International Social Service -

Switzerland

Symposium : IN and OUT migration

IAAH 3-5 October 2018

Chisinau

Elodie Antony
Programme manager
1. The ISS network
2. Children and youth on the move
3. Protecting young migrants : in... out... towards a durable
solution
 I. The ISS network

Source : ISS general secretariat

 What is ISS ?

 Network for the protection of children and families separated by borders

 Transnational work -> social and legal intervention in two or more countries: child welfare, parental
conflict, search of origins, international adoption, adult protection, support to migrants

Since 1924  Europe and USA first, now a worldwide network

 A child-focused and needs-based approach

Ethical and juridical framework: International convention on the rights of the child (CRC), UN
norms, national laws
 A network active in 120 countries

Interdisciplinary
20 ISS branches and teams (social, legal,
100 correspondants mediation)

ISS casework International

standards solidarity
 ISS in Eastern Europe

• Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia,

Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine
• Cyprus, Greece

Source : http://www.iss-ssi.org/index.php/en/home/network
II. Children and youth on the move
 A focus on unaccompanied minors
Mineurs non accompagnés (MNA)
Definition* :
 Children under 18
 Outside their country of origin
 Separated from their parents and their legal representative

... « Alone », but sometimes accompanied by other relatives or adults

Main countries of origin (2017) : 1) Afghanistan; 2) Somalia; 3) Eritrea; 4) Guinea; 5) Syria

Statistics : 75-80% boys / 15-20% girls

* Source : Commitee of the rights of the child. General comment N°6

 Statistics MNA in Europe

Country 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

EU (28 12’725 23’150 95,205 63,245 27,060
countries)
Germany 2’485 4’400 22,255 35,935 9,085

Sweden 3’850 7’045 34,295 2,160 1,565

Switzerland 346 795 2,736 1,997 765

Source: Eurostat 2018

 Specific groups and risks

- Undocumented children
- Girls and young women
- Children who disappear
- Children who lost the members of family during migration
- Children « left behind »
- Violences
- Trafficking
 Child trafficking

Definition (Council of Europe):

Recruitment, transfer, harbouring, and/or receipt of a child, including the exchange or transfer of
control over the child, for the purpose of exploitation.

Issues:
- Forced marriage, begging, labour/domestic servitude, slavery, prostitution, sexual abuse, child
pornography
- Child soldiers and criminal activities, such as theft and drug smuggling
- Removal of organs, infants and adoption

Statistics?*
4000–5000 children identified as presumed victims of trafficking in European Union countries from
2013 to 2014 -> underestimation because many victims go unrecognised
Source: Child trafficking in Europe: what is the paediatrician’s role? A statement by the European Academy of Paediatrics. European
*
Journal of Pediatrics (2018)
 The story of Danica
In... And out... And where?

• 20 years old
• Born in Macedonia
• Lived illegaly in Switzerland with her mother
• Vacation in Macedonia : organisation of a forced marriage
• Travel to Germany to join her husband during one month
• During this time... suffered from domestic violence, was kept locked
• Forced to ask for divorce on the pretext of another lover
• Threatened by her father of honour killing...
• Came back in Switzerland with her mother, without legal status.
 ISS Intervention

• Social and juridicial assistance by a local organisation

• Mandate to ISS to evaluate:

• Possibilities to obtain a German permit?
• Options for protection measures?
• Recognition as a victim of trafficking?

Recommendation: Professionals (social workers, lawyers, healthcare

professionals, etc.) should be trained together to carefully detect any signs of
trafficking in children and young adults.
 III. Protecting young migrants :
In... out... towards a durable solution

Country of origin Host country Third country

 The work of ISS Switzerland

1. Direct
services Young migrants

Family
Legal tracing and Family Scholarship Participativ
assistanc social reunificatio s e activities
e assessment n
s

2. Capacity 3. Advocacy Society

building
Professionals
National Internationa
Knowledg Training (ADEM) l
Tools
e transfer
 Example of tool (1) : ISS Handbook

• Objective: frame for the care of

unaccompanied minors in Switzerland

• 9 steps from the identification to the

implementation of a durable solution

• Based on:
 Child right-based approach
 Recommandations
 Individual care
 Child participation
 Intersectoral and transnational work (social,
legal, medical and family assessment)

• Checklists

• International version (EN)

 Example of tool (2) : CLIP project

• Collaboration: ISS Switzerland and ISS Bulgaria

• Objective: social and professional integration of

young people leaving residential care (after 18)

• 1) Individual support:
 Living conditions
 Social network
 Life skills

• 2) Background for integration:

 Partnerships (state and civil society)
 Monitoring of social institutions
 Capacity building
• Products :
 Life skills handbook for young people
 Support handbook for professionals
 In... Out... but together
Working around and with the young migrant

Intersectora Social, legal medical professionals and

l work civil society as partners.

Life project Young Transnation

al work

migran
Attachment to an adult
t
Listening
Relationshi
and
p and trust
dialogue

In the way to promote healthy development and integration to the society

 SSI : www.ssi-suisse.org
ADEM : www.enfants-migrants.ch