77
Europe and therefore the needs of young
young person’s life not to be fully autono-
people need to be taken into account now
mous mainly for financial reason and it is
to ensure that they can play their role also
also arguable if a young person at the age
in the future.
of 16 needs to live alone and not with his/ her family. Therefore, this concept can also be used wrongly by taking the responsibil-
Situation of Young People in Switzerland
ity away from the parents. We think that the
It is important to stress that Switzerland
progressively to autonomy”.
has a federal system and is composed of
In Switzerland Young People who want to
26 cantons with a large autonomy. As an
live an autonomous life face several prob-
example, education is regulated on a can-
lems. The housing is one big issue, espe-
tonal level, not on a federal.
cially in bigger (university) cities where
right to autonomy should be nuanced and maybe changed into “the right to access
space is rare and expensive. That makes it hard for Young People to find an affordable
In general the Situation of Young People
and decent home. Young People are often
in Switzerland is pretty good. This is prob-
discriminated as well, because they are not
ably the reason why there seems to be no
trusted to be good residents. The fact that
need or interest in information about Young
there is no minimum wage for Young ap-
People’s Rights. Public discussions and
prentice and scholarships for students are
open access to Information about Rights
not available for everybody54 makes this
are guaranteed and easily accessible for
housing situation even more difficult. For
everybody, but schools rarely offer civic
young families it is also difficult to find sup-
education about Youth or Human Rights in
port in extra familial childcare. The occupa-
general. On Community Level Information
tional choice is still very much influenced
about political Rights is widely provided to
by gender typical stereotypes.
Young People with reaching the age of 18 . 53
Information is strongly needed concerning
3. Participation
employment, education and social rights,
According to Statistics from 200655 almost
and is sometimes offered by private actors,
57 % of Young People (14-24) are active
media and regional counselling agencies.
members in one or more organisations. In the Swiss National Youth Council there are
2. Autonomy
approximately 80 Member Organisations,
We faced some difficulties in the discus-
who
sion of autonomy as this concept isn’t ab-
People. There are several possibilities for
solute. To a certain degree it is normal in a
Young People to participate in local Youth
represent
53. Age Limit to attain full age 54. As scholarships and grants are also regulated on a cantonal level they are not the same throughout Switzerland
about
500’000
Young
Appendix
1. Awareness