Evaluation Speak out! 2011

speak out!

Picture courtesy of Speak Out/CSAJ 2011

An evaluation of a child participation project with unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers in Switzerland. a project of the Conseil Suisse des ActivitĂŠs de Jeunesse evaluation by Catherine Bauman

2011

Table of Contents Acro nym s .......................................................................................................... 3 Exe cutive Sum mary ............................................................................................ 4 Introdu ction ...................................................................................................... 6 Meth od olo gy ..................................................................................................... 8 I. Pers pe ctive s of chil dren ................................................................................... 9 Objective of Speak Out ......................................................................................................... 9 Motivation and expectations regarding Speak Out ................................................................ 10 Benefits and advantages of Speak Out ................................................................................. 10 Disadvantages of Speak Out................................................................................................ 14 Risks................................................................................................................................... 16 Impact of Speak Out ........................................................................................................... 16 Contribution of Speak Out to one’s future ............................................................................. 16 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 17 II. Pers pecti ve s of ad ult visit ors t o th e proj ect ...................................................... 19 Impressions of UAM ............................................................................................................ 19 Impressions of Speak Out .................................................................................................... 19 Learning ............................................................................................................................. 20 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 20 Follow-up............................................................................................................................ 21 III. Rec om me nd ations fro m th e evalu ator ............................................................. 23 Co nclusi on: A sum mary of r ec om me ndati ons ........................................................ 26 Bibliogr aphy ................................................................................................... 29 Ann ex 1 ......................................................................................................... 32 Ann ex 2 ......................................................................................................... 36

A s peci al th ank you to all the UA M I met thro ugh thi s p roje ct. You inspire m e, an d I admir e y our cou rag e. Th ank you t o all tho se wh o a cc epte d int ervi ew s in cludin g p articip ant s in Sp ea k Out, proje ct st aff an d e xtern al vi sitors , a mo ng oth ers. An a ddition al thank s to the R otary F oun datio n fo r su pp ortin g my stu dies in Switz erla nd, an d th er eby ma king it p ossi ble f or m e t o e valu ate this proje ct .

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Acronyms

CFM………………………………..Commission Fédérale pour les Questions de Migration CRC……………………………………………………….Convention on the Rights of the Child CSAJ………………..……..…………….........…….Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse FOM………………………………………………………..……….Federal Office for Migration OSAR……………………………………..…………Organisation Suisse d’Aide aux Réfugiés TDH..……………………...……………………………………………………. Terre des Hommes UAM…………………..……………………..…………Unaccompanied asylum-seeking minor UNHCR…………………………….....…..United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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E xecutive Summ ar y Speak Out is a 3-year pilot project with unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers (UAM) in Switzerland that provides a platform from which they can be active with regards to the challenges they face. Participants in the project come from five different cantons across Switzerland, and they meet together in monthly workshops involving diverse themes and activities. The main objectives of Speak Out are to support UAM participation in debates about issues that affect them, contribute to awareness-raising among key actors in Swiss society, and help UAM develop knowledge and capacities that will be useful for them in the future.1 Importantly, the project does not influence the asylum procedure of individual UAM or make it more likely for them to stay in Switzerland. As of mid-July 2011, there are approximately 20 active participants.

The central aim of this evaluation is to identify and share UAM perspectives of the Speak Out project. In order to ensure that their voices are truly heard by those reading this report, UAM respondents are quoted directly in the body of the report. Their views on the following topics are established: the project’s objectives; their reasons for participation; the benefits and advantages of Speak Out; the disadvantages and challenges associated with the project; the risks involved; the impact of the project; and the contribution of the project to their future. Next, their recommendations for the project are presented. In the second section, the views of external visitors to the project are put forward in sub-sections on their impressions of UAM; their reflections about the Speak Out project; what they learned from their involvement in the project; a discussion of the follow-up they engaged in after the workshop; and finally, their recommendations for the future of the project. In the final section, the author identifies six additional recommendations for the project as it moves forward.

Overall, UAM give a positive assessment of the project. They believe Speak Out is worthwhile; they see few risks associated with participation; and the majority state that although the project may not benefit them now, they believe it will help future generations of UAM. The main benefits of the project identified by UAM participants revolve around the following themes: Speak Out facilitates learning; the project gives UAM the opportunity to be heard; it allows them to meet people who care; Speak Out motivates them and gives them a sense of accomplishment; the project has social benefits (it is fun, the project allows them to travel, and they can meet others in the same situation as they); it permits awareness-raising; and, there are future benefits for current UAM, the next generation of UAM and society more generally.

UAM also identify challenges and disadvantages; for example, the reality that the project does not help their asylum procedure or improve their situation now. Many cited challenges related to participation: some children do not voice their opinions during the workshops; there are age differences and some of the younger children are not as serious as

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“Speak Out!: Participation of Unaccompanied Minor Migrants in Social Discourse in Switzerland,” Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse, 2011, http://www.sajv.ch/en/projekte/speak-out/.

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the older ones; UAM do not always respect each others’ opinions; and, occasionally, it is hard for UAM to understand each other because of language barriers and different cultural backgrounds. Another problem identified is that some participants do not attend each workshop, which slows down the progress of the group as information must be repeated.

Those who participated in the project since the beginning explained that they often brainstorm and identify the same problems or discuss similar issues during the workshops, which gets “boring” after awhile.

External visitors to the project were also interviewed, and they too gave positive assessments of the Speak Out project. When asked about their impression of UAM, the most commonly used word was “impressed.” Visitors found that UAM are motivated to engage in society and Speak Out, and they admire their courage and ambitions. Many remarked that the UAM participants have integrated well and their language skills are good or even very good, which some interviewees did not anticipate. They reported learning from their experience with Speak Out, even those who already knew a considerable amount about the situation of UAM. For example, they gained knowledge about the specific challenges UAM face related to living conditions, finances and status, among other issues. Recommendations from these external actors and the follow-up they conducted after meeting UAM is also discussed.

In the final section, the author makes six additional recommendations for Speak Out as it moves into a next stage: Speak Out adults should explain their motivations for working with the project to UAM participants; Speak Out should follow-up with external visitors who are in a position to address the issues raised by UAM; Speak Out adults should continue to emphasize that the project cannot impact individual asylum procedures, and this theme should be returned to regularly; adults should remain vigilant to the potential that project activities and new knowledge may discourage UAM; future research should examine what happens to UAM when they end participation in Speak Out to determine whether the project was helpful for them or not over the long-term and to what extent it may contribute to future vulnerability; adult leadership should remain vigilant to protection issues that fall outside the scope of the project like the precarious status and unknown future of UAM, and consider creative new ways to address these vulnerabilities.

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Int roduction In 2009, the Fondation Terre des Hommes – aide à l’enfance (TDH) began a 3-year pilot child participation project called Speak Out in order to give a voice to unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers (UAM) in Switzerland.2 After TDH ended its domestic programs, the Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse (CSAJ) took responsibility for the project beginning in January 2010. The main objectives of Speak Out are to facilitate UAM participation in debates about issues that affect them, raise awareness among key actors in Swiss society, and develop knowledge and capacities that will be useful for UAM in the future.3 In the longterm, awareness-raising and participation of UAM may contribute to concrete changes to laws and rules in favor of UAM, but Speak Out staff emphasize that this is not an immediate objective as these changes are not perceived as possible in the near term given the antiimmigration context and the reality that political changes take time.4 The project passed through several stages featuring different activities, and it is currently in the third and final stage. In 2008, an exploratory phase tested the idea of a participatory project with UAM in Lausanne. After receiving positive feedback, the first or “preparatory stage” was launched in 2009. Presentations about the project were given in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Fribourg, Basel and Zurich to invite UAM to participate.5 Over the course of the year, five workshops were held in which twenty-five or more UAM participated per session. Activities included learning about children’s rights, discussing the positive and negative aspects of their lives in Switzerland, and writing and recording a song.6 The CSAJ led the project beginning in January 2010 with the “implementation stage,” which focused on advocacy and awareness-raising activities.7 Workshops or meetings were held approximately once a month in different locations in Switzerland. UAM met with police in Neuchâtel, representatives of UNHCR and politicians, participated in the Swiss Youth Parliament,8 learned about the political system in Switzerland and engaged in a 72-hour volunteer project,9 along with other activities.10 In the final “empowerment stage,” which began in 2

Elodie Antony, “Les mineurs non accompangés séjournant en Suisse: Quelles perspectives d'avenir?”

(Master’s thesis, Institut Kurt Bösch, 2010), 21.

3 “ Speak Out!: Participation of Unaccompanied Minor Migrants in Social Discourse in Switzerland,” Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse, 2011, http://www.sajv.ch/en/projekte/speak-out/.

4 Bettina Kiedl, Project Assistant, interview by author, 28 April 2011; Emilie Graff, Project Director, interview by author, 27 April 2011; Aurèlia Isoz, Animator, interview by author, 18 March 2011; and Senad Gafuri, Animator, interview by author, 15 April 2011.

5 Antony, 21. As of 2011, Geneva no longer participates in the project.

6 For more information, see the official brochure: Reto Rhyn and Emilie Graff eds., Participation sociopolitique des mineurs non-accompagnés de Suisse (Bern: Terre des Hommes-Kinderhilfe, 2009).

7 “Speak Out!: Participation of Unaccompanied Minor Migrants in Social Discourse in Switzerland;” Antony, 21.

8 Seven UAM participated in the Swiss Youth Parliament, which is an annual four-day session that gives youth living in Switzerland the opportunity to learn more about and engage in the political process.

