A/HRC/45/15/Add.1 Annex Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to development on his mission to Switzerland I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Saad Alfarargi, visited Switzerland from 23 September to 2 October 2019, at the invitation of the Government. The main objective of the visit was to assess the advancement of the realization of the right to development in Switzerland and to identify remaining challenges, with a view to formulating recommendations to the Government and other stakeholders who are working towards implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. 2. During his 10-day visit, the Special Rapporteur visited the capital and the cantons of Bern, Ticino and Zug and was able to meet with a large number of government representatives, civil society organizations and academics. 3. The Special Rapporteur expresses his gratitude to the Government for its excellent cooperation and to the civil society organizations, academics and other stakeholders for their valuable input.1 4. The visit to Switzerland was the second country visit conducted by the Special Rapporteur since the creation of the mandate in 2016 and his appointment in 2017. 5. The mandate given to the Special Rapporteur by the Human Rights Council is extremely broad. As the time frame of a country visit is short, it was necessary to limit the scope of the visit, focusing on the implementation of the right to development in only a few areas of human development. The Special Rapporteur regrets that time constraints did not permit him to assess the full spectrum of the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right to development in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur believes that fruitful lessons can be drawn from the areas that he was able to look into and that his conclusions and recommendations will serve to assist the Government and other stakeholders with improving their work in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the rest of the post-2015 development framework, as set out in the above-mentioned policy documents, in a manner compliant with human rights, including, in particular, the right to development. The Special Rapporteur paid special attention to the gender dimension, considering the developmental challenges that women and girls face. He also focused on the situation of the most disadvantaged parts of society and, mindful of article 1 of the Declaration on the Right to Development, paid particular attention to the problems that persons with disabilities are facing in participating in and enjoying economic, social, cultural and political development in the country. II. General context 6. Switzerland is a federal country that has long pursued a policy of neutrality. It became a Member of the United Nations in 2002, and is active in many United Nations and international entities. 7. The executive branch consists of the Federal Council. The seven members of the Council and the Federal Chancellor are elected by the United Federal Assembly (National Council and Council of States) for a four-year term of office. The United Federal Assembly 1 2 The submissions will be available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/SRDevelopment/ Pages/SRDevelopmentIndex.aspx.