Asylum requests from Afghan women rise sharply in Switzerland
Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 28, 2023.
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In September, 3,966 asylum applications were submitted in Switzerland, up 32.2% on the previous month. The increase was mainly due to a change in procedure allowing Afghan women to apply for asylum. Many of those who did already live in Switzerland.
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September’s asylum statistics were marked by the new practice, in place since July 2023, of processing asylum applications from women and girls from Afghanistan, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
This is in light of the deteriorating situation of women and girls in many areas of life in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power, indicated the migration officeExternal link.
The country most represented among asylum seekers last month was Afghanistan (1,486 applications, 749 more than in August). Next came Turkey (846 applications, +69), Algeria (179 applications, +27), Eritrea (170 applications, -63) and Morocco (157 applications, +44).
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