9 This is a large volunteer event in Switzerland, involving around 30,000 children and young adults. In groups, participants design a project that helps others or contributes to society in some way. Matthias

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January 2011, UAM continue to engage in advocacy activities with the aim of improving the situation of UAM through wider awareness of the project. Activities for 2011 include the following: a workshop on the project’s objectives and schedule for the year; participation in the Swiss Symposium on Asylum;11 a media training workshop; a discussion with young Swiss politicians;12 the development of a play during a theater weekend; a meeting with the ViceDirector of the Federal Office for Migration (FOM) and two other officials from the organization;13 a soccer tournament; a workshop to update a dictionary for new arrivals seeking asylum 14 as well as the creation of a film about Speak Out.15 In 2011, up to 20 UAM participated in each session.16 At the end of each workshop, participants are asked to evaluate the workshop using a short questionnaire. Facilitators review the comments and suggestions after each session. On other occasions, UAM are also asked to give their views of the project, for example, at the end of 2010, UAM discussed their favorite and least favorite activities from the year. The evaluation you are reading is distinct from previous ones because the researcher is independent from Speak Out staff, and interviews were conducted on a one-to-one basis. The rationale is to give UAM another outlet for discussing their views of the project, one that is independent from project staff and permits them to share their perspectives without feeling pressure from peers or staff that might influence their responses.

The central aim of this evaluation is to identify and share UAM perspectives of the Speak Out project. More specifically, their views on the following topics are established: the project’s objectives; the reasons for their participation; the benefits and advantages of Speak Out; the disadvantages and challenges associated with the project; the risks involved; the impact of the project; and the contribution of the project to their future. Next, their recommendations are presented. In the second section, the views of external visitors to the project are put forward in sub-sections on their impressions of UAM; what they learned from their involvement in the project; their reflections about the Speak Out project; a discussion of follow-up after the workshop; and finally, their recommendations for the future. In the final section, the evaluator establishes additional recommendations for the project as it moves forward.

Fiechter, « Action 72 heures - va chambouler la Suisse, » Action 72 heures, 15 September 2009, http://www.72stunden.ch/fr/blog/archive/2009/09/15/72-heures-pour-une-suisse-solidaire.html.

10 See also “Rückblick über die Aktivitäten von Speak Out 2010,” Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse, Bern, http://www.sajv.ch/fr/projekte/speak-out/.

11 Three UAM participated in the 4ème symposium Suisse sur l'asile sponsored by OSAR and UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

12 UAM met with three Swiss young people who are actively involved in their respective political parties.

13 Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, section head of Dublin II and processing centers, and André Kunzi, section head of West Africa. The Vice-Director is Eveline Gugger.

14 At the Action 72 heures, a dictionary was created by Speak Out participants, which includes key words and phrases translated in French, German, English, Arabic, Persian, Tamil and Tigrinya to assist new asylum-seekers arriving in Switzerland.

15 The last three workshops will take place in the fall and winter of 2011.

16 Some of the UAM participants turned 19 and are no longer technically minors. For simplicity, they are referred to as UAM as they still participate in the project.

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Met hodology Beginning in mid-January and continuing through mid-June, the evaluator attended monthly Speak Out workshops or events. After establishing relationships with UAM participants and those who run the workshops, she requested interviews. The first round of six interviews was conducted outside of Speak Out workshops at the place and time preferred by the interviewee or in one case by phone. All four paid staff of the project were interviewed, including the director, administrative assistant and two facilitators. Two UAM were also interviewed. A second round of five interviews took place at the theater weekend workshop during breaks. In total, seven of the eight UAM who speak English or French were interviewed. There are approximately 20 participants in total.17 Informal conversations with UAM on train rides to and from workshops or during workshop breaks provided further information. Additionally, I interviewed Speak Out guests including two young Swiss politicians, the director of the Swiss Youth Parliament, the theater facilitator and the CSAJ Communications Director by phone or written questionnaire.

All interviewees were informed about how the discussion would be used, and given the option to accept or decline the interview. In each case, I requested permission to use a sound recorder and each person accepted with the exception of one. When requested, I provided copies of a questionnaire with key themes in advance of the interview. Interviews were conducted in the language preferred by the interviewee, either English or French.

Special measures were used for interviewing children. Prior to interviews conducted with UAM under 18 years old outside of Speak Out workshops, permission was sought and granted from social assistants as required by cantonal rules, but the majority of interviews were conducted in congruence with workshops. As preferred by the interviewees, the real names of UAM are not used.

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Unfortunately, I do not have proficiency in other languages spoken in the group. However, all UAM were given the option to speak to me and contribute to this evaluation report. UAM were informed that they could contact me in order to arrange an interview outside of Speak Out workshops, and I would arrange a translator.

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I. Perspectives of c hildren This section examines children’s perspectives on the objective of Speak Out; their motivation and expectations regarding the project; the benefits and advantages associated with the project, as well as the challenges or disadvantages; the associated risks; the impact of the project; and, the contribution of Speak Out to their future. Most UAM participants in the Speak Out project are 16 years of age or older, and although sometimes they do not have as much information about the topics in question as adults may have, most are very capable and their opinions and perspectives deserve serious consideration. In order to ensure that their voices are heard, this section directly quotes the responses of UAM to questions on the aforementioned topics. Interviews were conducted in English or French and UAM are cited in the language they used. Grammatical corrections and bracketed explanations of children’s statements are kept at a minimum. If too many changes are made to the original statement, part of the meaning may be lost. Under some categories, several responses are listed, even from the same individual, but not all UAM responded to each question posed.

Objective of Spea k Out • • • •

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“I think it’s more about for us to understand. It’s not necessary to make things change.”

“Speak Out est là pour aider les gens… mais les gens, ils ne peuvent pas rester [en Suisse] c’est quelque chose qui peut pas changer.”

“That depends on the people who are working for this workshop. How they interpret the work of Speak Out. If they don’t get the timing right, nobody will hear about us.”

“The main message is to give children hope. Asylum-seekers [should have] the rights like the other children. They should let them have the same rights as other children.

The right to participate in society, to share views. They [asylum-seekers] shouldn’t be disliked in the community. They should always play a part… Let us have the same rights so we can always achieve our goal.”

“Pour nous, les gens qui participent, [Speak Out] nous serviront à rien peut-être. Mais les gens qui viendront, peut-être ça les aidera… peut-être pour les autres. Je ne sais pas si ça va donner mais on essaie quand même.”

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Motivation and expecta tion s regar ding Speak Out •

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“I think it’s a good idea, you know, that we’re all together and we speak once or two times. For me, it’s a good thing to do and to communicate to people. My expectation is to understand. That’s what I want. That’s why I expect more people to be invited, and them to understand to share… with us… I expect that it will be a big quantity of people to share ideas with each other just as we are.” « Moi, Speak Out… je ne dis pas que Speak Out il va me donner la vie. Je ne dis pas que j’espère à Speak Out à 100%. Je sais que ce que je fais dans Speak Out c’est très important même si ce n’est pas pour moi c’est important pour l’avenir. » “[I come to Speak Out] to know many things… to know about the situation because sometimes they tell us you know, the situation now in Switzerland is changed, it’s like that or that…” « Pour moi [Speak Out] c’est pour améliorer les problèmes. Parce qu’il y a plein d’étrangers qui souffrent ici à cause d’asile même pour moi si ça me servir à rien bon si un jour ça servira d’aider une autre personne moi je serais contente, pour moi. » “Pour apprendre le français et avoir contact avec les gens.”

“It’s making sense [Speak Out]. I never believed we’d get to this… I thought maybe it would just be a thing that would be fun, all of a sudden, everyone is close and it started making sense. Put our heads together and come up with something. When we go to 72 hours,18 how is this possible? I thought we weren’t going to make it [finishing our project to make a multilingual dictionary for new asylum-seekers arriving in Switzerland]. Started writing, doing things. People, professionals coming. More started coming. It wasn’t really easy, but it was fun. More started coming. It wasn’t really easy but we get to know ourselves. Love was really there. We say what we feel for each other. We get to unite, we get to know others.”

Benefits a nd advantag es of Sp eak Out

Allows learnin g • • •

« Par exemple moi, j’ai appris à connaître les gens. J’ai appris à être ouverte. J’ai appris même à parler, et puis d’avoir le courage aussi. » « J’ai appris les droits de l’enfant. Ils sont utiles. » “The things I’ve learned… a lot… I studied… radio, to speak to TV so I get to have the right to have that chance to speak. What I feel people tell me that courage I was taught not to be afraid. Feel free to speak. I speak and people listen. It gives me joy.

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This is a large volunteer event in Switzerland, involving around 30,000 children and young adults. In groups, participants design a project that helps others or contributes to society in some way.

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• • •

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They’re doing our best to make us to be famous. There’s a position we have right now other children haven’t been there. They’ve given us that right.”

“I learned how to respect other peoples’ cultures.”

“How to speak to people I’ve met without being afraid.”

“No, I didn’t know about the CRC before we started this group it was when we started this group that I learned about these rights… we’re really fighting we’re saying that yes we really have rights as kids and people are ready to listen to us.”

“I do believe that over time we will get to know ourselves more than we do now.”

“It gets me to understand what the situation is… helps me understand what doesn’t have any solution. Even the President, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen, it doesn’t give me the image of what is going to happen, but it really helps me understand how the situation goes.” “[I come to Speak Out] to know many things… to know about the situation because sometimes they tell us you know, the situation now in Switzerland is changed, it’s like that or that…”

“You learn about things that you never think about.”

“The people who are leading us, I do really like them. Why? Because they always want you to do something on your own. They might give you a clue, but you have to be the one that will crack your brain and do this…. They might give us a clue of what you do but it’s our responsibility, our own responsibility, to open it, and make it wide so it has meaning. And I think that is really great.” « Je me fais de l’expérience à chaque fois. » « Quand ils t’expulsent et puis.. ils ne peuvent pas prendre ce que tu as dans tête ça tu pars avec. » “I had the opportunity to understand things in Swiss.”

