Zurich, 9/11/12:
The leaders of the Swiss men's and fathers' organizations met on September 6, 2012 for a strategy meeting to discuss the Federal Council's proposal to revise child support law. After examining the consultation draft closely, the associations see appalling shortcomings. Continue reading
The Swiss Association for Shared Parenthood (GeCoBi) offers a training course that is unparalleled in Switzerland: training to become a qualified separation counselor. A separation counselor helps people who are affected by separation and divorce to cope constructively with this decisive event in their lives. Continue reading
Media Communiqué 25.5.2011
Yesterday, the Federal Council confirmed what Mrs. Federal Councilor Sommaruga had already said after the round table: the two issues of custody and maintenance should again be dealt with separately. Continue reading
On January 12, Federal Councilor Sommaruga announced that she would postpone the ready-made new regulation on joint custody for at least 1 year.
We think - enough is enough! Continue reading
The decision of the Federal Council not to pass any legislative proposal on joint parental custody as a rule until further notice cannot be justified. It is a victory for those forces that try to prevent the equality of father and mother for ideological reasons. GeCoBi has therefore published the following media communiqué:
For almost eight years now, the Federal Council has been tinkering with the new regulation of joint parental care. For two years, the Federal Council has promised to present a draft law.
And now a political patchwork is to be built from a clearly focused template that was already able to win a majority. Supposedly under the guise of "majority capability", a topic is being bobbled here that can probably no longer be stopped in any other way. The majority of the population and the majority of parliamentarians have long since spoken out in favor of joint parental care as the norm. With the transparent trick of combining custody with maintenance, the inevitable should now be postponed for several more years. The aim is apparently to break up old trench warfare again. The fact that we have had a legal vacuum in this area since the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in December 2009 because the existing laws violate human rights does not seem to bother the Bundesrat.
Apparently, the Federal Council still hasn't realized that this path is exactly the wrong way round. Joint parental responsibility, as GeCoBi has been demanding for years, requires both parents to share responsibility. Both parents should also have the opportunity to take on both care and maintenance in the event of separation. However, this is only possible if both parents have the same parental custody status. The current regulation clearly and blatantly disadvantages fathers, who have no possibility of obtaining or keeping parental care without the mother's consent. Conversely, it also promotes the cementing of the old social images, namely it almost inevitably leads to the divorced woman being forced into childcare, while the divorced man has to work full-time because the alimony payments oblige him to do so. Fathers in particular, who want to play their role as fathers, are pushed out of the children's lives as a result.
If the legislature were instead to insist in the event of separation or divorce that the two parents find a viable solution for care and maintenance together, if it were to provide these parents with appropriate help (mediation, etc.), there would be far more positive solutions for everyone involved expected.
The right of the child to both his parents is a human right of the child. To make this dependent on a financial arrangement means putting the reins on the horse.
Oliver Hunziker
President GeCoBi
13.1.2011
After the first version of the Child Care Ordinance (KiBeV) was scorned by GeCobi, politicians and the public, the Federal Council submitted a new text for consultation in autumn 2010. Although this is a lot better, it still has glaring weaknesses. We have commented on this in the consultation process.
clearly rejected the Federal Council's first proposal for various reasons . Children removed from their parents should end up in the hands of placement organizations. They would have actually taken over the educational authority for them. We also rejected the idea that childcare outside the family would become a playground for bureaucrats, which was also rejected by large sections of the public.
In principle, the present draft represents a significant improvement over its predecessor. However, we do not agree with the Federal Council with regard to the care of children outside of the family. It is fundamentally the responsibility of parents with custody to provide for the care of their children. They should also be able to decide freely who they leave their child to look after.
With regard to the organization of foster children, due to the sad experiences with the fate of contract children, we are very surprised that the question of the employment of children and young people is not mentioned at all in the draft regulation. There is an urgent need for regulation here. In addition, we are firmly of the opinion that foster parents need and should receive appropriate training oriented towards practical issues for their very demanding job. This is a basic quality feature for dealing with often 'difficult' children and young people. When the state intervenes so massively in the fundamental rights of the family and takes away their children from parents, it also has to ensure that they are actually better off in the new place than they were with their parents.
The Federal Commission for Family Affairs (EKFF) has launched a proposal to create 24-week parental leave. Four weeks of this should be reserved for fathers. GeCoBi welcomes this initiative because it brings movement back into a topic that is important for all parents. Continue reading
On December 16, the Federal Council took note of the responses to the consultation on the draft law on joint parental care after separation and divorce. He just wants to keep joint custody after a divorce; unmarried fathers would have to apply to the court. GeCoBi has commented on this in a communiqué:
The Board of Directors of the Swiss Association for Shared Parenthood (GeCoBi) welcomes the fact that the Federal Council intends to uphold both joint parental responsibility after the parents divorce and the criminal liability of refusing visitation rights.
However, we are surprised that the Federal Council wants to keep unmarried fathers and their children at a disadvantage. The abolition of discrimination based on marital status was welcomed by the majority in the consultation – contrary to the statements in the media release. According to the Federal Council, unmarried fathers should only have joint custody if the mother (who automatically has it from the birth of the child) consents to this or if a court grants a corresponding application by the father. Two weeks ago, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned Germany because the automatic exclusion of unmarried fathers from custody stipulated in the law violates the ban on discrimination. We cannot understand why fathers should again be systematically disadvantaged on this issue. We are also convinced that the ECtHR would also classify such a regulation as discrimination and that the law would have to be amended again.
Parental responsibility is first and foremost a child's right, namely the right to be cared for. The equal relationship to both parents is also a fundamental right of children according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The children concerned do not care what legal relationship their parents have with one another. It is important for them that they have a stable relationship with both parents and that both are there for them. With the joint parental responsibility propagated by GeCoBi (which in many areas goes beyond the purely legal concept of joint custody), the framework conditions can be created for children to cope as well as possible with the separation of their parents.
The laws are not made by the Federal Council, but in Parliament. We are therefore confident that the national and state councils will adopt a solution that does not discriminate.
As part of the consultation on tax relief for families with children, which ended on April 15, 2009, GeCoBi also took a stand.
The structure of the tax burden on parents and families is an important lever in family policy. Tax incentives not only affect the finances of those affected, but are also an expression of social appreciation of certain behaviors. That is why GeCoBi also demands the implementation of joint parenthood for unmarried parents in the area of tax law. For GeCoBi there is a natural priority for both parents in the care and upbringing of their children. We therefore reject government incentives for one-sided funding of third-party care. Instead, the state should do much more to offer parents the freedom to choose between their own care and that of someone else. With regard to the revision of tax law, we therefore propose the introduction of a tax credit for children that will be felt in the long term, combined with the tax deductibility of the child's subsistence level. This would also benefit parents with medium, low or no income. Unmarried parents with joint custody should be able to benefit from the tax breaks for children depending on their share of the care.
The full consultation response can be found here .
Speakers from all parts of the country - politicians and leaders of GeCoBi and their affiliated organizations - underlined the importance of shared parenthood. On this page you will find the various speeches as text and video recordings (where available): read on