As part of the Tamil diaspora, even as a child I heard from relatives how they had to watch friends and family members being injured or losing their lives in the civil war in Sri Lanka. Many lived with the constant feeling that they were never really safe, taking turns keeping watch at night, not knowing if they would live to see the next day. The civil war developed out of long-standing tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority, who suffered from structural disadvantage, discrimination and political exclusion. In 1983, the conflict escalated into an armed war in which the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), among others, fought for the rights and independence of the Tamils.
In my Matura thesis, I therefore investigated the extent to which the migration of Tamils from Sri Lanka to Switzerland developed as a result of so-called push and pull factors during the civil war in Sri Lanka (1983-2009). Push factors included the brutal violence, the economic hardship during the long period of crisis and the fear for daily survival, which forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homeland. Pull factors such as political stability, protection and social opportunities made countries such as Canada and the UK – as well as Switzerland – a safe destination with new hope for many Tamils.
I began my work with the statistics from the Federal Office for Migration: by graphing this data, I was able to visualize conspicuous fluctuations in immigration. There were particularly clear peaks in the years 1990/1991 during an intensive phase of war and in 2008/2009, shortly before the ceasefire agreement brought official peace. However, the ceasefire did not mean the end of the suffering. The wounds heal slowly, and tensions between Tamils and Sinhalese remain to this day.
In addition to the quantitative data, I conducted interviews with five Tamils who came to Switzerland during the war. They told their personal stories, and these were as varied as their routes to Switzerland. One person told me that she had to cycle three hours to the nearest school because her school had been destroyed after coming under fire. Others experienced violence first-hand and saw how friends and children became victims of violence and lost their lives. Without any school qualifications, the five interviewees built a new life here and are now actively involved in society, mostly in the catering industry. One of the interviewees has even founded his own company in the facility management sector. These individual stories show that behind every statistic there are people with personal experiences, suffering, hope, courage and the will to build a new life.
My findings show: Migration is not a linear path, but a complex interplay of personal life paths and historical events. The civil war forced many Tamils to flee, and Switzerland, among many other countries, offered them new prospects.
The recently erected “Tamil Genocide Memorial” in Brampton, Canada, for example, shows that the after-effects of the civil war can still be felt today. It is a reminder that this history is not simply closed, but lives on in families, discussions, memories and in memorials to the deceased around the world. With my work, I want to illustrate how migration shapes people and societies, and show that behind every statistic lies a story of its own.
Sherina Nobert
Matura class 2025