Gives the o ppo rtunity to be hea rd •

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“When we talk to people in Speak Out, we get many questions and many answers, and you have time to express your feelings. How we’re really living… and you have time to understand things and to give. What you gain, that’s the best thing. You get to say what is inside you, and you get to understand something, that is the best thing. I love that thing in Speak Out, I really love that…”

“They give me my freedom to speak. They give me the time to talk… They don’t say ‘Hey! He’s from Africa, we won’t let him speak.’” « On va se croise là-bas pour donner son opinion, son point de vue… » “They’ve made us speak with people we wouldn’t have been able to speak [with]… they make us speak with people who are important in this society” « Je connais pas mal du monde à cause de Speak Out. »

Allows us to meet peopl e who care •

“The people who are leading us, I do really like them.”

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“You get to know a lot of people who are good and can teach you.”

“I believe they [young politicians] like us because we’re young like them. Most of them see our pain. They feel for us. Due to their own knowledge, they’re read to do what they can do to help, and it’s really touching. We speak to them in the last workshop. The way they speak, they have feeling for us.” “[At Action 72 hours] Bettina and Senad [Speak Out staff], they were so good. You know, they take care of us like they were our parents. They always make sure we play together at night…”

“They [Speak Out adults] are working. I appreciate them. They are working, they try everything for us.”

Motivates and gives a sen se of accom plishm ent •

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“I just want us to have something that we have that we’re proud of, that will benefit other kids. Even if it’s the last thing I do before I leave this place. I will try. Always devote my time. Always try to bring a little knowledge to the group.” “Even if I’m not here [in Switzerland later] … I was a part of that group [Speak Out] so many years ago. Other children coming up benefited from that I will always be happy that this [is] what we founded. I want to stand and be a group that they spoke about in Switzerland. I want us to fight and make it famous.” « Pour moi [Speak Out] c’est pour améliorer les problèmes. Parce qu’il y a plein d’étrangers qui souffrent ici à cause d’asile même pour moi si ça me servir à rien bon si un jour ça servira d’aider une autre personne moi je serais contente, pour moi. » « Je pense que l’avenir il faut se battre pour l’avoir de ne pas croiser les doigts pour avoir le bon avenir. » “[They tell us that] you have to work hard to get what you want.”

“Move past difficulties, don’t give up.”

“I believe that it’s helping us in one way or another.” « Toujours je vois les gens, ils sont motivés. » “Gives hope. One day the Swiss government will always listen to us… Speak Out is allowing UAM to dream.”

“Speak Out they are trying to make us brave with all what we have. Just put it down and get to understand, and get to live and to know Swiss.”

Social ben efits •

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Enables talking to other children who are in the same situation • “I believe that it’s helping us in one way or another… [you] talk to other children who you don’t have [the] same rights with…”

• “That is a benefit, just being together” Fun • “And having fun, also you have fun.”

Enables travel in Switzerland

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“They make us know the places we’ve never been in Switzerland…” “[We] go out and see places, and we go out and see Switzerland”

Awaren ess-raisin g • •

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“Swiss people… they think we have family… the people they don’t know.”

“All those people [at the Session des Jeunes] are interested in politics. … If certain say those people [UAM] are like that or that, [the young politicians who were there] will say no, they’re not like that, I know those people. « Par exemple, à la Session des Jeunes, là où j’étais le seul jeune, noir, mineur. Il y avait deux autres noirs mais des uns qui sont nés ici, et ils ne savent même pas ce que c’est…[MNA]… » “There are some people who don’t know about asylum or what an asylum-seeker is. If you tell them we live by ourselves without parents ‘How can this be possible ?’ but when we start coming, people say, ‘well, people really live like this.’ When they get to know us they really want to speak with us, talk with us, it’s really something. They are contributing to our life.” « Il y a les personnes qui vivent en Suisse qui ne savent pas comment vivent les étrangers, qui savent pas, qui voient que des mauvais, les gens qui volent, qui font du trafic. »

Future ben efits for individual U AM, another gen eration of UAM and so ciet y at large • •

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« J’ai même envie de faire la politique à cause de Speak Out … [peut-être je serai] président de mon pays je ne sais pas… » « Par exemple, quand on était à la Session des Jeunes ou le Symposium sur l’Asile… voir les politiciens si tous ils voient ça [nos problèmes] quand ils seraient au pouvoir…

Quand j’étais à la Session des Jeunes, ils sont tous intéressés dans la politique et si c’est eux qui disent ouais nous devrons faire le pays comme ça et comme ça [dans l’avenir]… c’est pas que ceux qui sont là vont rester 100 ans dans le pouvoir. Voilà pourquoi nous disons qu’on travaille pour l’avenir. » « Oui, c’est utile [les droits de l’enfant]. Je pense à faire une famille et je dois savoir tout cela je trouve que c’est très important… c’est ce que tu dois faire pour l’enfant donc si moi je fais ça, mon enfant il fera ça, l’enfant de son enfant, c’est comme ça … c’est ce qui améliore le monde. »

“Speak Out, it contributes to our future, not a lot, but it contributes… They make us speak to people who are important in this society. They make us know the places we’ve never been in Switzerland, travel around to some places, meet police, meet people from the government, so it really contributes to our future.”

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Disadvantages of Spea k Out

Challenges r elated to parti cipati on: levels of enga gement, age differ en ces, respect and un derstandin g ea ch oth er •

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« Il y a certains qui n’écoutent pas ou les idées… ils n’essaient même pas. Même s’ils ont des idées tu ne peux pas savoir… » « [un MNA] il arrive et il dort… je suis énervé mais je ne dis pas…. Si tu es là [à Speak Out] il faut s’exprimer… » « Most of us, they don’t really talk… They have their own problems. This group for me is to know our problems, the things you feel, the things that bother you. When you don’t tell people how you feel and what you want, they might not be able to help you get what you want. » « Moi, je m’entends avec tout le monde. Je ne sais pas si tout le monde me voit bien ou s’ils ne me voient pas bien. Si tout le monde peut avoir plus d’effort… tout le monde a des idées. Moi je considère qu’à partir de 15 ans... [tout le monde a des] capacités de réflexion et puis [nom d’un MNA] il a traversé, il a déjà eu des problèmes. Il a un esprit un peu, un peu… en fait, ça ne va pas dire que tout le monde a des idées des bonnes idées en fait. »

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« There are some people that are really young. You know really young… you don’t blame them, but they don’t have the same talks that we have. The way they reason may not be the same way that I reason. We just have to work along with them, take them along. »

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« Most of us don’t respect one another, respect others feelings. They want to play with feelings. You must respect feelings, respect and know what this person wants. » “Today what I learned is that we have very different minds between the Eritrean people and Arab people and African people. We have very different minds and sometimes I think that’s hard to get over… I know we will but sometimes it’s just really hard… we can not understand them because we are young, and for us to accept each other. I think that’s a hard thing.”

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“Il y a certains campagnards qui viennent d’une petite ville. Il faut essayer d’attirer ces jeunes.”

They need to get more girls to come.

Speak Out should invite more people.

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Speak Out does not hel p us now •

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“Everything you do in life, you want to achieve something. You always want to give something. You always want that thing you’re doing to help you in the future.

Sometimes I think this group, are they really doing something to help us? Or are they doing something to help them?” “Sometimes the things we do sometimes I see… it makes me crazy… I ask myself, ‘what are we doing? Are we really doing this just to have time to spend away from home or are we really fighting to have something?’

You know, I really want to know. What I see, if it’s all about fun, I have a lot of things to do with my time.”19 “When I see that they [former participants] aren’t coming anymore, maybe it’s a problem of Switzerland. Some people kicked out. They have to leave like that. They just ask you to go, and you don’t know where to go.”

“There are some persons who started this thing with me in Fribourg. There are a lot of persons when they heard about the group, they kept saying, “Are they going to give us papers? Make us stay in Switzerland?” No, that’s not the goal. They were discouraged, they just come once.”

“Yeah you know, we are all young, we come for this Speak Out. We have people who have their own problems. X has his own problems, another has his own problems so nobody knows each others problems. They say we can not help you.”

Repetition • • • •

“Always repeat same questions before meetings. Always discuss same issues, same questions.” « Les mêmes questions, c’est ennuyeux. Ennuyeux pour les anciens. C’est pour ça qu’il y en a qui reviennent plus. » « Cette question a été déjà demandé à un atelier.. » « Ils nous donnent les mêmes questions, comment tu penses que je vais répondre ? »

Attendance •

« Yeah, I see problems, some of the problems I see in the group is that most of us are not always [present]… they might come to the workshop and then next time they won’t come… makes work slow.» « So I really, really want us to be there. When we say we’ll do something, with that, we’ll always move forward. »

19

This same UAM said later about Speak Out leadership, “It’s not easy, but they’re really doing their best.

I know if they can really change our situation in Swiss they would’ve done it but it’s not easy.”

15

•

« J’aime pas la règle qu’il faut venir si tu reçois un billet de train. Moi, j’ai même pas voulu venir mais ils m’ont envoyé le billet de train. Comme je l’ai reçu, j’étais obligé de venir. En plus, mon amie était malade et j’ai voulu la voir. »

Risks • • • • •

“No...It’s questions and you get anwers, I don’t think there is a [negative] effect.” “[Peut-etre] il y a un risque, mais c’est pas Speak Out, c’est quelque chose qui existe et Speak Out est là pour aider les gens.”

“Moi, je pense pas c’est un risque. Ils font pas du mal. Ils font les choses pour nous, pour l’améliorer.”

“Les medias, ça c’est le risque parce qu’il y a quelqu’un qui prend une photo et après ils changent l’image, ça c’est un peu compliqué.”

“Yeah it’s been touching me, this disadvantage of Speak Out. I’ve seen some persons with us and all of the sudden they stop coming.”

Impact of Spea k Out •

• •

• •

“I don’t think it’s going to change things, but what I think, Speak Out is for us to understand, and not to make some changes. They say yeah, we know that it’s a wrong thing, but it’s more like we understand that it’s not going to change because it’s not one person’s work. Government is government… but we understand and they make us understand.”

