As part of the "Destination Unknown" campaign, Terre des Hommes - Children's Aid and terre des hommes Switzerland invited to the "Hart an der Grenze" conference in Bern on 4 November 2013. At the conference, the speakers and participants explored the question of how young migrants can be better protected.
A conference report by Alain Zoller, Domestic Team
Young migrants repeatedly take on great dangers and high risks in the hope of obtaining long-term prospects in a foreign country and separated from family and friends through emigration. The situation of young people is further aggravated by restrictive border control policies in the transit and destination countries. The deterrent effect, however, does not materialise 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 Switzerland partner organisation ACISAM (Asociación de Capacitaciòn e Investigación para la Salud Mental) from El Salvador, described the migration situation in Central and North America to the approximately 100 participants at the beginning of the conference. These insights impressively confirm the current grievances.
Pierre Cazenave of Terre des Hommes - Children's Aid underlined with his remarks on transnational migration within Europe that discrimination against children and young people and violations of their rights are commonplace.
Overburdened authorities
Once they have reached their destination, the young people often find themselves in front of overburdened authorities. The usually unclear areas of competence and the immature procedures make it difficult to find lasting solutions for the benefit of the young migrants. According to Christoph Braunschweig of the Service Social International, better individual clarification procedures and objective information in cooperation with the countries of origin are necessary to find these solutions.
Migration opens perspectives
However, Ignacio Packer, Secretary General of the International Federation Terre des Hommes, and Odile Rittener of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) view many reforms at the international level as positive. They went on to explain that migration can open up many perspectives through remittances from migrants to their home countries, the transfer of know-how and cooperation with diaspora organisations. This benefits above all the education and health sectors in the home countries.
New perspectives needed
In the concluding panel discussion, which was attended by a large audience, Ignacio Packer and Stefan Schlegel (from the Foreign Policy Forum) stated that new perspectives are needed in the migration and integration debate. The focus should be increasingly directed towards creating long-term perspectives and incentives for young people, both at home and in the destination country.
If you would like to learn more about the conference, we recommend you visit our website again. A more detailed conference evaluation will be available soon.
