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The story of Jessica, her assumed first name, is emblematic of these situations which fuel a recurring controversy in Geneva. After going to the police station to report mistreatment by her landlords, this 51-year-old Filipino national found herself bombarded with criminal and administrative problems due to her irregular situation. “After everything that happened, I feel that there is no justice,” she said, in tears, during the hearing held this Thursday before the Police Court. For the defense, Me Emma Lidén denounces “an inconsistent and unfair policy” which, instead of protecting the most vulnerable people, dissuades them from contacting the authorities. Her client puts it in these terms: “If I had known everything that was going to happen to me, I would never have filed a complaint.”
If Jessica took her place in the dock, it is because she opposed a criminal order from the Public Prosecutor’s Office which sentenced her to a 90-day suspended fine for insults and violations of the law on foreigners. “She is an honest, discreet, hard-working woman. She is so ashamed of this procedure that she does not even dare to tell her family about it,” explains Me Lidén. Coming to Switzerland in 2019, she stayed and worked without authorization by cleaning for various people. “I am the breadwinner of my family who remained in the country and who live in great poverty.” Housed in a studio by a Swiss-Filipino couple, she describes experiencing financial pressure, brutality and threats of denunciation. “I was mistreated and affected in every way.”
