Neuchâtel: intercultural integration in action
The journalist Brigid Grauman participated in an
expert visit to Neuchatel. This enabled
representatives from pilot intercultural cites to
acquire knowledge about the intercultural
strategies implemented in this Swiss Canton.
She published her impressions on the
supplement of the Global Post.
Grauman concluded that Neuchatel: "has some of the most progressive policies
towards foreigners in Europe."
The emphasis of public policy on the prevention of
discrimination and the encouragement of a pluralist,
multicultural identity of the citizenry, has been
effective. While it has a high proportion of foreign
residents who represent 25% of its 170 000 people,
Neuchâtel was one of Switzerland’s four
cantons to vote against the banning of minarets.
The canton has a significant history of openness.
Foreigners have been given the right to vote in the
Neuchâtel’s elections since 1849. Furthermore,
since 2007, after five years of residency they can
stand for local government positions. Grauman’s article reports that, according to Pascal
Mahon, a professor of constitutional law at the
University of Neuchatel: "Like the whole of Europe,
Switzerland is a land of immigration, and this is
going to be increasingly true". Mahon contributed to
the development of Neuchatel’s Citizenship Charter.
This text lays down the fundamental principles
behind Swiss democracy and is distributed to every
new arrival to the canton.
Thomas Facchinetti has contributed significantly to
the development of Neuchatel’s novel approach to
intercultural integration. In 1990 he founded, and to
this days runs the local foreigners’ office. "We’re a
form of counter-power," he said. "We mediate between the political authorities
and migrant associations."
Recent intercultural issues which Neuchâtel has
successfully managed have involved Muslim burial
rights in local cemeteries and the occupation of a
public building by illegal citizens, but more often
they concern less controversial issues such as
holding an Italian festival in a village. The canton
has measures to facilitate integration, such as easily
accessible French language courses and rules
about mixed housing and openness in the job
market. Police and administrative officials are given
special training, and even building managers
receive lessons in intercultural diversity