Has COVID-19 Increased Solidarity Towards Foreigners in Switzerland?

The COVID-19 crisis has had various economic and social consequences in Switzerland, particularly on the most vulnerable populations. At the same time, internationally mobile populations were also affected by border closures. Therefore, it is no wonder that among the questions that emerged were the attitudes and reactions of the native population towards migrants from the countries most affected by the pandemic.

A recent study (Bonoli et al., 2020,) conducted within the framework of the nccr – on the move, showed that the Swiss demonstrated solidarity during the economic shutdown last spring and were, to the most part, in favor of public aid. However, they were selective when choosing who to help, favoring the Swiss over foreigners and the self-employed workers over the undocumented ones. The respondents were asked to choose based on profiles presented who to help first. Such an approach measures preferences between different profiles, rather than discriminatory or, on the contrary, apathetic behaviors towards foreign populations.

Moreover, we will include a set of new questions in this year’s version of the Migration-Mobility Survey (MMS), to be launched in October 2020, to understand better, how people of foreign origin perceived the native population’s behavior towards them during the period of crisis. This insight is valuable because international mobility has been a factor in the spread of the virus, a factor likely to lead to a feeling of withdrawal or even rejection of the migrant populations. To collect some preliminary elements, a similar module of questions was inserted in the Grippenet.ch survey of 6 May 2020.

The Grippenet.ch Survey

Grippenet.ch monitored weekly an influenza-like-illness (ILI) within aid volunteers. The Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, together with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), led the project. Any resident in Switzerland could participate by completing weekly an online form, containing various medical and behavioral questions.

Our module was introduced in the survey at the beginning of May. A total of 144 persons of foreign origin responded to the module; 57 of whom were of foreign nationality, the remainder were Swiss (by naturalization or at birth), or dual nationals. 462 persons who declared themselves to be of Swiss origin were also questioned at the same time. As a whole, 75.6% of the respondents were of Swiss origin, 5.9% of foreign origin, but born in Switzerland, and 18.4% of foreign origin, and had spent part of their lives abroad before arriving in Switzerland. The last two categories were grouped for the analyses. The majority (42.9%) of the people of foreign nationality (foreigners or binational persons) indicated that they had French citizenship, while 17.4% stated that they had Italian nationality. The remainder were of different nationalities, mostly European.

The Grippenet.ch sample is not representative of the population living in Switzerland, as it only consists of people living mainly in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, who volunteered to participate. Since the questionnaire is only available in two languages (German and French), it is likely that people who recently arrived in Switzerland or are not proficient in the national languages are under-represented. The participants were well-educated (57.1% held a tertiary diploma), with a predominance of women (58.4%) and an average age of 44.2 years. Among those who answered our module, some 24.2% were retired, and 6.8% unemployed, the remaining 59% active. Despite the rather limited representativeness, the results obtained point out some interesting elements to be confirmed by the Migration-Mobility Survey.

Persons of Foreign Origin Felt in the Right Place in Switzerland

95.8% of the survey respondents of foreign origin spent the confinement in Switzerland and 4.2% abroad. When asked about staying in Switzerland during this period, 88.9% answered that “my life is in Switzerland, so I feel I am in the right place;” 9.7% answered that “being in Switzerland or in my home country is the same for me.” Only 1.4% said that “I would have preferred to be in my home country.” This result suggests that the majority of people of foreign origin feel comfortable in Switzerland.

Positive Support, Rather Than Discrimination

The emergence of COVID-19 in China has raised suspicions of discrimination and xenophobia against people of Asian origin (HRW, 2020; Rzymski and Nowicky, 2020). The pandemic has seen the emergence of populist messages aimed at closing borders to protect the native populations against infected foreigners. In this context, it seems important to measure whether people of foreign origin felt discriminated against during this period or fell victims of unfair acts.

According to our data, discrimination linked to the COVID-19 pandemic concerned less than 3% of the population reassuringly, i.e., only 4 out of 143 respondents (3 from Southern Europe, 1 of Asian origin). However, it is worth mentioning that the results might have been different if the respondents included more people of Asian origin. On the other hand, 21.5% of people of foreign origin answered positively to the question, “Did you experience support or affection from the population living in Switzerland because of how your country of origin was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak?” This solidarity is likely an expression of the Swiss people’s awareness of the difficult situations experienced by people from countries where the epidemic had been the most deadly. However, all nationals of different origins were shown support.

A Positive Result in the Context of a Crisis

Despite the limited representativeness of the sample and the lack of information on the respondents’ migration history, the survey module provides some interesting insights. Mainly, the people of foreign origin, who took part in the survey, feel a strong attachment to Switzerland and consider that they are in the right place to live during this period. This feeling may have been amplified by the fact that the conditions of confinement in Switzerland were less strict than in the majority of their countries of origin. Secondly, the attitude of the Swiss towards the foreign population has been rather positive, and more often, one of empathy than blame or unfair treatment.

The results of the Grippenet.ch survey do not contradict those of Bonoli et al. (2020), but rather they provide additional information. Beyond aid recipient preferences, the study confirms that the Swiss showed solidarity towards people of foreign origin during this particular period. The respondents, of course, did not only express solidarity towards foreigners from countries in crisis, since they also expressed it towards health workers and people at risk, especially the elderly. The fact that such solidarity was expressed, instead of discriminatory feelings, is both reassuring and unexpected. The 2020 MMS survey, based on a more significant (6,000 people) and a more representative sample (Steiner and Wanner, 2019), will provide further information on the expression of this solidarity.

Philippe Wanner is a professor for Demography at the University of Geneva and is the Deputy Director and a project leader of the nccr – on the move. He leads the project Explaining and Interpreting Migration Flows and Stocks.

Ania Wisniak is a physician at the Institute of Global Health of the University of Geneva and responsible for the online platform grippenet.ch.

References

– Bonoli G., et al. (2020). Quelle solidarité pendant la crise sanitaire ? Résultats d’un sondage sur les aides prévues pour ceux  qui passent à travers les mailles du  filet social ? nccr – on the move. En Bref #17, 2020.
– HRW (2020). Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide. National Action Plans Needed to Counter Intolerance.
– Rzymski P., Nowicky M. (2020). COVID-19-related prejudice toward Asian medical students: A consequence of SARS-CoV-2 fears in Poland. Journal of Infection and Public Health 13(6), 873-876.
– Steiner, I., Wanner, P. (2019). Migrants and Expats: The Swiss Migration and Mobility Nexus. IMISCOE Research Series. Cham: Springer.