Parliament insists on more asylum returns
Published: Wednesday, Mar 13th 2024, 09:50
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Parliament is demanding that the Federal Council return and expel more rejected asylum seekers. However, the Councils do not want to impose sanctions on non-cooperative countries of origin.
On Wednesday, the small chamber referred a motion by Councillor of States Werner Salzmann (SVP/BE), which had been amended by the National Council, to the Federal Council without opposition. The motion calls on the Federal Council to draw up a plan to "significantly increase" the number of deportations and returns in the coming years.
To achieve this, the Federal Council should conclude further repatriation agreements and promote voluntary return. Against the wishes of the SVP, the National Council removed the additional increased sanctions for countries that do not cooperate with repatriations from the motion, as requested by the Council of States.
The Council of States agreed with this. Sanctions are counterproductive and sometimes even harmful for bilateral relations, said committee spokesperson Tiana Angelina Moser (GLP/ZH). Such a measure could punish the population and also non-governmental organizations and not the authorities of the country in question.
The Federal Council also rejected the motion in its amended version, referring to its consistent return policy. According to Justice Minister Beat Jans, Switzerland is one of the countries with the strongest enforcement policies in Europe and has concluded dozens of agreements with other countries to strengthen return cooperation.
Council of States member Salzmann had justified the motion by stating that even a negative asylum decision did not mean that the person concerned had to leave the country. Temporarily admitted persons are usually allowed to remain in Switzerland despite a rejected asylum application.
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