As part of the “Destination Unknown” campaign, Terre des Hommes – Child Aid and terre des hommes schweiz hosted the “Hard at the Border” conference in Bern on November 4, 2013. At the conference, the speakers explored the question of how young migrants can be better protected.
A conference report by Alain Zoller, Team Inland
Young migrants repeatedly take on great dangers and high risks in the hope that emigration will give them long-term prospects in a foreign country, separated from family and friends. The situation of young people is further exacerbated by restrictive border protection policies in the transit and destination countries. However, the deterrent effect fails to materialize and forces young people to take higher risks, which will lead to higher numbers of victims in the future.
Impressive insights from daily practice
Cécilia Pocasangre, project coordinator of the terre des hommes schweiz partner organization ACISAM (Asociación de Capacitaciòn e Investigación para la Salud Mental) from El Salvador, began the conference by describing the migration situation in Central and North America to around 100 attendees. These insights impressively confirm the current grievances.
Pierre Cazenave from Terre des Hommes – Children’s Aid emphasized in his presentation on transnational migration within Europe that discrimination against children and young people and violations of their rights are commonplace.
Overburdened authorities
Once they arrive at their destination, young people are often faced with overburdened authorities. The mostly unclear areas of competence and the immature procedures make it difficult to find lasting solutions for the benefit of young migrants. According to Christoph Braunschweig of Service Social International, better individual clarification procedures and objective information in cooperation with the countries of origin are needed above all to find these solutions.
Migration opens up prospects
Ignacio Packer, Secretary General of the International Federation Terre des Hommes, and Odile Rittener of the SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), however, consider many reforms at international level to be positive. They went on to explain that migration can open up many prospects through remittances from migrants to their home countries, know-how transfers and cooperation with diaspora organizations. This benefits the education and health sectors in the home countries in particular.
New perspectives needed
In the concluding panel discussion, which was attended by a large audience, Ignacio Packer and Stefan Schlegel (foraus Foreign Policy Forum) stated that new perspectives are needed in the migration and integration debate. The focus should increasingly be on creating long-term prospects and incentives for young people, both at home and in the destination country.
If you would like to find out more about the conference, we recommend that you visit our website again. A more detailed evaluation of the conference will be available soon.
