Integration of refugees in Switzerland: What role for families?
by Catherine MALLET
The Salvation Army in Switzerland recently attended a conference organized by the Federal Department of Home Affairs on the role of the family for refugees and the importance of supporting families in their integration in the country (‘Fuir son pays: La famille est-elle une ressource ou un fardeau?’).
Jacqueline Fehr, President of the EKFF (Forum of Family Questions) said that they hoped to support parents to raise their children, and help young children in the Swiss structures as they have a real opportunity to integrate. Families struggle with psychological difficulties but we do not care for them well. The number of refugee children under 5 arriving is doubled in 5 years. What refugees and people experience in Switzerland is decided by all of us and that makes a difference. Migration will not stop she said - it will continue generation after generation. However it is not enough to give refugees a roof over their heads; they must quickly start a life here.
Simonetta Sommaruga, Federal Councillor at the Federal Court of Justice and Police explained that the children of migrants and refugees settle here and Switzerland became their home. Family roles are no different for refugees compared to Swiss families. Many women remain at home to care for their families and, as a result, they will lack the capacity to cope with Swiss society. We have to look after them. We must also integrate children into schools and associations;: this youth is a potential for our country she stressed.
The working quota after 5 years of presence in Switzerland is only 28% for the whole country. That is why the government launched the ‘integration agenda’. Last year there were 10,000 learning places remained unfilled and 3,000 of them had no applicants at all. And yet many refugees cannot find work. 80% of asylum seekers in Switzerland have the right to stay and be protected. At the moment there are 5000 young people without parents (unaccompanied minors in Switzerland) and they lack all forms of support. Their monitoring is the responsibility of the cantons and each young person to a reference person. But an active 'case management' is necessary. Global migration remains constant at 3% and in Switzerland it is around 2%. People of foreign origin are around 110,000 or 5.8% are asylum seekers.
The population is truly in solidarity with refugees and asylum-seekers. We are dependent on civil society to solve the situation. The question is how to organize volunteers who want to help?
Minh Son Nguyen, lawyer and professor at the Universities of Neuchâtel and Lausanne explained that refugee families experience separation, reunion, rejection, and then they continue family life in Switzerland but in what does it look like? We need to create a residence permit, so that family life can happen in Switzerland. The family unit is a basic principle (UNHCR) but nothing can be done without the state. Switzerland has adhered to international conventions, the concept of the family unity, family protection of refugees and the protection of children. However there is paradoxical legislation for example in the refusal of the marriage of undocumented migrants.
Gianni D'Amato, Professor at the University of Neuchâtel stressed that seeking refuge is a global phenomenon and we are at a historically high point. The conditions of life in the refugee camps are atrocious and that is why people try to go further. Three quarters of asylum seekers are under 30 years of age and the majority are men between 20-24 years of age. The number of incoming minors is increasing. Integration is important he stressed but more important is support for the family. We need to create a flexible system of education and link this with civil society with the help of volunteers.
Indeed families do often not have insurance but that the family is their insurance. Migration is not a choice. The result is a dramatic situation, lack of security and knowledge about the next day. However the family is an important resource. The difficulties with young refugees and their families are in self-perception - as roles are often reversed and young people do not accept counselling or parental authority. Moreover, young people live a very different daily life from that of their parents and cannot share it with their parents. Education and training are the key words for the successful integration of young migrants and refugees.
Dr. Fana Asefaw, Psychiatric Clinic Clienia Littenheid, Winterthur stressed that specialists need more creativity and new ideas to meet the refugee who come to see them because of urgent and heavy problems. As specialists we must meet the individual - something incomprehensible for systems. It is a huge lack for refugees to have lost the large family left behind. Children play an important role in the family, even if the mother works. In the country, the whole village is responsible for the children, here the mother is alone. We must remember that it is healthy people who are fleeing their countries. They arrive with a paradise-like image of Europe. The dream can turn into a nightmare, here they lack security and are scared.
In practice, refugee children do not have the same opportunities to learn. They cannot manage their rights and duties in the same way. Access to languages is essential. The lack of recognition of training in the countries of origin is a loss of resources.
The problems are fundamental and are not only present in refugee families; there are positive sides as well as negative sides of family life. Parents with no prospects for the future can be difficult for children. We need to look for creative solutions. She highlighted that 19-46% of adult refugees are traumatized with post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety.
Andi Kunz, Head of Migration Service, Canton of Schaffhausen explained that volunteers wanted to get involved in helping refugees and the cantons had to organize them. It's really worth investing in refugees he said; it's the quickest path to integration.
Tags: Europe