National Council debates handling of asylum applications from Afghan women
Published: Monday, May 27th 2024, 04:50
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On Monday, the National Council will discuss the admission of refugee women from Afghanistan. A motion from the ranks of the SVP demands that the federal government should reverse a change in practice made in summer 2023.
In July 2023, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) decided to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan as a rule. The situation for women and girls in Afghanistan has steadily deteriorated since the Taliban took power, it explained. Women's basic rights are severely restricted.
The SVP and the FDP then wanted to call off the SEM, but in December the National Council and the Council of States sent the motions on the subject to their state policy committees for preliminary discussion. On the first day of the summer session, the National Council will now discuss the corresponding motion by Zurich SVP National Councillor Gregor Rutz.
Rutz specifically demands that the decisive factor should be where someone comes to Switzerland from - and not their nationality. Otherwise, there is a risk of a pull effect on people who are already living outside Afghanistan in safe third countries.
The Federal Council argues that Afghans who could return to the third country in which they had previously resided are already not granted asylum.
The National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N) voted 13 to 12 in favor of rejecting the motion. The majority of the committee argues that women in Afghanistan have virtually no prospects for the future. The minority of the committee, made up of the SVP and FDP, argued, among other things, that the change in practice would lead to more illegal secondary migration to Switzerland.
A weakened motion will also be debated in the National Council on Monday. This was drafted by the preliminary committee. According to this, the SEM should supplement the new practice with various accompanying measures and precautions, such as a mandatory security check for spouses joining their spouse.
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