Administrative care

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The administrative power was practiced in Switzerland since the second half of the 19th century to 1981 public coercive measure that was ordered by an administrative authority. The incarcerations were often indefinite in time, could be extended in the event of opposition and, depending on cantonal laws, were also referred to as "detention", "corrective care", often simply "briefing" or "measure". About 60,000 people were affected by administrative care.

Practice of administrative care

Adolescents and adults who had received negative attention from the authorities were sent to so-called “labor institutions” for adults, which until the 1970s were still called “forced labor institutions”, or to “educational institutions” or “labor institutions” without a court ruling and usually without a hearing. briefed for teenagers and young adults. These could be departments of normal penal institutions (e.g. the Hindelbank women's penal institution in the canton of Bern or Bellechasse in the canton of Friborg or Realta in the canton of Graubünden ). A “dissolute lifestyle”, “vagantism” or if one was noticed as “work-shy” was sufficient as a reason for admission. Even prostitutes and drug addicts were admitted. Complaints were often unsuccessful or dismissed as “troublemakers” because they were not dealt with by independent bodies, but had to be addressed to the same authorities that had administered the briefing.

Legal basis

The administrative provisions were based on a confusing and elusive legal situation: responsibilities between the cantons and the federal government as well as between the judiciary and administration were not clearly regulated. This allowed the authorities to detain people who were innocent within the meaning of the law, but who did not conform to the moral standards of the time. The laws were gradually introduced in the late 19th century for fear of social upheaval. This also created a "second class right". Recognized procedural rights were restricted in the area of ​​administrative ordinances.

End of practice

After Switzerland signed the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of 1950 decades late and with reservations in 1974 , administrative support in Switzerland was abolished. In 1981, seven years after the ratification of the ECHR by Switzerland, the provisions on welfare deprivation of liberty were introduced into the civil code. On the basis of this law, the authorities could continue to have people locked up against their will and for their safety (those detained before 1981 remained in the closed institutions assigned to them after 1981, where they had to do forced labor ), but now a law has passed lays down the conditions under which such an encroachment on a person's fundamental rights was legitimate. One of the consequences of this was that forced admissions were now less arbitrary and moreover always took place in a psychiatric facility.

Work-up

For a long time, official Switzerland and society have suppressed the injustice and suffering that administrative care has brought to many people. On September 10, 2010, Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf officially apologized on behalf of the federal government for the injustice suffered by the victims at a memorial event in Hindelbank. Some of the people affected had not yet come to terms with what had happened and were later discriminated against because of their stay in "administrative care". Those affected also stated that they had been treated in an inhumane way by the authorities, guards and prison management.

An official commemorative event took place in Bern on April 11, 2013. On March 21, 2014, the federal law on the rehabilitation of administratively cared for people came into force; it demands the scientific processing of administrative supplies in Switzerland and recognizes these government measures at the time as injustice. In enforcement of this law, the Independent Commission of Experts was set up by the Federal Council on November 14, 2014 for the scientific review of administrative care before 1981 .

The federal law expressly does not provide for reparation payments. Many victims disagreed with this. That is why the reparation initiative was launched on March 31, 2014 and submitted 8 months later with 110,000 valid signatures. The initiative demanded that the federal government set up a fund of CHF 500 million for the victims of compulsory welfare measures and third-party placements made before 1981. Under the pressure of the initiative and in order to be able to pay the compensation to the victims, some of whom were already elderly, as quickly as possible, the Federal Council submitted an indirect counter-proposal, which was finally accepted by the federal councils in 2016. The counter-draft provides for payments of CHF 250 to 300 million.

Historical reviews have been commissioned in various cantons. For example, the results of a research project commissioned by the Canton of Zurich were published in 2018.

At the beginning of September 2019, the independent commission of experts presented its final report to the public in Bern. According to the report, at least 60,000 women and men were imprisoned by cantons and communes without them having committed a crime and without prior due process. Those affected were interned because they did not conform to the moral standards of the time. They were considered to be “work-shy”, “dissolute” or “alcoholic”. Illegitimate pregnancies were also sufficient for administrative support. In around 650 prisons and other institutions across the country, the victims were locked up, exploited and, in many cases, severely ill-treated.

