Switzerland
“We can’t abandon the 300,000 clandestine immigrants in our country”, declares the bishop of Fribourg 4 June 2001, Whit Monday, national holiday in Switzerland: a score of clandestine immigrants (“sans-papiers”) occupy the Catholic church of St. Paul in Fribourg and ask for their position to be regularized. A stand-off begins that lasts almost three months: a hundred or so irregular immigrants occupy the church in shifts with the support of the “sans-papiers collective”. The bishop, Msgr. Bernard Genoud attempts a mediation. The parish is divided and the majority ask for an intervention of the local security forces. Finally the “sans-papiers” leave the church with the bishop’s promise to bring their requests to the attention of the Episcopal Conference and of the government. Two families of clandestine immigrants are now being given hospitality in the parish, others in premises nearby. We asked Msgr. Genoud to comment on the affair, in the light of the recent debate in the European Parliament on immigration and right of asylum (cf. the service on page 6). What is the situation of clandestine immigrants in Switzerland? “I was shocked when I discovered that there are at least 300,000 clandestine immigrants in Switzerland. It’s incredible to think that there can be so many faceless workers in our country, so many men who work with the fear of being discovered and expelled. Of course, the situations are very differentiated: there are the asylum-seekers, there are those fleeing from situations of war or poverty, and there are, unfortunately, also those who have problems with justice”. What can the Swiss Church do for the sans-papiers ? “First of all it can assure them it will never abandon them: they are persons who in some sense ask for a refuge. If the Church is not only a building but also a family of the children of God it cannot but come to their defence. We have discussed the problem within the Episcopal Conference; it has published a communiqué on the matter which has been brought to the government’s attention”. What have been the bishops’ proposals? “We have rejected solutions aimed at the regularization en bloc of the sans-papiers, without distinction. There are those in fact who face criminal proceedings, and who cannot be regularized, but there are also those, for example, who would have a right to asylum and who need to be accepted in as short a time as possible. Then there are the families, present in our country for a long period, who already have a source of livelihood. For them too, the procedure of regularization needs to be accelerated as much as possible. Lastly, we have signalled the willingness of the Episcopal Conference to create places throughout the territory of the Confederation that may provide hospitality to and enter into dialogue with clandestine immigrants”. Are you suggesting a repetition of the experience of “missions” also for clandestine immigrants? “Yes, that’s right: in Switzerland we have had and continue to have the positive experience of the so-called language missions where immigrants find a welcome and assistance; it’s enough to think of the great role played by the Italian Catholic missions. For the sans-papiers we propose something similar but geared to their situation: centres where they can get advice, assistance, medical aid, while maintaining their anonymity and without running the risk of being denounced. In this way we could help a large number of them to undertake the procedures for regularization”. The parish of St. Paul in Fribourg was split on the question of clandestine immigrants. Is the country as a whole divided on this issue? “Unfortunately there is a wound in our country. This wound is the sign of the difficulty of living Christianity as brotherhood, hospitality, opening to the other person. But we also know that no one can claim a monopoly of kind-heartedness. In civil society, besides, we need to tackle the challenge of translating our aspirations, our values, into civil law. It is a challenge that as Christians we cannot evade”. Ignazio Ingrao
