Victims of domestic violence no longer lose their residence status
Published: Wednesday, Feb 28th 2024, 12:10
Updated At: Wednesday, Feb 28th 2024, 12:10
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Parliament provides better protection for foreign victims of domestic violence. Anyone who leaves a violent relationship will in future be considered a case of hardship and will no longer lose their residence status.
After the National Council, the Council of States also approved a corresponding amendment to the law on Wednesday. The small chamber reached its decision by 32 votes to 8. The National Council had already approved the bill in the winter session. Due to two differences of opinion, it now has to deal with the matter again.
According to the current legal situation, victims of violence with a residence or short-term residence permit or who have been temporarily admitted are at risk of losing their residence papers if the marriage is dissolved. Parliament wants to change this with a series of amendments to the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act (FNIA). The aim is to guarantee the practice of hardship cases.
Individual cases are examined
The bill was drafted by the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N). It defines the concept of domestic violence in concrete terms. Criteria for identifying domestic violence are listed in the law as examples.
Among the indications of domestic violence mentioned are that someone was recognized as a victim under the Victim Assistance Act, had to receive medical treatment, or that the police had to intervene in one case.
The cantons are to implement the new rules. However, as with cases of personal hardship, they should only be allowed to apply the rules with the consent of the federal government.
Victim status does not automatically mean that the hardship rule applies, explained Marianne Binder-Keller (center/AG) on behalf of the preliminary consultation committee. It remains a case-by-case examination.
SVP fears abuse
The new rules will apply not only to married couples, as is the case today, but also to their children, to people in registered partnerships and - under certain conditions - to cohabiting partners.
A motion by St. Gallen SVP member of the Council of States Esther Friedli not to accept the bill failed to gain a majority. Friedli argued that the current hardship regulation was already being abused. The bill would lower the hurdle for proving domestic violence too much - in fact, a visit to a victim support center would suffice.
Friedli's party colleague Jakob Stark (TG) unsuccessfully requested that the bill be referred back to the committee. As the cantons would have to enforce the law, they should also be involved, said Stark. Like Friedli, he was of the opinion that there was an increased potential for abuse with the new rules: "Too little has been clarified here."
The President of the SPK-S, Daniel Fässler (center/AI), disagreed, saying that it was primarily a matter of clarifying the existing hardship regulation, not a fundamental change to migration law. He rejected the accusation that the committee had dealt with the bill in a rush job.
Controversial exceptions
The proposal by a minority of the Commission and the Federal Council to delete a paragraph providing for an exception to the integration criteria in cases in which the right of residence of a victim of domestic violence is extended was adopted.
The National Council must now decide on this again. When the matter was first discussed in December, it voted against deleting the provision.
Furthermore, at the request of Beat Rieder (center/VS), the Council of States deleted a paragraph according to which the use of counseling by a specialist agency should be considered an indication of domestic violence.
The provision leaves it up to private organizations to prove domestic violence, said Rieder. This goes too far.
Domestic violence is often not reflected in judgments, police reports or medical records, Mathilde Crevoisier Crelier (SP/JU) pointed out. Deleting the paragraph would mean breaking out a core element.
Justice Minister Beat Jans also said that women's shelters are also part of the specialized agencies. They are very close to the victims - and are often the only ones to learn of acts of violence.
©Keystone/SDA
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