“Ce qu’on peut faire, c’est d’aller discuter. Aller discuter, c’est ça et ça mais c’est pas nous qui décide. On est obligé d’attendre… » “Maybe they can change [our situation], I don’t know. I don’t know, it depends on how they work. I don’t know their secret, how they work. If they work hard and want to help us, if they want to hear our voice if they don’t talk ‘blah, blah, blah’ and everybody goes homes and nobody hears us… They do work, they do work, but nothing changes.”

“Speak Out va pas résoudre les problèmes.” « Ça [Speak Out] va pas m’aider, mais peut-être pour les prochains. »

Contributio n of Spea k Out to one’s future •

“I think Speak Out has something to teach me in the future because it’s not that we talk only in the whole Speak Out because we speak personally to each other. You learn things. When you are gathering, talking, you know and how people live, what people are living and how to work hard, and I think it has a reflection on my future life. I think it has a reflection on my future life to think about something to become

16

•

•

•

• •

•

something and to gain something. About how I should be and what I can have in this country, and what I can’t have. How I should work, and how I shouldn’t work.”

“I get many things. I learn many things here. To be friends with people first… now I have many ideas, I know much about how the young people they are living in the different cities.” « Speak Out, c’est un projet qui me plaît. Même si, par exemple, un exemple que je donne toujours... J’ai tout ce qu’il me faut même si j’ai pas besoin de Speak Out, je vais continuer à faire les ateliers. Je vais continuer pour motiver les gens… parce que je trouve que…Il y a pour certaines gens… et les problèmes ils sont différents le fait de réunir les uns et les dire ça et ça, ça va calmer un peu le montage… je trouve que c’est une bonne chose. Ils ne voyagent même pas si ce n’est pas pour Speak Out, contrairement à moi, parce que moi, je bouge, et je sais qui je suis. Tu vois ? Il y a un peu, je ne dis pas il y a une importance de 100 %, mais il y a une importance… à la fin, tout le monde cherche asile. » « Pour certains qui a plus de mal de le faire sortir de le faire parler un peu de les mouvementer un peu ça peut diminuer un peu les mauvaises réflexions. Pour moi, personnellement, la directrice [du foyer]… elle m’aime beaucoup à cause des trucs que je fais elle m’aime beaucoup, elle est trop attachée à moi. La directrice, c’est du foyer, en fait elle m’aime beaucoup c’est à cause de SO. Elle dit que c’est bien, que c’est bien, parce qu’elle comprend comment ça se passe.

Je peux dire… Il y a un avantage mais on sait pas quand ça va sortir … D’une part ça pourrait aider [avec la demande d’asile], normalement ça pourrait aider, je ne sais pas…. » « Oui, peut-être {Speak Out contribue à mon futur] parce qu’on sait jamais qu’est-ce qui va se passer mais on peut penser. On peut dire, je veux faire ça. Je veux recevoir ça, mais peut-être tu vas rater. » « Speak Out contribue pas beaucoup [à mon avenir]. » “Speak Out, in contributes to our future, not a lot but it contributes. Why I say so is this : they always tried, they always try to do their best. It’s not easy, but they’re really doing their best. I know they can really change our situation in Swiss they would’ve done it, but it’s really not easy.”

“Speak Out may not help me, but maybe the people in the future.”

Recommenda tion s • • •

« Moi je crois que Speak Out n’est pas à la limite… c’est pour toutes les choses il faut aller [plus loin]. » « Du côté d’un animateur, des fois il se fâche [si les jeunes n’écoutent pas]… moi je trouve qu’il ne devrait pas se fâcher. » « …. Pour améliorer, c’était déjà dit. D’abord, les animateurs. Tu comprends ? S’ils voient les choses qui ne va pas, ils doivent savoir prendre le rôle d’animateur c’est forcer des choses qui ne plaît pas. Il faut essayer de motiver les gens… La motivation, ça va venir d’où? Les animateurs… c’est eux qui doivent donner plus… Il faut les

17

•

• • • •

•

•

•

pousser un peu. C’est comme à l’école, il faut faire travailler tout le monde… c’est les animateurs qui doivent faire ça. » “My idea, they have to look for [more girls]. Before, it was many of the young boys and young girls but now we have few girls. They have to look for other young people.

They have to look from different cantons to look for other young children.”

“Il y a certains campagnards qui viennent d’une petite ville. Il faut essayer d’attirer ces jeunes.”

“Speak Out should invite more people.”

“Moi, je pense que ce qu’on est en train de faire, si on continue, peut-être ça va améliorer si on continue toujours.”

“I’ve seen some persons with us and all of the sudden they stop coming. I always want to bring a resolution to these people. I saw one of these people in Geneva in the last three weeks, and I said, ‘oh man, you’ve not been coming?’ [He said] ‘Yes, they’ve asked me to leave, they given a negative decision’ so he doesn’t think of coming anymore. [I said] ‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about that.’ I want at least, we should always, even if it’s a letter to appreciate the time spent with us, to give them encouragement for the time spent with us. This is something we can, we should… care.

Just stop coming, let go like that without even asking what happened, why did you stop? You don’t even know if they’re sick. We should always show love to one another, make them to see that we always care for them.”

“Most of us who live in Switzerland right now, we have a good life, but there are some other kids in other countries, I’d like to make sure they know this is what Speak Out in Switzerland did. This is how they respect their laws. This will give children in other places [ideas], ‘If these people can do this, then why can’t we do it? We start growing from one place to another so others will know there are some [like us]. To make that happen, know how other kids in other places are living. Help us to know more people. Take ideas to other places.”

“I want us to grow… I always prayed that one day we [Speak Out] should have our own fame, our own office, this is our secretariat. When you want to look for us, have a website. I want us to grow and be in that position. Any organization that doesn’t have a website won’t grow. When we have a site, we’ll know that we’re growing and spreading.”

“I would like Speak Out to contact specialists who know about kids, who know about the mentality of kids to give us some ideas. Those who have things to add. People who are really specializing in that area. Like you [author of this research], this workshop, you know how it goes this is what you learn in school. You giving us your opinion, your openness, the ideas you will give it will help us and make us move ahead. You should improve on things like that. We will discover this is where we’re lacking. We’ll work on it, discover it. Your ideas can grow. That’s why we need some other specialists who know about us to give us their ideas.”

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II. Perspectives of adult visitors to t he project Impression s of UAM When asked about their impression of UAM, all of the adults interviewed had positive responses. Five of the seven individuals used the word “impressed” to describe their perception of the participants. Constantin Hruschka and Christof Portmann, UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, noted the high level of German of one participant who wanted them to check the speech he prepared for the Swiss Symposium on Asylum. They explained that this contrasts with what many people assume about UAM, particularly that they do not speak the language. Elias Maier, a young Swiss politician and visitor, explained that he was “impressed” to “hear a real story.” “You talk to them about how they got here.

You hear what they want to do like their goal to get an apprenticeship, go to high school or go to university.” He noted that this contrasts with how the media portrays asylum-seekers.

Matthias Fiechter, Communications Director at CSAJ, states, “I was very impressed with these young people. Some of them are really, really smart and learn the language and culture very quickly.” He also commented that they behave as adults, which he did not expect. They have a lot of “energy” and “eagerness to learn.” Priska Sager, the theater facilitator, said that she was surprised at how motivated the participants were to be involved in making a play. They had “very good concentration.” She said a lot of the Swiss young people she works with say “oh I can’t do it tomorrow, or I don’t like to do it now,” whereas in contrast, the Speak Out participants were proud to participate. Those who visit the project find that participants are motivated to engage in society and Speak Out, and they are impressed by their language skills and ambitions.

Impression s of Sp eak Ou t All those interviewed also gave positive reviews of the Speak Out project. “It’s important that they [the project participants] meet other people in the same situation and talk about it with others,” explained Sager. « C’est à mon avis un très bon moyen d’aider les MNA en leur permettant de s’investir dans un projet qui les aide. C’est à mon avis le meilleur moyen de faire avancer la cause des MNA car il n’y a pas meilleur interlocuteur que les MNA pour défendre leur propre cause » stated Alice Genoud, a young Swiss politican and visitor. Geo Taglioni, who is responsible for the Swiss Youth Parliament, explains, « J’ai eu une très bon impression de Speak Out. Pour les jeunes MNA, pour eux c’est une bonne expérience de se confronter avec les autres jeunes de la Suisse. Et aussi, l’ouverture par la part des jeunes Suisses. Une expérience positive aussi pour les jeunes Suisses qui a eu la

19

possibilité de rencontrer des jeunes qui viennent d’un autre pays avec un autre background.»

Maier says, « I think it’s a pretty interesting program… it clearly shows the problems these guys have, and I think it’s good they can participate in groups and see other things other than where they live… I think it’s good they can go out and see other young people that have the same problems, and see what politicians can maybe do for them. » Fiechter noted one challenge related to the project, which is that it can not help participants in terms of their asylum procedure or legal status. He finds that the project is important because it shows them that someone cares and wants to listen to them, and it also helps empower them. All external visitors interviewed gave positive assessments of the project and recommend that it continue.

Learning Most of those interviewed reported learning from their experience with Speak Out. Fiechter was impressed by how mature the participants are as well as how the participants manage to communicate among themselves. They do not always speak the same language, but many still make jokes together and have fun. Genoud was touched by the reality that these young people close to her age have endured difficult situations and can not pursue the studies they choose: Le fait que ce soit des mineurs et donc qu’ils aient presque le même age que moi m’a beaucoup touché car je peux comparer les différences de parcours et les difficultés énormes qu’ils ont dû surmonter. C’est dans ce genre de situation que je réalise que je suis très privilégiée rien que par le fait que je puisse faire des études qui me plaisent…Ce qui m’a beaucoup interpellé c’est la difficulté d’obtenir un papier alors que ce sont tous des jeunes motivés qui ont envie de s’en sortir mais les autorités suisses leur barrent le passage.

