National Council committee against reform of asylum practice for Afghan women
Published: Friday, Feb 2nd 2024, 17:10
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The Federal Council should not reverse the new asylum practice introduced by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) in the summer of 2023 with regard to Afghan women. This is the opinion of the narrow majority of the responsible National Council committee. It made the decision by 13 votes to 12.
Following a recommendation by the European Asylum Agency (EUAA), the SEM had decided to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan as a rule. The situation for women and girls in Afghanistan has deteriorated continuously since the Taliban came to power. The basic rights of women are severely restricted.
The SVP and the FDP want to call off the SEM. In December, they failed with their request in parliament. Both councils sent corresponding motions to the responsible State Policy Committee (SPK) for preliminary examination.
Security check for husbands
The National Council committee has now decided: applications from Afghan women seeking asylum in Switzerland should be approved in principle, as the parliamentary services announced on Friday. However, the committee wants to ensure that applications are examined on a case-by-case basis and that husbands joining them are subject to a security check. This is already standard practice today.
The SPK-N also calls on the SEM to assess Afghan women who have stayed in third countries on the basis of the persecution situation in that country. A corresponding committee motion was submitted by 24 votes to 0 with one abstention. The Federal Council must now comment on this.
The Federal Administrative Court issued a ruling on Afghan women in the fall. The court upheld an appeal by two Afghan women against their deportation. Switzerland must grant them asylum. The court thus supported the SEM's new asylum practice with regard to Afghan women. According to the SVP, the court did not make a fundamental decision, but ruled on an individual case.
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