10 December 2014 – The Philippine Embassy in Berne organized a forum for Filipino migrants in Switzerland entitled “Social and Psychological Services for Migrants: Open Discussion on Sample Migrant Cases” on December 06.
The forum, which is the second event organized by the Embassy under its Gender and Development (GAD) projects, aimed to help newly-arrived Filipinos in Switzerland, including Embassy personnel, to adjust to the culture of their host country and to successfully integrate in the Swiss society.
To realize the forum’s objective, the Embassy invited resource persons from key Swiss institutions dealing with foreigners and migrants’ problems and concerns such as the Informationstelle für Ausländerfragen (ISA); Frauenzentrale; Regionale Sozialdienst Katholische Kirche; Frabina; and Beratungstelle für Sans Papiers.
These institutions provide various services to foreigners living and working in Switzerland, including those who are married to Swiss nationals, to guide them through their adjustment period and, for those who are already long-timers in the country, to help them with their daily concerns relating to finance; social services; health insurance; pensions, marital issues; and legal issues relating to divorce, domestic violence, alimony, social security, law of succession, tenancy, and employment.
Concerns of irregular migrants were also tackled during the forum although none of the participants had an irregular status. The Philippine Embassy wanted to ensure that even irregular migrants have certain rights in Switzerland and could approach these institutions if they need counselling and advice. This was also validated by the resource persons.
The open forum provided an opportunity for the participants to share concerns and seek advice from the resource persons on where they could go and which institutions they could approach concerning certain problems. It also provided a platform for them to clarify certain concerns and misconceptions about certain rights and entitlements of foreigners in Switzerland. END