Protection status S for Ukrainian refugees will not be lifted
Published: Wednesday, Nov 1st 2023, 12:10
Updated At: Thursday, Nov 2nd 2023, 00:54
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The protection status S for refugees from Ukraine will not be lifted for the time being. This was decided by the Federal Council at its meeting on Wednesday. In October, around 66,000 people had S status in Switzerland. In the future, twice as many are to pursue gainful employment as today.
A sustainable stabilization of the situation in Ukraine is not foreseeable, writes the Federal Council. The protected status S will therefore not be lifted before March 4, 2025.
Status S has been in effect since March 12, 2022, when the Federal Council activated it in response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. It serves as temporary protection for the duration of a serious general threat. At the end of October 2023, around 66,000 people from Ukraine had an active Status S in Switzerland.
40 percent should work
The status is valid until the Federal Council cancels it. The prerequisite for this is that the situation in Ukraine stabilizes and the serious general threat no longer exists. However, recent developments show that such stabilization is still not foreseeable, the Federal Council writes: "Acts of war must still be expected throughout the entire territory of Ukraine."
With the extension until at least March 2025, the Federal Council wants to create clarity for those seeking protection, but also for the cantons, municipalities and employers. The EU states also decided in October to extend the protection status until this date.
The government has also defined a target for integration into the labor market for the first time: 40 percent of employable women and men with S status should be in work by the end of 2024. Today, the figure is around 20 percent. Further measures are being developed to achieve this goal.
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