Chapter 3: Social Goals
Article 41 consists of a list of "social goals" which the confederation and the cantons "shall strive to ensure". They include the availability of social security, health care, housing and public education.
These goals are of a programmatic nature, and are declared not to be directly enforceable. They are also counterbalanced by a reference to individual responsibility in article 6. This means that, contrary to many other Western constitutions, so-called positive or second- and third generation rights are mostly absent from the constitutional text, although they are more widely recognised in legal doctrine and practice. Even so, the inclusion of this provision in the constitution was strongly contested on grounds of economic policy and cantonal autonomy.
Read more about this topic: Title 2 Of The Swiss Federal Constitution
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