Sager did not realize how strict the Swiss Asylum laws are, and she was surprised to find out that UAM often can stay here for a few years but then they must leave. Interviewees who were familiar with the situation of UAM in Switzerland before engaging with Speak Out, including Maier, Portmann and Hruschka, reported learning more about the daily life conditions of UAM, for example, problems related to buying credit for a cell phone or the reality that pocket money varies by canton.

Recommenda tion s

General • Portmann said it would be helpful to expand the program and invite UAM participants

•

from all cantons to participate rather than just certain cantons as is the case now. He recognizes that there are constraints like funding and capacities so he said that this may not be possible.

Hruschka stated that a decision needs to be made at some point whether the focus is on empowerment or influencing asylum policy. Empowerment requires taking in new participants regularly, and it also necessitates frequently re-explaining the project to

20

•

• •

new participants as they join. This is good for new participants, but it will have less impact on the political level. To focus on political progress, the project needs a dedicated group of children and it should focus on moving political issues forward.

“I think what would be really interesting would be to try to engage more people in a dialogue to give them the opportunity to meet with them [Speak Out participants]. I know it’s difficult to get people to actually come and to talk to them but I think it’s important. Also not just people from police, but normal people from the streets as well, like they’re doing with the football tournament,” explained Fiechter.

Taglioni said, « Je pense qu’il faut continuer à chercher des collaborations entre le projet Speak Out et autres plateforms de participation… les dialogues entre toutes les différentes plateforms de participation. » “I think it’s a good project that they should do for a long time,” stated Sager.

Specific recommendations related to a workshop or event •

•

Maier said the session with the young Swiss politicians may have been better if the participants had known more in advance about what the parties were doing. He also thinks it is important for UAM to learn more about the political system in Switzerland, especially initiatives and petitions. They should know about these if they want to have a political impact.

Taglioni recommended that in the future, the preparatory work before the Swiss Youth Parliament could be ameliorated. For example, the training with the chefs des groupes should be repeated and improved. Given that the UAM participants have different competencies, for example, related to their language level, the themes could be framed in a different and better way.

Follow-up Some external visitors are in a position to engage to improve the situation of UAM in a professional capacity. For example, Christof Portmann and Constantin Hruschka work at the UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein on refugee issues in Switzerland. The three visitors from the FOM also work in the area of migration in Switzerland, and one in particular, the Vice-Director of the FOM has the power to make changes in favor of UAM in her professional work.20 Other visitors can contribute, for example, by discussing what they learned with party members, friends, family and co-workers or engaging in advocacy activities. In the next paragraph, the ways in which external visitors who visited “followed up” with their experience at Speak Out are elaborated upon.

Portmann explained that giving UAM the opportunity to speak at the 4th Swiss Symposium for Asylum was a way to follow-up on the workshop with UAM. The Symposium was co-sponsored by UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein and the Organisation

20

The author attempted to contact the visitors from the FOM for interviews but did not receive a response.

21

Suisse d’Aide aux Réfugiés (OSAR), and three UAM spoke in front of a room of hundreds of adults including judges, academics, lawyers, representatives of government agencies, and individuals from Swiss non-profits and non-governmental organizations about their situation and the challenges they face. Hruschka says he would not consider the current work of UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein “follow-up” but rather they have been in “constant support of the project.” Portmann is a member of the focus group; one or both were present at three workshops; and, their office contributes funds to the project. In any case, Hruschka and Portmann agree that the theme of UAM has received more attention from their office because of their engagement with Speak Out.21 The two young Swiss politicians who were interviewed, Maier and Genoud, both planned to discuss what they learned at the next party meeting. Maier noted that the topic of immigration is difficult to address and is highly politicized, but what he planned to emphasize to the young Liberals (Libéraux-Radicaux) was the importance of a faster asylum procedure.

From his perspective, this is one of the key problems for the young people. He says most of the young parties support a faster procedure. Genoud also said she would bring up the her experience at Speak Out at the next young Socialists meeting, but she was unsure what impact it would have.

Fiechter led a session on media-training, and in the afternoon, participants went to a local radio station for a tour. The station is open to having one or several Speak Out participants talk on one of the radio shows or have their own. Fiechter said he is willing to “follow-up in terms of helping them stay in contact with the radio station” and “help[ing] as far as I can.” He says perhaps the UAM are “too shy or not secure enough about language issues to follow this up,” and if this is the case, he would be willing to provide more support.

Fiechter also spoke to family and friends about his experience at the workshop. Other visitors also mentioned discussing what they learned with relatives and friends including Maier and Sager.

21

Portmann says that involvement in Speak Out has made the situation of UAM “more present” for them.

Hruschka explains that the office now gives “more attention on the theme.”

22

III. Recom men dation s from the evaluat or In previous sections, the recommendations of UAM and external visitors to the project were discussed. Additional recommendations are established here based on the researcher’s discussions with UAM, external visitors, the Speak Out project director, the project administrator and two animators, as well as her study of the project for her master’s thesis.22



1. Speak Out adul ts should explain their motivations for working with the project to UAM p articipants. UAM encounter

adults with varying motivations, and they are sometimes suspicious of their intentions.23 This is also the case in the context of Speak Out. For example, one UAM said, “Sometimes I can’t really figure it out. It’s a really difficult thing if they’re [Speak Out adults] there to help us or if they just want something from us. I can’t figure it out.” He also stated, “when I think about when we started it was, what was the name? It wasn’t Emilie [the current Project Director] when we started. [At the] end of the year, they said they couldn’t come again and other people had to start where they stopped.

Does it mean those people haven’t gotten what they want? And now they are leaving the group for another person who wants something to achieve or to help himself with or maybe by the end of the year Emilie will also not be in the group again. Maybe another person will take over and have his own dream, another thing he’s pursuing and wants to achieve.” In order to encourage relationships of trust, project staff should explain why they are involved in the project and what they hope to accomplish through their roles. They should not assume that UAM automatically trust them as UAM and asylum-seekers often do not maintain confidence in those in the host country, even those who help them and have good intentions. 

2. Speak Out should follo w-up with external visitors who are in a posi tion to address the issues raised by UAM. Proj ect participants sh ould be updated on their progress. Some visitors agree to share what they learned with others, conduct advocacy work or otherwise follow-up on the workshop with UAM. At present, Speak Out does not contact these

22

Catherine Bauman, “Swiss unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers ‘Speak Out’: Balancing the need for protection and the desire to promote agency” (Master’s thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, 2011).

23 Ravi K. S. Kohli, “The Sound Of Silence: Listening to What Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children Say and Do Not Say,” British Journal of Social Work 36, no. 5 (July 2006): 712.

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individuals later to see what they have done. Periodic follow-up would help encourage visitors do what they promise, and it would also demonstrate to UAM the impact of their discussions with the various actors. One approach would be to ask visitors concretely what they will do based on the information they learned, and ask them when they would like to be contacted so that their follow-up work can be communicated to the Speak Out participants (for example, after 3 months, after 6 months, etc.) 

3. Speak Out adul ts should conti nu e to empha size that the project can no t impa ct individual a sylum procedures, and thi s theme should b e returned to regula rly. In interviews and informal conversations, some UAM maintained hope that the project will help their individual situation, and one believed that it may help his application for asylum.



4. Adults should remain vigilant to the po tential that project activities and new kn owl edge may discourage UAM. Following the meeting with the FOM, some UAM were discouraged because of the information they learned about the asylum procedure,24 and one said that she may not continue participating in the project because of her experience. Another example is that after learning about children’s rights in a workshop at the beginning of the project, some UAM became discouraged and blamed Switzerland for not respecting their rights.

Project leadership responded appropriately by re-orientating the conversation and focusing on solutions.25 Speak Out adults should remain flexible in this way, making adjustments to workshops and agendas when they have unintended effects.

Additionally, after learning new information that is discouraging, there should be a debriefing discussion to help UAM process the information and permit them to share their feelings.



5. Future r esearch should examine what happ ens to UAM when they end participa tion in Speak Out to determi ne whether the proj ect wa s helpful for them or no t over the longterm and to what extent i t may contribute to future vulnerability . This topic is discussed in greater detail in Annex I. It is possible that by providing an additional outlet for UAM to engage in society, participation in Speak Out could make it even more difficult for those UAM who receive a negative asylum decision or who are otherwise unable to stay in Switzerland legally. Participation may give them hope, even though project leadership state that involvement in Speak Out has no impact on individual asylum procedures. This issue is difficult to study because

24

The discussion was about the asylum process, the distinction between different types of permits and reasons for the denial of a claim.

25 Emilie Graff, interview by author, 27 April 2011. See Annex II for more information.

24

many participants end their involvement in Speak Out suddenly and without warning.26 Future research should examine the following questions with regards to those UAM who no longer participate in the project: In retrospect, was participation worthwhile? Were the capacities developed useful for them in their lives after Speak Out? Was what they learned helpful for the future? As Speak Out currently can not get in touch with former participants and they usually end participation without warning, UAM should be given contact information of project leadership or a trusted researcher now. Participants should be encouraged to keep in touch and let the adults know about their experiences after Speak Out. They should be ensured that the contact will remain confidential, and that authorities will not be contacted.27 

6. Adult lead ership should r emain vigilant to protecti on issu es that fall outside the scope of the project li ke the precarious statu s and u nkno wn futur e of UAM, and consider creative new ways to address th ese vulnera bilities either in th e n ext stage of the project or by encoura ging other ag enci es to address th ese issues. This topic is discussed in greater detail in Annex I. For example, in a new phase of Speak Out, UAM might discuss the reality that many will be sent back to their home countries, others will remain in Switzerland without a permit, some will continue their migration journey, and others may engage in illegal activities, among other possibilities. Given the high probability that some UAM will be exposed to new risks and vulnerabilities in times ahead,28 and the reality that their lack of perspectives for the future is a problem they frequently invoke, engaging UAM to discuss and address this topic is merited even if it is sensitive and challenging to do so.

