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Switzerland: 24-hour asylum procedure is judged ‘successful’
No increase in numbers expected
The government admits that it had erred in its past forecast of arrival numbers. In the month of September alone, there were 40 percent fewer applications submitted when compared to the same month last year.
Since 2022, the Swiss government has gradually been increasing its reception capabilities. And in 2023, it experienced a net migration just short of 100,000 people, including 30,000 asylum seekers filing applications that year — the highest rate since the so-called European “refugee crisis” of 2015.
In the first nine months of this year, there were close to 21,000 asylum applications submitted in Switzerland.
“The situation on the migration routes to Western Europe does not indicate a sharp increase in the coming months,” the SEM said, adding that if necessary, the number of places could be increased again.
Switzerland is known for having a large foreign population, with about a quarter of its population of 9 million not being Swiss nationals; however, a majority of those foreign nationals are made up of other EU or European citizens.
In total, around half a million people in Switzerland are foreign nationals from outside Europe.
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Switzerland to join EU asylum pact
Despite falling arrival numbers and asylum applications, Switzerland — which is not a member of the European Union but is surrounded almost entirely by member states — agreed in August to join the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum as much as it legally can.
Switzerland will participate in the program as an associated state and says it will adopt five of the ten rules fully while continuing to consult on the adoption and application of the remaining five.
The Swiss government describes the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum as a “set of rules and measures aimed at making the European migration and asylum system more efficient, crisis-resilient and solidarity-based.”
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With dpa
Source link : https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/60742/switzerland-to-reduce-asylum-reception-facilities-by-20-percent
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Publish date : 2024-10-23 11:49:00
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