Preliminary findings workshop
Panel A, 18 January 2017
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On 18 January 2017, the Independent Expert Commission (IEC) on Administrative Detention held its first preliminary findings workshop. A summary of the presentations given at the workshop and of the discussions that followed is now available here.
Over the course of a full day, the first research findings of the IEC and of other related research projects were debated and discussed. The workshop ended with a panel discussion on the subject of «Socio-Political Understanding of the Past: Opportunities and Limitations». A total of some 120 participants from various different interest groups participated in the four sessions of the workshop: people who had themselves been placed in administrative detention, members of the IEC, academics from different universities and other higher education institutions, journalists and other people with an interest in the subject. This diversity provided for to a lively exchange of views. To the report of the complete workshop...
Clara Bombach and Samuel Keller of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences [Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften] (ZHAW), members of the Sinergia Research project «Placing Children in Care: Child Welfare in Switzerland, 1940-1990», gave a presentation on the family background and social status of children who had formerly been institutionalised. This was followed by a talk by Dr. des. Ruth Ammann, IEC Research Coordinator, on the stigmatisation of people who had been subject to administrative detention measures as children. Prof. Dr. Anne-Françoise Praz (Member of the IEC) then offered comments on the two presentations before opening the discussion to the workshop participants in the public.
The second session also took place in the morning, simultaneously with Session A. Prof. Dr. Cristina Ferreira of the College of Health Sciences of the Canton of Vaud [Haute École de Santé Vaud] (HESAV), spoke first on measures for the deprivation of liberty for welfare purposes in 1981. Dr. Lorraine Odier and Matthieu Lavoyer, both members of the IEC research team, then presented the first preliminary findings of their research. The focus of their remarks was on the procedures used for categorising individuals and efforts to resist such categorisation. The two presentations were commented on by IEC Member Prof. Dr. Jacques Gasser.
In the afternoon, Dr. Tanja Rietmann of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies (ICFG) of the University of Bern gave a guest presentation on the use of administrative detention as a welfare measure in regional contexts, taking as an example the Canton of Grisons. This was followed by a talk by Flavia Grossman, member of the IEC research team, who spoke on the use of administrative detention in the cantons of Zurich and Schwyz. Comments on the two contributions were offered by Prof. Dr. Lukas Gschwend (Member of the IEC), who suggested also other theoretical considerations on the subject before opening the discussion to the public.
The fourth session opened with a presentation by Dr. Urs Germann of the University of Bern. He spoke on the subject of administrative detention in prisons and the role of multi-functional facilities in the enforcement of administrative detention orders. Dr. des. Kevin Heiniger, member of the IEC research team, spoke on the different forms of detention used in prison facilities, with examples taken from the life of a single former detainee. Prof. Dr. Martin Lengwiler (Member of the IEC) summarised in his comments the main findings presented in the two talks and posed a number of questions to both speakers. This was followed by a wider discussion on detention facilities with audience participation.
The Preliminary Findings Workshop concluded with a panel discussion. The members of the panel were:
The discussion was moderated by: Dr. Daniel Lis, IEC |
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