One possibility is that a smaller group of willing participants could work on this topic if all do not want to participate. This could also solve the problem of some of the current participants being “bored” because the same problems and questions are always discussed. Admittedly, because of the current anti-immigration context and the general hardening of asylum policies across Europe, addressing this issue will not be easy, but these capable UAM could bring fresh perspectives to the search for solutions and their opinions have not yet been solicited enough.

26

This could be because they are deported, “disappear” or decide to end participation in the program.

The project does not maintain lists of UAM contact information, and all communication goes through a focal point in the canton.

27 I recognize that UAM may be hesitant to keep in touch given that they are likely to fear apprehension by authorities. However, some UAM expressed confidence in the project leadership so they may be interested in maintaining contact.

28 For example, some UAM “disappear.” They may join prostitution or drug networks, continue their migration journey or return to their home country, and these trajectories often expose UAM to danger and abuse. Some remain in the country without legal status, which also involves uncertainty and susceptibility to harm. See Sofia Hedjam, “Disappearing, Departing, Running Away: A Surfeit of Children in Europe?,” Terre des Hommes, October 2007.

25

Conclusion: A summ ar y of recom men dations Recommendations from UAM: •

• • • • •

•

•

•

• • •

“My idea, they have to look for [more girls]. Before, it was many of the young boys and young girls but now we have few girls. They have to look for other young people. They have to look from different cantons to look for other young children.”

“Il y a certains campagnards qui viennent d’une petite ville. Il faut essayer d’attirer ces jeunes.”

“Speak Out should invite more people.”

“Moi, je pense que ce qu’on est en train de faire, si on continue, peut-être ça va améliorer si on continue toujours.” « Non, c’est bien Speak Out. » “I’ve seen some persons with us and all of the sudden they stop coming. I always want to bring a resolution to these people. I saw one of these people in Geneva in the last three weeks, and I said, ‘oh man, you’ve not been coming?’ [He said] ‘Yes, they’ve asked me to leave, they given a negative decision’ so he doesn’t think of coming anymore. [I said] ‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about that.’ I want at least, we should always, even if it’s a letter to appreciate the time spent with us, to give them encouragement for the time spent with us. This is something we can, we should… care. Just stop coming, let go like that without even asking what happened, why did you stop? You don’t even know if they’re sick. We should always show love to one another, make them to see that we always care for them.”

“Most of us who live in Switzerland right now, we have a good life, but there are some other kids in other countries, I’d like to make sure they know this is what Speak Out in Switzerland did. This is how they respect their laws. This will give children in other places [ideas], ‘If these people can do this, then why can’t we do it? We start growing from one place to another so others will know there are some [like us]. To make that happen, know how other kids in other places are living. Help us to know more people. Take ideas to other places.”

“I want us to grow… I always prayed that one day we [Speak Out] should have our own fame, our own office, this is our secretariat. When you want to look for us, have a website. I want us to grow and be in that position. Any organization that doesn’t have a website won’t grow. When we have a site, we’ll know that we’re growing and spreading.”

“I would like Speak Out to contact specialists who know about kids, who know about the mentality of kids to give us some ideas. Those who have things to add. People who are really specializing in that area. Like you [author of this research], this workshop, you know how it goes this is what you learn in school. You giving us your opinion, your openness, the ideas you will give it will help us and make us move ahead. You should improve on things like that. We will discover this is where we’re lacking. We’ll work on it, discover it. Your ideas can grow.

That’s why we need some other specialists who know about us to give us their ideas.” « Moi je crois que Speak Out n’est pas à la limite… c’est pour toutes les choses il faut aller [plus loin]. » « Du côté d’un animateur, des fois il se fâche [si les jeunes n’écoutent pas]… moi je trouve qu’il ne devrait pas se fâcher. » « …. Pour améliorer, c’était déjà dit. D’abord, les animateurs. Tu comprends ? S’ils voient les choses qui ne va pas, ils doivent savoir prendre le rôle d’animateur c’est forcer des choses qui

26

ne plaît pas. Il faut essayer de motiver les gens… La motivation, ça va venir d’où? Les animateurs… c’est eux qui doivent donner plus… Il faut les pousser un peu. C’est comme à l’école, il faut faire travailler tout le monde… c’est les animateurs qui doivent faire ça. »

Recommendations from visitors to the project: General • Portmann said it would be helpful to expand the program and invite UAM participants from all cantons to participate rather than just certain cantons as is the case now. He recognizes that there are constraints like funding and capacities so he said that this may not be possible.

• Hruschka stated that a decision needs to be made at some point whether the focus is on empowerment or influencing asylum policy. Empowerment requires taking in new participants regularly, and it also necessitates frequently re-explaining the project to new participants as they join. This is good for new participants, but it will have less impact on the political level. To focus on political progress, the project needs a dedicated group of children and it should focus on moving political issues forward.

• “I think what would be really interesting would be to try to engage more people in a dialogue to give them the opportunity to meet with them [Speak Out participants]. I know it’s difficult to get people to actually come and to talk to them but I think it’s important. Also not just people from police, but normal people from the streets as well, like they’re doing with the football tournament,” explained Fiechter.

• Taglioni a dit, “Je pense qu’il faut continuer à chercher des collaborations entre le projet Speak Out et autres platforms de participation… les dialogues entre tout les différents platforms de participation.”

• “I think it’s a good project that they should do for a long time,” stated Sager.

Specific recommendations related to a workshop or event • Maier said the session with the young Swiss politicians may have been better if the participants had known more in advance about what the parties were doing. He also thinks it is important for UAM to learn more about the political system in Switzerland, especially initiatives and petitions. They should know about these if they want to have a political impact.

• Taglioni recommended that in the future, the preparatory work before the Swiss Youth Parliament could be ameliorated. For example, the training with the chefs des groupes should be repeated and improved. Given that the UAM participants have different competencies, for example, related to their language level, the themes could be framed in a different and better way.

Recommendations from the evaluator:29 •

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Speak Out adults should explain their motivations for working with the project to UAM participants.

See the section “Recommendations from the evaluator” for an elaboration of these points.

27

• • • •

•

Speak Out should follow-up with external visitors who are in a position to address the issues raised by UAM. Speak Out adults should continue to emphasize that the project can not impact individual asylum procedures, and this theme should be returned to regularly.

Adults should remain vigilant to the potential that project activities and new knowledge may discourage UAM. Future research should examine what happens to UAM when they end participation in Speak Out to determine whether the project was helpful for them or not over the long-term and to what extent it may contribute to future vulnerability.

Adult leadership should remain vigilant to protection issues that fall outside the scope of the project like the precarious status and unknown future of UAM, and consider creative new ways to address these vulnerabilities.

28

Bibliography Antony, Elodie. “Les mineurs non accompagnés séjournant en Suisse : Quelles perspectives d’avenir ?” Master’s thesis, Institut Kurt Bösch, 2010.

Bauman, Catherine. “Swiss unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers ‘Speak Out’: Balancing the need for protection and the desire to promote agency” Master’s thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, 2011. Contact ncbauman@gmail.com for access.

Bauman, Catherine. “Untapped Potential: the CRC as a Tool for Improving the Situation of UAM in Switzerland,” written for Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies seminar course. Geneva, 15 December 2010. Contact ncbauman@gmail.com for access.

Chetail, Vincent, and Céline Bauloz. The European Union and the Challenges of Forced Migration: From Economic Crisis to Protection Crisis? EU-US Immigration Systems 2011/07. San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute, 2011.

Committee on the Rights of the Child. Concluding Observations of the CRC: Switzerland, CRC/C/15/Add.182, 7 June 2002.

Fiechter, Matthias. « Action 72 heures – va chambouler la Suisse. » Action 72 heures, 15 September 2009. http://www.72stunden.ch/fr/blog/archive/2009/09/15/72-heures- pourune-suisse-solidaire.html (accessed 19 February 2011).

Hedjam, Sofia. “Disappearing, Departing, Running Away: A Surfeit of Children in Europe?”

Terre des Hommes, October 2007. http ://www.terredeshommes.org/index.php?lang=fr&page=res.tdh (accessed 2 November 2010).

Hofmann, Agnes, and Kathrin Buchmann. La Suisse terre d’asile : Informations sur le droit d’asile et sur les personnes en procédure d’asile. Organisation Suisse d’Aide aux Réfugiés, 1 April 2008. www.fluechtlingshilfe.ch/hilfe/fluechtlinge/la-suisse-terre-d-asile (accessed 2 December 2010).

Hruschka, Constantin. “Aktuelle internationale Bestrebungen zur Stärkung der Kinderrechte im Migrationsbereich.” OSAR: Schweizerische

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Flüchtlingshilfe (SFH) Juristische Weiterbildung – Kinderrechte im Asylbereich, Bern, 10 May 2011.

Imhof, Sandra. « Droits de l’enfant en Suisse : Traitement différent d‘un canton à l’autre. » Child Rights Network Switzerland, 22 June 2009.

Kohli, Ravi K. S. “The Sound Of Silence: Listening to What Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children Say and Do Not Say.” British Journal of Social Work 36, no.

5 (July 2006): 707–721.

Lachat Clerc, Martine. Les mineurs non-accompagnés en Suisse: Exposé du cadre legal et analyse de la situation sur le terrain. Terre des Hommes, 2007.

Li, Tania. The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007.

Mai, Nicola. “Marginalized Young (Male) Migrants in the European Union: Caught Between the Desire for Autonomy and the Priorities of Social Protection.” In Migrating Alone: Unaccompanied and Separated Children’s Migration to Europe, edited by Jyothi Kanics, D. Senovilla Hernandez, and Kristina Touzenis, 69-89. Paris: UNESCO, 2010.

