About #célinesvoice
Our heart project
We are Candid and Nadya Pfister, the parents of Céline, who committed suicide on August 28, 2017 at the age of 14 because of cyberbullying. We lost our only and beloved daughter and made it our business to relentlessly explain it.
We show what cyberbullying really means and that there is no legal basis for it in Switzerland. Our laws are outdated and no longer up to date. Society needs a judiciary that is internet-enabled, a judiciary that is state-of-the-art with digital telecommunications, and one that knows its way around.
The task turned into a heartfelt project and we both put our entire commitment in celinesvoice and on the young people. We speak to them from the heart, because they and their feedback have motivated us to continue. Even after 4 years they still encourage us that we should not stop doing it; «Finally someone is talking about it», celinesvoice is also your voice and you carry it on into your room, in your chats and to your apprenticeship or training location.
Since then we have been fighting in the media, publicly, in schools, in lectures and theses, on Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook under the #célinesvoice for awareness-raising and a criminal offense of cyberbullying. Thanks to our case, which is being discussed across Switzerland, SP National Councilor Gabriela Suter submitted a parliamentary initiative in June 2020. The 2021 initiative was accepted in the National Council, but it is still missing in the Council of States. For this commitment we became the proud winners of the Prix Courage from the observer in autumn 2020 and we are very grateful to the readers and the jury for it.
The time has come and it is now. The parents of Celine founded their own association called celinesvoice.ch and the founding date is Celine's birthday, December 3rd, 2021. Our sincere thanks go to all those who have always supported us, all those who have encouraged us again and again have that we can do it and should continue along the way.
Candid and Nadya with Céline
Laudation “Observer Prix Courage” 2020
By jury president Susanne Hochuli
Over the last few days, the first line of Bertold Brecht's poem "To Those Born Afterward" kept coming to mind: "Really, I live in dark times!"
How often have we said to each other in the last few days, weeks and months: What difficult times, what a crazy world, what a bad year, what a dark time.
Yes, life has become bad and sad for many. Many, on the other hand, simply have to do without the usual things that make life pleasant, but without which it is also possible. And those who have to do without things also find: “Really, we live in dark times!”
Fortunately, I don't have to balance suffering and sacrifice against each other. Luckily I don't have to judge what's really dark and bad. And yet at this year's meeting of the Prix Courage jury it was said again and again: "This is the worst thing that can happen to parents."
This year too, the work of the Prix Courage jury was not easy. The dossiers that had to be assessed describe people with courage, moral courage and courage.
• A person who demonstrated exceptional spontaneous courage;
• a person who persistently pointed out weak points in a powerful company without regard to his reputation
• or even uncovered the machinations of entire states.
• A person who stood up unselfishly and with a lot of moral courage for those who have no lobby;
• a person who is considered undesirable in our society and yet stands up for those who have even less than him.
• A person who is physically disabled, stands up and sets an example for tolerance.
• Two people whose fate caused the jury members to say: “This is the worst thing that can happen to parents.”
Because of the worst that can happen to parents, because of their great need and suffering, Nadya and Candid Pfister are committed to society. They expose themselves and are constantly reminded of the suicide of their 13-year-old daughter. Every day they have to face the worst that can happen to parents. Because they were so brave to publicly share their most intimate feelings, schools, authorities and politicians could no longer close their eyes to what drove Céline to her death: cyberbullying.
Her parents are now fighting for a new criminal offense of cyberbullying so that the act is classified as an official offense and must be prosecuted ex officio. Nadya and Candid Pfister also actively help young people who still turn to them with problems. “The boys are repeatedly exposed to cyberbullying. Something has to change,” says Nadya Pfister. «We are on the road for the boys. Many young people want advice from us.” - “If even one less child tries to commit suicide, we will have achieved a great deal,” adds Candid Pfister.
The jury agreed: The Pfister couple deserve the Prix Courage 2020! In a world in which one of the most powerful men carries out cyberbullying with impunity every day, social and political awareness is finally needed that more and more people, especially young people, are becoming victims of this bullying, which knows no spatial or temporal boundaries.
Every year 800 to 900 people die by suicide in Switzerland. More and more young people are ending their own lives. Suicide is still taboo, and not enough is known about what effect cyberbullying has on the mostly young victims. The jury rated the commitment of Nadya and Candid Pfister as eminent: Cyberbullying is a still greatly underestimated danger, which will increase in our country due to the wide reach of social media.
People are needed to address the concerns of young people; Concerns of young people who are learning how to use social media and how to protect themselves from attacks on the Internet. But above all, it needs people who are committed to ensuring that rules are introduced, accepted and enforced. It shouldn't be the case that victims become perpetrators by saying: "If only they had thought before they posted."
Nadya and Candid Pfister lost their child. You have experienced the worst thing that can happen to parents. And yet they have found the energy and moral courage to work at the political level to ensure that no more children kill themselves because of cyberbullying.
For this they deserve the thanks of the Prix Courage jury and great recognition of their moral courage.
Friday, October 30, 2020 The spoken word is valid.
Source and link: Beobachter.ch “Prix Courage 2020”