Asylum Policy: Collected news items
Since Art. 20 of the Asylum Act (AsylA) was cancelled in September 2012, it is no longer possible to apply for asylum at Swiss embassies abroad. Only requests for humanitarian visas will be processed according to the Ordinance on Entry and the...
«I’ve landed in a bunker, as if somebody had pushed me in. I had no choice. I could not live on the street nor could I go abroad, since that would have had a negative effect on my asylum procedure. I just had no possibility to...
As a rule, asylum seekers whose application has been rejected must return to their country of origin. But since not all asylum seekers can return to their home country after a negative decision on their status, they are issued a provisional residence...
The Swiss Federal Council announced on 3 February 2010 that it would admit for humanitarian reasons two Uyghur brothers from the Chinese province of Xinjiang into Switzerland. Despite Beijing'opposition, and in accordance to the will expressed by...
Switzerland will keep sending rejected Tamil asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka. This opinion of the Swiss Federal Council was confirmed on 26 May, 2009 by the Council of States (Senate) and on 28 May by the National Council (House of...
Kosovo, Serbia and Burkina Faso will be, starting from 1st April 2009, on the list of countries considered as safe, that is «free of persecution», by the Swiss government. Applications from asylum seekers coming from ‘safe...
About fifty detainees could be released from the military prison of Guantanamo, but they find nowhere to go. Stigmatised as potential terrorist, but formal charges were never laid against them, they face torture and imprisonment in their homeland....
In August 2008, the Federal Office for Migration (FOM) changed its practice with regards to the forced repatriation of Chechen asylum seekers from Switzerland. Four Swiss human rights organisations publicly criticised this new procedure during a...
A mother and her five children tried to enter Switzerland by crossing the Alps - wearing only summer clothes, some of them without shoes. A helicopter rescue team was able to rescue the Ukrainian family on 20 January 2008 from certain death....
The Swiss government decided against receiving further refugees from Iraq, preferring to help displaced Iraqi people on the spot. Justice and Police Minister Christoph Blocher reminded that Switzerland is in second place in Europe in accepting...