In the opinion of the Commission, the reparations decided at the federal level in 2014 are insufficient. These consist in particular of a "solidarity contribution" of 25,000 francs per person, which those affected could apply to the federal government by March 2018. Around 9,000 people have registered, and all applications should be processed by the end of the year. The expert commission made suggestions as to how the victims could be better compensated through further financial contributions. The spectrum ranges from a free general subscription to a tax exemption to an aid fund for those affected who cannot bear their health costs themselves. In the Commission's view, a special life-long pension may also be necessary. Behind these demands is the recognition that the injustice of that time often had lifelong consequences and in some cases even passed on to subsequent generations.

See also

literature

  • Peter Bossart: Personal freedom and administrative support. Schönenberger, Winterthur 1965, DNB 571862845 (Dissertation University of Zurich, Faculty of Law and Political Science, 103 pages).
  • Thomas Huonker : hospital admissions, marriage bans, kidnapping, sterilization, castration. Welfare, coercive measures, 'eugenics' and psychiatry in Zurich between 1890 and 1970. Social Department of the City of Zurich, Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-908060-13-3 .
  • Thomas Huonker : Changes in an Institution. From the men's home to the factory and residential building. Werk- und Wohnhaus zur Weid, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-9522643-0-X .
  • Sybille Knecht: Forced supplies. Administrative briefings in the canton of St. Gallen 1872–1971. State Archives of the Canton of St. Gallen, St. Gallen 2015, ISBN 978-3-033-05264-2 (report on behalf of the State Archives St. Gallen, 177 pages, free of charge).
  • Sabine Lippuner: Better and safe: The practice of the administrative care of "sloppy" and "work-shy" in the Thurgau forced labor institution Kalchrain (19th and early 20th century) (= Thurgau contributions to history , volume 142). Historical Association of the Canton of Thurgau, Frauenfeld 2005, ISBN 3-9522896-2-0 .
  • Tanja Rietmann: “Careless” and “work shy”. Administrative institutional care in the canton of Bern (1884–1981) . Chronos, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-0340-1146-4 (dissertation University of Bern 2011, 381 pages).
  • Dominique Strebel: locked away. Why thousands in Switzerland were innocently behind bars. Observer, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-85569-439-6 .
  • Beat Gnädinger, Verena Rothenbühler (ed.): Correcting people. Compulsory welfare measures and third-party placements in the canton of Zurich until 1981. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2018.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review of Lippuner
  2. ↑ Frequent wandering from place to place, lack of sedentariness, usually referred to as "vagueness" in the legal texts
  3. ↑ a b «We were locked away». Retrieved September 4, 2010 .
  4. ↑ What does administrative pension mean? Retrieved September 4, 2010 .
  5. ↑ Independent Expert Commission: The Legal Basis of Administrative Care
  6. ^ Nicolas Broccard: Compulsory welfare measures - www.humanrights.ch. Retrieved January 5, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b The Federal Council apologizes . St. Galler Tagblatt dated September 11, 2010, p. 5
  8. ↑ Sommaruga apologizes for contract children . Neue Zürcher Zeitung edition. April 11, 2013 ( nzz.ch ).
  9. ↑ Compulsory welfare measures: memorial event on April 11, 2013
  10. ↑ Markus Hofmann: “Not a useful member of society” In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of April 10, 2019
  11. ^ Admin.ch: Federal law on the rehabilitation of administratively cared for people
  12. ↑ " Federal Act on the Rehabilitation of Administratively Cared for People. March 21, 2014, accessed on February 1, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Federal Office of Justice: reparation for victims of compulsory welfare measures
  14. ↑ Dorothee Vögeli: Administrative care: How "dissolute" people were disciplined In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 30, 2018
  15. ↑ Fabian Schäfer: Free GA travelcard and special pension for contract children and other victims of coercive measures In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 2, 2019
  16. ↑ Scary find: Skeletons with numerous broken ribs show how badly Switzerland treated social outsiders Auf Neue Zürcher Zeitung of May 13, 2019
  17. ↑ Compulsory care should be better compensated In: SRF from September 2, 2019