Federal study urges more help for racism victims

Doris Angst (left), commission general-secretary, and Georg Kreis, the president of the Federal Commission against Racism Keystone

Victims of racism urgently need more support services - particularly in central Switzerland and its border regions - according to a government-funded study.

The Federal Commission Against Racism – a key advisory body to the Swiss Government – on Thursday released a critical report about the lack of services for people suffering racism.

The report – the first of its kind in Switzerland – calls for more shelters for victims of racism, and the training of people from migrant backgrounds for support roles.

The study reviewed around 130 services from the government, churches, businesses, professional counsellors and community groups.

Beyond cities

Doris Angst, general-secretary of the commission, says service gaps remain acute in non-urban areas.

“Most of the counselling places are concentrated in more urban areas, while in Central Switzerland and in Ticino there are [fewer] places which a potential victim of racism could turn to,” she noted.

The commission says attention must be focused on offering counselling to victims of racial abuse irrespective of where they live in Switzerland.

“Sometimes in rural areas or in smaller cantons people would say ‘we don’t have any cases of racism, there are no racist incidents’,” Angst told swissinfo.

“And to this I would say that as long as there aren’t any channels where such incidents can be reported, you will not hear of them, since they’re under the carpet somewhere,” she added.

Migrant population

The report’s conclusions are expected to re-ignite debate in Switzerland over how the country protects its migrants and minorities. Switzerland has one of the world’s largest foreign populations in per-capita terms – with at least one in five Swiss residents born abroad.

Switzerland’s migrant community has expanded significantly over the last decade, coinciding with a growth in overt racism and discrimination.

In 2001, Swiss authorities recorded 117 cases of verbal attacks, physical assault, threats, property damage, official racism and neo-Nazi demonstrations against minorities.

In September alone, 25 cases were registered.

Street-level response

The report highlighted that most services remain office-based, and that few organisations are equipped to intervene in racist conflicts at the street level.

The report also said centres need to be staffed with specialists familiar with local problems, and familiar with all forms of discrimination.

It acknowledged that financial restraints often made active intervention difficult, with most non-government organisations spending more than SFr 100,000 per year on helping victims.

While most cantons have at least one centre for victims of racism, in Appenzell – the nation’s smallest canton with 15,000 people – no such services exist at all.

The commission called for the training of staff with migrant backgrounds, particularly in centres aimed at helping women.

Angst said Switzerland’s political culture of avoiding messy public debates about contentious issues often meant the problem of racism remained hidden from view.

“The challenge is how to reach out to people at the periphery of our society,” Angst said.

The commission is preparing to release a handbook of available services.

by Jacob Greber and Ramsey Zarifeh