The popular initiative addressed the fate of forced child labourers in Switzerland, the so-called Verdingkinder, a term formerly used in the Swiss-German language.
Another "integration project," related to the so-called "misplaced persons," affected tens of thousands of juveniles, who were placed as labourers at Swiss farms, with low pay.
It demanded: It was pointed out that only severely affected victims obtain redress and that an independent commission should be formed to examine each case individually.
[5] Verdingkinder (literally: "contract children" or "indentured child labourers") were children in Switzerland who were taken from their parents, often due to poverty or for "moral reasons" (usually because their mothers were unmarried and poor), of Gypsy–Yeniche (Swiss German also Fahrende) origin[6][7] and sent to live with new families, often poor farmers who needed cheap labour.
Many of these children, when they grew to be adults, have come forward to claim they were severely mistreated by their new "families,"[4] suffering neglect, beatings, and other physical and psychological abuse.