings

The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) published its third report on Liechtenstein on February 3, 2025. The recommendations accompanying the report were adopted on June 20, 2025, by the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The report calls on Liechtenstein to improve the identification of victims of human trafficking and their access to justice, and to strengthen efforts to combat labor exploitation. Although nine suspected victims of human trafficking were identified by the police between 2018 and 2023 (eight women, one man), none of them were formally recognized as victims. This means that there are currently no cases of human trafficking in Liechtenstein.

CEDAW – UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) published its concluding observations on Liechtenstein’s sixth state report in February 2025. Among other things, the Committee commended the fact that, for the first time, the government consists predominantly of women, but expressed concern about the underrepresentation of women in Parliament and on municipal councils. CEDAW also identified serious shortcomings in the area of protection against violence; for example, there is no national strategy for protection against violence. In the area of economic equality, CEDAW calls for measures to close the wage gap and reduce structural disadvantages faced by women in the workforce.

Domestic Implementation

To implement the reports and recommendations of international human rights bodies regarding Liechtenstein and to coordinate data collection and reporting to these bodies, the government established an internal administrative working group in 2019 under the leadership of the Office of Foreign Affairs. The working group is also tasked with engaging with external institutions and organizations that are central to the implementation of human rights in Liechtenstein, namely civil society organizations and private-sector actors.

Since 2024, the working group has been using a database to uniformly record, review, and prioritize all human rights recommendations received from international monitoring bodies since 2023. In 2025, the working group focused on prioritizing the recommendations and analyzing possible implementation measures. The database serves as an internal administrative tool and is not publicly accessible; as of the end of 2025, it contained approximately 500 entries. Reservations made by Liechtenstein upon ratification of human rights treaties are not recorded in it, as it is not a legal database. In terms of content, the working group focused in particular during the reporting year on analyzing the recommendations of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). During the reporting year 2025, the working group held three meetings. It further developed its working methods and processes and established clear distinctions from other existing working and coordination groups in the field of human rights.

Furthermore, the group coordinated reporting (e.g., the initial report on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and the preparation and follow-up of visits or dialogues by international bodies in Liechtenstein. Finally, it drafted implementation recommendations for the government. From the VMR’s perspective, the group’s composition and working methods are not optimally suited to publicizing human rights recommendations and advancing their implementation. With only three meetings per year, efficient progress is not possible given the volume and breadth of the recommendations.

The process of categorizing and proposing recommendations to the government is very slow. To implement individual recommendations, the group would need to have the authority to issue directives and have more operational resources at its disposal. The working group’s external communication is very limited. No efforts to publicize the recommendations to the general public are evident. Since the database containing all recommendations is not publicly accessible, it cannot contribute to raising awareness either.

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