Switzerland migrant children demand immigration policy apology

Children of migrants who came to enactment successful Switzerland implicit decades are demanding an apology for a argumentation they accidental destroyed families and near galore traumatised.

From the 1950s close up until the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of workers - archetypal from Italy, past from Spain, Portugal, and what was past Yugoslavia - made the travel to Switzerland.

They worked successful factories, connected roads and gathering sites, successful restaurants and hotels. Switzerland's highly palmy economy, its bully infrastructure, is without uncertainty owed successful portion to them.

But determination were flaws successful the system. The migrants were fixed nine- oregon 12-month permits; galore lived successful barracks, their lone relation successful Switzerland was to work.

And household members - including young children - were not allowed. A hubby and woman could enactment unneurotic successful Switzerland, but, the enactment permits stipulated, their children had to enactment astatine home.

Egidio Stigliano, present successful his 60s, remembers being taken astatine the property of 3 by his grandma to question to a bid leaving Italy to Switzerland.

"I didn't cognize my parent was connected the train," helium remembers. "They thought I was excessively young to beryllium told what was happening. But my parent wanted to spot maine 1 past time."

The strategy mightiness person worked if the migrant workers had truly been temporary. But their permits were renewed twelvemonth aft year, and immoderate spent their full lives moving successful Switzerland.

Melinda Nadj Obonji was conscionable a twelvemonth aged erstwhile she and her older member were near with their grandma successful Vojvodina successful Serbia. Despite their "no children" seasonal enactment permits, Melinda's parents hoped that, erstwhile settled successful Switzerland, they would beryllium allowed to nonstop for their children.

"They wrote letters to the migration police, but they were rejected, [the police] were precise strict. I deliberation this traumatised them for life, and besides america kids of course." Melinda present believes the migrant idiosyncratic laws "really destroyed our family".

Many mightiness inquire wherefore parents hopeless to beryllium reunited with their children did not simply spell home. But, arsenic is truthful often the lawsuit with migrant workers, the wealth they earned overseas kept poorness astatine bay astatine home.

In Italy, Portugal, oregon Kosovo, families and adjacent full villages came to beryllium babelike connected the wealth sent from Switzerland. Meanwhile Switzerland's system boomed connected the backmost of overseas labour.

Kristina Schulz, a historiographer and specializer successful migration astatine Neuchatel University, points retired that, successful the aftermath of World War Two, the Swiss strategy of recruiting workers from neighbouring countries was viewed precise positively.

"Those different countries were war-torn… and Switzerland needed workers. Southern Italy was poor… it was thought it was practically a humanitarian enactment to person them enactment here."

But galore parents, among them Egidio Stigliano's, could not carnivore to beryllium parted from their children. They developed concealed strategies for coping with the migration restrictions. Instead of pleading with the authorities to fto their children in, they smuggled them successful anyhow and kept them hidden.

Egidio arrived erstwhile helium was seven. "From the archetypal infinitesimal successful Switzerland I hid," helium says. "My dada couldn't explicate the migration argumentation to a child, truthful helium conscionable said, don't fto anyone spot you, conscionable enactment hidden and play successful the woods. So that's what I did."

Staying hidden meant not going to school. It meant, erstwhile Egidio broke his arm, having to find a doc who would support quiescent alternatively than spell consecutive to hospital. But 1 day, successful the woods, Egidio came crossed different radical of children, and could not defy joining successful their games.

That evening the constabulary were astatine the door, telling his parents the kid would person to leave. Only the involution of Egidio's father's boss, who agreed to sponsor him, allowed him to stay.

By the 1970s, it is estimated determination were thousands of hidden children successful Switzerland. Today, successful the past depository of the Swiss watchmaking municipality La Chaux de Fonds, determination is an accumulation showing what their lives were like.

Some mothers admit that they locked their children successful their apartments during the day, successful bid to guarantee nary 1 saw them. The children were allowed retired to play astatine night. Many families lived successful tiny studios because, the accumulation explains, having a bigger flat much suited to a household would person aroused suspicion.

"It's hard to ideate children locked astatine home, surviving alone, nary school," says depository manager Francesco Garufo. "And it's caller history... it's conscionable yesterday."

Historian Kristina Schulz finds the children's stories each the much shocking fixed Switzerland's devotion to household beingness aft the war.

"This was the caller ideology successful Switzerland... the thought of the beatified household that needed to beryllium protected, women couldn't ballot successful Switzerland until 1971, they weren't meant to work, they were astatine location with the children. So the thought of systematically destroying the families of migrant workers is truly astonishing."

Gradually, Switzerland's strategy began to beryllium undermined. Migrant workers protested, section constabulary and teachers turned a unsighted oculus to the "illegal" children successful their communities, immoderate villages adjacent acceptable up underground schools for migrant children.

The celebrated Swiss writer Max Frisch joined the debate, penning "we wanted workers, but we got radical instead".

Children, among them Melinda and Egidio, began to articulation their parents. Melinda, who was reunited with her parents erstwhile she was five, is present a writer and instrumentalist successful Zurich, Egidio a neuro pedagogue successful St Gallen.

In immoderate ways, they number themselves among the luckier ones: aft unit from Rome, the children of Italian migrants were allowed successful erstwhile their parents had worked much than 5 years successful Switzerland. Melinda's parents yet recovered a sympathetic Swiss bureaucrat and got support to bring their children.

But portion it was sometimes applied arbitrarily, the instrumentality banning children remained, and galore families remained divided for decades.

The seasonal enactment licence was yet abolished successful 2002, erstwhile Switzerland agreed to articulation the EU's escaped question of radical policy. Today, the children of the migrant workers are adults, and many, including Melinda and Egidio, person formed a radical demanding astatine slightest an acknowledgement of what they went through.

"First, I'd similar an apology from the Swiss state," says Melinda.

"I privation the communicative of migrant workers to beryllium successful Swiss past books, due to the fact that thousands of families suffered," adds Egidio.

An honorable reassessment of history, and an apology, could beryllium likely. Switzerland has already done this implicit its World War Two argumentation of turning distant Jewish refugees, and implicit the mode it removed children from azygous mothers oregon socially "problematic" families and sent them to enactment connected farms - wherever they were often abused.

Financial compensation has besides been mentioned, but for Egidio designation is much important. "The clip I could person spent with my family, astatine school, I can't get back. There's nary compensation for that."

The reappraisal of past has already begun, successful a probe task by Kristina Schulz astatine Neuchatel University, and astatine the depository successful La Chaux de Fonds.

But for depository manager Francesco Garufo, it is astir much than facing up to Switzerland's past. He thinks, arsenic Europe continues its often antagonistic statement implicit immigration, that lessons could beryllium learned for the future.

"In a affluent country, having thousands of children hidden, without societal rights, it's not the exemplary we privation contiguous successful Europe. So we person to deliberation astir this benignant of migration choice."