In Switzerland with my f permit, I am limited in many opportunities like access to study or work, right to travel.
“People need easy access to work and to essential services to live decent, independent lives. Cities need Universal Basic Mobility. It’s a human right. ”
Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country, and to leave the country and return to it.
This makes me feel like a homeless person because it limits me from trying, for instance, to build a small business. Out of this desperation I have, as an independent publisher, looked at various social exclusion themes, like invisibility of immigrants or homelessness in the bigger cities in Switzerland to do digital storytelling.
Jeff doing therapeutic photography in Basel in 2020
However, as a f permit holder, I have a studio apartment. I get assistance with rent for a studio apartment and medical insurance. I also get social assistance which equals to 10 chf a day, however, these are poverty margins. That being said, I am appreciative, but think economic empowerment is what most people desire.
So under these circumstances, it's impossible to get a business idea off the ground. Please note that I found out some years back that in Switzerland anyone residing here can start a sole proprietorship and don't have a tax obligation till s/he hits 100k (chf) in profits. And if I had business generating this kind of revenues then I can have an opportunity apply for a residence permit. I do also immensely appreciate Switzerland’s humanitarian gesture, which provides this social assistance support to us which is not typical for homeless folks.
I have an entrepreneurial spirit and have started a successful sole proprietorship in Minnesota doing abstract and title searches for banks and title insurance companies.
With my spirit in creativity while working as a medical coordinator, I built a very good relationship with hospitals and doctors, and using my experience from the US, I decided to research the medical tourism industry and saw a good niche with good disruption potential.
But how do you get a business of the ground with 400 (chf) a month? It seems like an uphill task because of limited cash flow.
In the USA, jobs are easier to find and this helps in generating income to support a small side-business that you eventually allows you to transition from working a side job to being independent.
According to established studies, the medical tourism industry is growing, "With more than 37 million health-related trips and the generation of more than €33 billion each year, medical tourism has become an important niche market."
"Currently, the number of self-paying patients from abroad who travel to Switzerland to seek health care is estimated to be around 0.5-5% of all patients being treated by the Swiss healthcare system. Though this number is small, these patients are considered valuable from financial point of view. They also contribute to education and training of health care professionals and help build reputation of Switzerland as a destination for excellence in health care."
"The unique qualities of Swiss health services that attract patients from abroad are technologically advanced medical infrastructure, highly trained health care professionals, belief in ‘Swiss quality and precision’, strong commitment to protect the privacy of patients while caring for their health needs in a holistic and ‘exclusive’ manner and stable socio-political environment. The main challenge to attract patients from abroad is the high cost of health care in Switzerland as compared to neighboring countries even though many argue that Switzerland provides better quality to price ratio."
Jeff in a human rights summit in 2010.
People with psycho-social disabilities and homeless face similarities in social economic injustices and often revolve around bureaucracies in social services.
Around the world, governments are pressing pause on disabled and homeless peoples’ ability to make the most basic of decisions, through a scheme called “conservatorship.”
Conservatorship, also known as “guardianship,” puts decision-making for “conserved” people in the hands of strangers who are assigned to them by the courts, or sometimes in the hands of relatives with whom they may or may not have good relationships. The process takes away their self-determination and often leaves them locked up in jail-like facilities, allegedly for their own protection."
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)
Article 25.1 states that: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Jeff in a UN shadow reporting workshop in 2010
CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (2008)
Article 2 gives the following definition: “"Reasonable accommodation" means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Article 5.3 states that “in order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, States Parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided.”
Article 9.1 (a) states that “to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, (…). These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia: … (a) Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces.”
Article 19 (a) states that “States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that: (a) Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement.”
Article 22.1 states that “No person with disabilities, regardless of place of residence or living arrangements, shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, or correspondence or other types of communication or to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation. Persons with disabilities have the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”
Article 24 – Education 5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.
Article 28.1 states that “States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.”
Article 28.2 (d) states that “States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:… (d) To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programs.”
Human rights apply to everyone, no matter our race, belief, location or other distinction. They are universal, eternal & indivisible. One cannot pick & choose among civil, political, economic, social & cultural rights.
Let's stand up for human rights for everyone, everywhere.
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A special thanks to Jeff Makana, an #HE corresponent in Switzerland, for writing and contributing this article to our blog!
