National Council wants to continue resettlement program for refugees
Published: Tuesday, Dec 19th 2023, 10:50
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In principle, the National Council wants to continue the UN resettlement program for refugees, which Switzerland is currently suspending, for the next two years. The large chamber thus supports the Federal Council's course.
On Tuesday, the National Council rejected a motion by Hannes Germann, member of the Council of States of the Schaffhausen SVP, who wanted to suspend Switzerland's participation in the resettlement program for the years 2024/25. This is now off the table. The Council of States had approved the motion in June.
The resettlement program supports countries of first refuge, where more than eighty percent of all refugees worldwide live. Women, children and particularly vulnerable families from crisis regions are the main beneficiaries of the program. The Federal Department of Justice and Police suspended Switzerland's participation in the program from November 2022 due to the heavy burden on asylum structures.
In June of this year, the national government decided to keep the resettlement program in force. Provided the situation in the asylum system calms down and the cantons, municipalities and cities give the green light, up to 1,600 refugees in need of special protection are to be admitted under the program in 2024 and 2025.
According to the UNHCR, around two million refugees are currently dependent on resettlement. This is because they are neither able to return to their country of origin nor do they have any lasting prospects in their first country of refuge.
The Federal Council requested that the motion be rejected. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider emphasized in the National Council that the resumption of the programme depended on the agreement of the cantons and municipalities. If Switzerland continued to suspend the program, there was a risk of damage to its image. The National Council rejected the motion by 97 votes to 90 with 7 abstentions.
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