Coordination at national level

• Author: Hornich, Patricia
• Pages: 68-69

68

9 COORDINATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The following Government departments are responsible for dealing with issues or

coordinating matters regarding non-discrimination:

• the Ministry of Social Affairs;132

• the Ministry of Home Affairs, Education and Environment;133

• the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Culture.134

The various ministries are involved in different aspects of discrimination. The Ministry of

Social Affairs is responsible for the implementation of the AEWM and, since 2016, for the

Equal Opportunities Department, which mainly covers the ground of gender and, to a

certain extent, that of sexual orientation. Thus, the Ministry of Social Affairs is the

leading ministry within the Government with regard to discrimination. The Ministry is

responsible for the social policy of Liechtenstein,135 and one of its main tasks is to provide

social assistance and social insurance, which cover the grounds of age, disability and

gender. Other grounds are not explicitly mentioned in the corresponding laws. Thus, no

regulations exist stating that issues of sexual orientation, for example, fall within the

Ministry’s remit. Furthermore, there has been no explicit provision in any other

ministerial statement in this regard. The Ministry mainly coordinates the social security

systems in Liechtenstein, such as old-age and survivors’ insurance, health insurance and

maternity allowances. Part of its focus is on old-age policy and securing the financial

capacity of the national old age and widow’s/widower’s pension (the Alters- und

Hinterlassenenversicherung or AHV).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Culture is in charge of Liechtenstein’s

commitment to the further development and improved application of international law

and, in particular, human rights. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Education and

Environment has responsibility for public safety, civil protection, political rights, state and

municipal citizenship, civil status and the law on foreigners.

Cooperation between the different ministries is quite close since, according to the

Constitution, the Government is collegiate, and decisions are taken collectively.

Finally, the independent national Association for Human Rights in Liechtenstein promotes

human rights in areas that mainly affect the weakest groups in Liechtenstein society

(people with disabilities, children, single mothers, asylum seekers, undocumented

foreigners, etc.) and coordinates activities with respect to equal opportunities.

Additionally, it is tasked with the implementation of an interdepartmental anti-

discrimination policy.136 In 2019 the Association for Human Rights in Liechtenstein

became a member of the national Human Rights Institution. At the beginning of the

school year 2019/2020, together with Amnesty International (Liechtenstein), the

Association set up a series of workshops in Liechtenstein schools to support young people

in human rights education. In autumn 2019, the Mountain Group (a group of human

rights experts representing their countries on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva)

visited Liechtenstein and met with the Association for Human Rights. They discussed the

challenges of the human rights situation in Liechtenstein, coordination in the protection

132 Ministry of Social Affairs. See https://www.regierung.li/ministerien/ministerium-fuer-gesellschaft/.

133 Ministry of Home Affairs, Education and Environment. See

https://www.regierung.li/ministerien/ministerium-fuer-inneres-bildung-und-umwelt/.

134 Ministry o f Foreign Affairs, Justice and Culture. See https://www.regierung.li/ministerien/ministerium-fuer-

aeusseres-justiz-und-kultur.

135 The Ministry was newly created when the new Government took office in 2013 and has taken over

responsibilities from three previously existing ministries, the Ministries of Social Affairs, Health and Family

and Equal Opportunities.

136 Govern ment report for consultation, available at: http://www.llv.li/files/srk/vnb-scg.pdf.

Government bill (2016) for submission to the Parliament, available at:

http://bua.gmg.biz/BuA/default.aspx?year=2016&nr=57&content=449861478&erweitert=true.