Mele, Cristina. “Les trajectoires d’asile des mineurs non accompagnés qui arrivent en Suisse : Confrontation de leur situation dans les cantons de Vaud, Genève, Berne et Zurich.”

Mémoire de licence en géographie, Université de Neuchâtel, 2009.

Marugg, Michael. Deuxième rapport des ONG au comité des droits de l’enfant. Réseau Suisse des Droits de l’Enfant, May 2009. http://www.netzwerkkinderrechte.ch/index.php?id=38&L=1 (accessed 2 November 2010).

Marguerat, Sylvie, Nguyen Minh Son, and Jean Zermatten. La loi sur les étrangers et la loi sur l’asile révisée à la lumière de la Convention relative aux droits de l’enfant. Le Mont-sur-Lausanne : Terre des Hommes, 2006 « Rapport sur des mesures d’accélération dans le domaine de l’asile. » Federal Department of Justice and Police. Bern, March 2011.

Rhyn, Reto, and Emilie Graff, eds. Participation socio-politique des mineurs non accompagnés de Suisse. Bern: Terre des Hommes-Kinderhilfe, 2009.

“Rückblick über die Aktivitäten von Speak Out 2010,” Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse, Bern, http://www.sajv.ch/fr/projekte/speak-out/ (accessed 10 July 2011).

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Speak Out!: Participation of Unaccompanied Minor Migrants in Social Discourse in Switzerland,” Conseil Suisse des Activités de Jeunesse, 2011, http://www.sajv.ch/en/projekte/speak-out/ (accessed 20 April 2011) and http://www.sajv.ch/fr/projekte/speak-out/ (accessed 11 July 2011).

Touzenis, Kristina. Unaccompanied Minors: Rights and Protection. Rome: XL Edizioni, 2006.

UNICEF Evaluation Office. “Children Participating in Research, Monitoring and Evaluation.” UNICEF Evaluation Technical Notes, no. 1 (April 2002).

Zimmerman, Yvonne, ed. « Droits de l’enfant et application des lois suisses sur les migrants. » Bern : Observatoire Suisse du Droit d’Asile et des Etrangers, August 2009.

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Ann ex 1 Extracted from the researcher’s master’s thesis, p. 43-47:30 This section examines the issue of protection, focusing on one of the problems UAM face in Switzerland that they cite the most frequently, which is an uncertain future.31 Speak Out adults and UAM consider addressing this issue in a substantial way outside the scope of the project, but it is nevertheless a key aspect of vulnerability that resurfaces often in the context of the project as well as interviews with adults and UAM. I begin with an overview of the precariousness of UAM linked to their legal status, then discuss the potential negative impact of not addressing this issue, and conclude with relevant recommendations.

Most Speak Out participants have an uncertain legal status and future. The majority of Speak Out participants interviewed lived in the country for two or more years,32 at least one project participant was in the country for four and a half years,33 and nearly all participants do not know if they will be able to stay long-term. Asylum claims are considered by the FOM, and the decision is quick in some cases,34 but in others, processing takes upwards of four years.35 In practice, authorities often wait until UAM reach majority to render a decision as protection measures in favor of the minor no longer apply, making the deportation easier to execute.36 When the decision is made, the proportion of UAM receiving full refugee status is low.37 A UNHCR presentation showed preliminary recognition rates of UAM claims 30

Catherine Bauman, “Swiss unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers ‘Speak Out’: Balancing the need for protection and the desire to promote agency” (Master’s thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, 2011).

31 This challenge was brought up consistently in interviews and also surfaces during Speak Out discussions.

32 Jawara, Erasto, Ibrahim and Asman.

33 Participant observation, Langnau im Emmental, 14-15 May 2011.

34 For example, the decision is fast if it is a Dublin case or the claim is considered “manifestly unfounded.”

The latter include the following: if the asylum-seeker already made a request for asylum and there are no new motives for asylum; if the individual did not come to Switzerland looking for protection, but rather for other reasons; or if the individual refuses to cooperate with authorities. See Agnes Hofmann and Kathrin Buchmann, “La Suisse terre d'asile: Informations sur le droit d'asile et sur les personnes en procédure d'asile,” Organisation Suisse d’Aide aux Réfugiés, 1 April 2008, 8, for additional examples.

35 For asylum-seekers (this is not disaggregated for UAM) who receive a negative decision and exhaust all appeal processes, the average time between the claim and deportation or regularization of status is 1400 days. The average time period between the claim and a positive decision is 336 days. For more statistics, see « Rapport sur des mesures d’accélération dans le domaine de l’asile. » Federal Department of Justice and Police, Bern, March 2011. Note : In general, waiting periods are likely to be higher for UAM because the FOM does additional research when evaluating the claims of this category of asylum-seeker.

36 Martine Lachat Clerc, “Les mineurs non-accompagnés en Suisse: Exposé du cadre légal et analyse de la situation sur le terrain,” (Terre des Hommes, 2007), 40.

37 A distinction is made between refugees who enjoy the full benefits of such status (a refugee passport, B permit, family reunification) and those who receive only some of these benefits and are admitted based

32

considered in 2010, and it was reported that 6.82% received such status and 52.3% were given provisional admission.38 Some of the latter category can remain in Switzerland longterm as provisionally admitted refugees who face more restrictions than regular refugees,39 but others can not and live in a precarious situation.40 A proportion of the individuals in the provisional admission category is given such status because they can not be sent back to their home countries as the deportation is not licit, enforceable or possible.41 They stay in Switzerland with a permit that must be renewed annually, but there is no guarantee that it will be prolonged each year.42 In sum, many UAM live in precariousness linked to their status in Switzerland, and only a small proportion of UAM applicants receive full refugee status.

Social interventions aiming to improve the situation of a population may ironically contribute to the reinforcement of existing problems,43 and such a possibility is identified here.

Could participation in Speak Out and engagement in society raise expectations of UAM, making them more vulnerable when they do not obtain legal status or are otherwise unable to stay in Switzerland later? This problem is not specific to Speak Out, rather, it is a function of the asylum system, which is slow and results in many UAM waiting several years before being expulsed.44 The challenge is also linked to the legal system and social interventions, which provide some special protections to minors until they reach age 18 but then disqualify them once they reach majority. This sets the conditions for UAM to “become even more vulnerable when they come of age, as they are no longer entitled to protection and face the

on the principle of non-refoulement (no refugee passport, F permit must be renewed yearly, right to family reunification after three years). Hofmann and Buchmann, 9.

38 Constantin Hruschka, "Aktuelle internationale Bestrebungen zur Stärkung der Kinderrechte im Migrationsbereich,” OSAR: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe (SFH) Juristische Weiterbildung – Kinderrechte im Asylbereich, Bern, 10 May 2011.

39 This category includes those who were persecuted and considered refugees but do not receive the full benefits of refugee status because there are reservations to their application. Examples include if the person was involved with an armed group in their home country or if the person fears persecution related to his or her activities in exile. These individuals are not given refugee passports, and the right to family reunification is delayed by three years. Hofmann and Buchmann, 9.

40 This is especially the case for those whose deportation order can not be executed. Because of their status, it is difficult to find a job and many depend on social support. Hofmann and Buchmann, 11.

41 A deportation is not lawful if it is contrary to Switzerland’s obligations under international law; it is not reasonable if it implies a concrete danger to the individual; and it is not possible if the country of origin is unknown or the country refuses to accept his/her return. Article 44 al. 2 LAsi; Article 83 al. 2, 3 and 4 LEtr, cited in Lachat Clerc, 39. In order to return a UAM to his or her home country, permission from that country’s embassy must be obtained and contact must be made with the child’s family or an orphanage to ensure adequate care once the child returns. Often this can not be realized and UAM are given a provisionary admission permit, allowing them to remain in Switzerland until the age of eighteen. Philipe Tinguely, Federal Office for Migration, cited in Cristina Mele, “Les trajectoires d'asile des mineurs non accompagnés qui arrivent en Suisse: Confrontation de leur situation dans les cantons de Vaud, Genève, Berne et Zurich.” (Mémoire de licence en géographie, Université de Neuchâtel, 2009), 65-66.

42 After five years, cantons have the option of offering the individual the more stable B permit, but this varies according to the canton. Hofmann and Buchmann, 20.

43 Or they may “set conditions” for new ones. Tania Li, The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), 1. This section is inspired by her work.

44 This problem is identified by UAM in individual interviews and at Speak Out workshops.

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risk of deportation.”45 Meanwhile, they engage in society, learn the language, and remain hopeful, but eventually, the majority are told to leave. Speak Out is an additional outlet that allows UAM to participate in society, and it may accentuate the problem, making the inevitable disappointment most of them will experience even more difficult.

Speak Out adults are well aware of the need to manage expectations and they attempt to negotiate the challenge by telling UAM that participation can not help their individual asylum situation or lead to short-term results, and this topic is returned to on a periodic basis in workshops. However, this delimitation attempt is only partially successful.

Part of the group maintains a hopeful outlook that they will be able to stay in Switzerland, and in interviews, some made comments revealing that they do not fully understand that their chances of staying are in fact, quite small.46 As one facilitator reflects, perhaps it is only natural that when you dedicate your time and energy to a project, you hope that somehow it will help you and your individual asylum procedure even if you are told it will not.47 Furthermore, maintaining optimism may be a coping mechanism, giving UAM the motivation to engage in school, work and other outlets despite the many constraints they face. Even for those UAM who are realistic about the possibility that they may not stay in Switzerland, their active engagement in Speak Out, along with other activities, could potentially exacerbate their disappointment when they receive a negative decision from the FOM, their permit is not renewed or their deportation is executed.

