Workplace fairness law, support for families feature in Singapore’s report to UN

SINGAPORE - Singapore’s efforts to protect workers from discrimination and to provide families with strong support in raising children were highlighted in the Republic’s latest report to the United Nations, submitted as part of a routine review of each member state’s human rights record.

The report, which is publicly available on the UN website, took stock of the human rights situation in the city-state and outlined the progress made in implementing recommendations that it accepted during the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2021.

The UPR looks at the human rights records of all 193 UN member states every five years. Its assessment is based on reports submitted by the country under review, its civil society organisations, as well as the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Following its previous UPR in 2021, Singapore supported 210 out of the 324 recommendations received. It supported 125 of the 236 recommendations received in 2016.

The latest national report said Singapore has made significant strides in equality and non-discrimination through legislative reforms.

These included the passing of landmark workplace fairness laws that will kick in at end-2027, which prohibit discrimination based on age; nationality; sex, marital status, pregnancy status and caregiving responsibilities; race, religion and language; and disability and mental health conditions.

Following extensive public consultations and parliamentary debate, the Government repealed Section 377A, a colonial-era law that criminalised gay sex. This took effect on Jan 3, 2023.

Parliament simultaneously enacted Article 156 of the Constitution to clarify that it is for the legislature to define, regulate, protect, safeguard, support, foster and promote marriage.

“This balanced approach shows Singapore’s commitment to respond to changes in social attitudes, while upholding the consensus of society,” the report said.

“It has allowed us to accommodate divergent interests and strike the right balance for our society on deeply held, even conflicting, views on important issues of moral conscience.”

The enactment of the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act in 2025 consolidated all existing race-related offences here and clarified the scope of such offences, while also introducing softer measures to encourage reconciliation and better understanding between the races.

Support for children, women, migrants, people with disabilities and older people has also been reinforced through targeted policies and community measures, the report noted. This included the introduction of a White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development in 2022, which set forth 25 collective action plans to empower, uplift and support women.

On the topic of children and family life, Singapore has enhanced its government-paid leave schemes for parents and introduced tripartite guidelines that made it mandatory for all Singaporean employers to formally consider employee requests for flexible work arrangements.

The Republic also achieved 93 per cent enrolment at the pre-school level in 2025 through a steady increase in government-supported pre-school places over the past decade and more than $2 billion invested in early childhood education annually, the report added.

In the report, which was submitted to the UN in January, Singapore said it is fully committed to the protection and promotion of human rights of its people, and set out its approach to these rights.

The Republic takes a pragmatic and outcomes-based approach to the realisation of human rights, with the belief that in each country, a balance has to be struck between the rights of individuals and the interests of society as a whole, while responding to society’s aspirations.

It also believes that the rule of law is a necessary precondition to realising fundamental human rights, and is staunchly committed to upholding this principle.

On the topic of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, the report said every citizen in Singapore has a constitutionally protected right to these freedoms, and that these freedoms must be exercised responsibly to protect Singapore’s social harmony and stability.

Given the growing threat of foreign interference in countries’ domestic politics, Singapore enacted the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) in 2021 to ensure that politics in Singapore remains for Singaporeans to decide, it added.

“FICA also includes comprehensive safeguards to protect legitimate political expression and does not apply to Singaporeans expressing their own views or foreigners engaging in commentary, reporting or research that is open, transparent and attributed,” it said.

Meanwhile, laws have been introduced to secure Singapore’s digital space, such as the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, which offers timely redress and better protection to victims of online harms, and the Online Criminal Harms Act, which empowers the Government to remove or block criminal content.

Singapore’s three-hour UPR session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will take place on May 12.

The delegation to the 2026 UPR will be led by Minister of State for Health and for Digital Development and Information Rahayu Mahzam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an April 6 statement.

“We look forward to continuing to engage in dialogue with fellow UN member states and civil society organisations on how we can continue improving the lives of those in Singapore, guided by our pragmatic and outcomes-based approach to human rights,” the statement added.