Constitution of Switzerland

 

Article 4 National Languages
The National Languages are German, French, Italian, and Romansh.

Article 8 Equality
(1) Everyone is equal before the law.
(2) Nobody may be discriminated against, namely for his or her origin, race, sex, age, language, social position, way of life, religious, philosophical, or political convictions, or because of a corporal or mental disability.
(3) Men and women have equal rights. The law provides for legal and factual equality, particularly in the family, during education, and at the workplace. Men and women have the right to equal pay for work of equal value.
(4) The law provides for measures to eliminate disadvantages of disabled people.

Article 18 Freedom of Language
The freedom of language is guaranteed.

Article 70 Languages

(1) The official languages of the Confederation are German, French, and Italian. Romansh shall be an official language for communicating with persons of Romansh language.
(2) The Cantons shall designate their official languages. In order to preserve harmony between linguistic communities, they shall respect the traditional territorial distribution of languages, and take into account the indigenous linguistic minorities.
(3) The Confederation and the Cantons shall encourage understanding and exchange between the linguistic communities.
(4) The Confederation shall support the plurilingual Cantons in the fulfillment of their particular tasks.
(5) The Confederation shall support the measures taken by the Cantons of Grisons and Ticino tomaintain and to promote Romansh and Italian.