Given this possibility of the reinforcement of vulnerability, several recommendations are made. First, future research should examine what happens to UAM when they end participation in Speak Out to determine whether the project was helpful for them or not over the long-term and to what extent it may contribute to future vulnerability. In retrospect, was participation worthwhile? Were the capacities developed useful for them in their lives after Speak Out? Was what they learned helpful for the future? As Speak Out currently can not get in touch with former participants and they usually end participation without warning,48 UAM should be given contact information of project leadership or a trusted researcher now.

Participants should be encouraged to keep in touch and let the adults know about their experiences after Speak Out. They should be ensured that the contact will remain confidential, and that authorities will not be contacted.49 A second recommendation is that in reflections about the Speak Out project, the adult leadership should remain vigilant to protection issues that fall outside the scope of the project like their precarious status and 45

Nicola Mai, “Marginalized Young (Male) Migrants in the European Union: Caught Between the Desire for Autonomy and the Priorities of Social Protection,” in Migrating Alone: Unaccompanied and Separated Children's Migration to Europe, eds. Jyothi Kanics, D. Senovilla Hernandez, and Kristina Touzenis (Paris: UNESCO, 2010), 74.

46 For example, one MNA confidently discussed his future life and job in Switzerland, but consultation with a knowledgeable adult indicates that he has very little chance of being able to stay.

47 Interview by author, Aurèlia Isoz, 18 March 2011.

48 This could be because they are deported, “disappear” or decide to end participation in the program.

The project does not maintain lists of UAM contact information, and all communication goes through a focal point in the canton.

49 I recognize that UAM may be hesitant to keep in touch given that they are likely to fear apprehension by authorities. However, some UAM expressed confidence in the project leadership so they may be interested in maintaining contact.

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unknown future, and consider creative new ways to address these vulnerabilities either in the next stage of the project or by encouraging other agencies to address these issues. For example, in a new phase of Speak Out, UAM might discuss the reality that many will be sent back to their home countries, others will remain in Switzerland without a permit, some will continue their migration journey, and others may engage in illegal activities, among other possibilities. Given the high probability that UAM will be exposed to new risks and vulnerabilities in times ahead, and the reality that their lack of perspectives for the future is a frequently invoked problem, engaging UAM to discuss and address this topic is merited even if it is sensitive and challenging to do so.50 One possibility is that a smaller group of willing participants could work on this topic if all do not want to participate. Admittedly, because of the current anti-immigration context and the general hardening of asylum policies across Europe,51 addressing this issue will be easy, but these capable UAM could bring fresh perspectives to the search for solutions and their opinions have not yet been solicited enough.

50

It is not clear whether or not participants would want to study this issue, and it is likely that some would not want to address this difficult topic, but I argue that project leadership should explore this possibility with the participants nevertheless.

51 For an assessment and critique of the four pillars of Common European Asylum System, see Vincent Chetail and CĂŠline Bauloz, The European Union and the Challenges of Forced Migration: From Economic Crisis to Protection Crisis?, EU-US Immigration Systems 2011/07 (San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute, 2011).

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Ann ex 2 Extracted from the researcher’s master’s thesis, p. 33-35: At the beginning of the project, the topic of children’s rights was a focus of study.

UAM learned about their rights, which are elaborated in the Convention, and the reality that they are not respected in Switzerland despite the country’s obligations under international law.52 The complexity of this issue is established, followed by a discussion of the initial reaction of UAM. They were not encouraged or inspired by learning about their rights, and this constitutes a surprising manifestation of the tension between protection and participation.

Teaching UAM about their rights under international law, but explaining that they are not respected, is not straightforward because the topic itself is convoluted. Key factors that inhibit the implementation of the CRC include the following: the federalist system in which responsibilities related to children lie with different levels of government and diverse agencies, including many that do not fully understand the CRC and its applicability; the reality that when the CRC is violated, judicial redress is often difficult or impossible; the incompatibility of the CRC and national and cantonal legislation and rules; and finally, a general lack of awareness or insufficient understanding of the CRC.53 With regard to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, a central problem is that these are interpreted in a restrictive way in national asylum laws and policies.54 It is especially difficult for UAM to receive refugee status even if they fit the definition because they may not be fully aware of the circumstances that led to them leaving their home country;55 it may be difficult for them to articulate why they left;56 or they may find the status-determination process confusing and intimidating,57 leading to incomplete information or contradictory stories, and the ultimate 52

Emilie Graff, interview by author, 24 November 2010 and 27 April 2011.

Michael Marugg, Deuxième rapport des ONG au comité des droits de l'enfant (Réseau Suisse des Droits de l'Enfant, May 2009), 2-7, 9-12. Also see Catherine Bauman “Untapped Potential: the CRC as a Tool for Improving the Situation of UAM in Switzerland,” unpublished study written for Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies seminar course, Geneva, 15 December 2010, contact ncbauman@gmail.com for access, 6-11.

54 See Marugg ; Sylvie Marguerat, Nguyen Minh Son, and Jean Zermatten, La loi sur les étrangers et la loi sur l'asile révisée à la lumière de la Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant, (le Mont-sur-Lausanne: Terre des Hommes, 2006); Sandra Imhof, “Droits de l’enfant en suisse: Traitement différent d‘un canton à l'autre,” Child Rights Network Switzerland (Lausanne: 22 June 2009); Yvonne Zimmerman, ed., « Droits de l'enfant et application des lois suisses sur les migrants » (Bern : Observatoire Suisse du Droit d'Asile et des Etrangers, August 2009); and Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations of the CRC: Switzerland, CRC/C/15/Add.182, 7 June 2002.

55 For example, parents may arrange the departure based on circumstances that would qualify them for refugee status, but the children may not fully understand the situation. Kristina Touzenis, Unaccompanied Minors: Rights and Protection (Rome: XL Edizioni, 2006), 94.

56 Touzenis, 94.

57 Lachat Clerc finds that the asylum procedure is not adapted to children. For example, interviews can last up to four hours without breaks, 39.

53

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denial of the claim. Furthermore, if any part of the interview is found to be untrue, for example, the way in which UAM traveled to Switzerland, the FOM considers that this is reason for the denial of a claim.58 Smugglers, parents or others often advise UAM not to tell the truth about how they came to Switzerland,59 and the FOM judges that this calls into question the veracity of all of the UAM’s statements and may lead to the denial of the asylum claim.60 In practice, most UAM do not qualify for refugee status.61 Simplifying this complex reality in a format that makes sense to UAM of different ages with a range of capacities and relevant knowledge was undoubtedly a difficult task.

The challenges continued; upon learning about their unrealized rights, the initial reaction of UAM was anger, frustration and resentment of the country that does not guarantee their rights. Some UAM responded, “Switzerland is crap,” “They’re all stupid,” “Switzerland treats us badly.”62 Many placed blame on Switzerland and the Swiss people rather than using their rights as a launching pad for raising awareness as the leadership anticipated.63 The potential negative impact of participation, or more specifically, new knowledge, is not always easy to anticipate. The challenge is compounded because UAM may respond in different ways, and what may contribute to a risk for one, may not for another. In this example, some UAM actually felt discouraged and initially lost motivation by learning about their rights. When new information dissuades UAM and reduces their capacity to act, this raises a protection concern.64 Speak Out protection measures do not directly address this issue but the adults nevertheless recognized the problem and responded. They moved the conversation away from the discussion of unrealized rights and reoriented it towards solutions. UAM were given new information, and they talked about historical and current examples of individuals fighting for change.65 They were encouraged to take responsibility and act, thereby using their capacities, rather than pitying themselves and blaming others.66 Graff also notes that while initially UAM tended to group all Swiss people together, they now distinguish between 58

Participant observation, Speak Out workshop with Eveline Gugger, FOM Vice-Director; Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, section head of Dublin II and processing centers; and André Kunzi, section head of West Africa; Spiez, 18 June 2010.

59 Kohli, 710.

60 Participant observation, Speak Out workshop with Eveline Gugger, FOM Vice-Director; Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, section head of Dublin II and processing centers; and André Kunzi, section head of West Africa.

61 In a UNHCR presentation reporting the preliminary recognition rates of UAM claims considered in 2010, it was reported that only 6.82% received asylum and 52.3% were given temporary admission.

Constantin Hruschka, "Aktuelle internationale Bestrebungen zur Stärkung der Kinderrechte im Migrationsbereich,” OSAR: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe (SFH) Juristische Weiterbildung – Kinderrechte im Asylbereich, Bern, 10 May 2011. Statistics on UAM recognition rates are not published by the FOM. 62 « La Suisse c’est la merde, » « Ils sont tous des cons, » « Ils nous traitent mal. » Emilie Graff, interview by author, 24 November 2010.

63 Emilie Graff, interview by author, 27 April 2011.

64 UNICEF Evaluation Office, “Children Participating in Research, Monitoring and Evaluation,” UNICEF Evaluation Technical Notes, no. 1 (April 2002). 4.

65 For example, they discussed Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama. Emilie Graff, interview by author, 27 April 2011.

66 Emilie Graff, interview by author, 24 November 2011 and 27 April 2011.

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different parts of the population. Now they articulate that part of the Swiss population does not like immigrants or is racist, and not all; and they recognize that a segment of the population also supports an amelioration of their situation. In my interviews with UAM, all of whom first learned about child rights through the project, they assessed that learning this information was beneficial and helpful for them. Jawara explains, “Children’s rights are useful. I plan to have a family, and I need to know all of that. I think it’s very important… if I do that, my child does that, and the child of his/her child… It works in that way. That’s what will improve the world.67 By reorienting the discussion, adults helped turn the conversation around and UAM interviewed recognize the benefits and utility of children’s rights.

67

« Oui, c’est utile [les droits de l’enfant]. Je pense à faire une famille et je dois savoir tout cela je trouve que c’est très important… si moi je fais ça, mon enfant il fera ça, l’enfant de son enfant, c’est comme ça … c’est ce qui améliore le monde. » Jawara, interview by author, 16 April 2011.

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39