SEM: suspension of asylum procedures affects 500 Syrians in Switzerland
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: About 500 Syrians affected by Swiss asylum freeze
The suspension of asylum procedures decided Monday following the fall of Bashar al-Assad affects 500 Syrian applicants in Switzerland, according to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Italiano
it
SEM: sospensione procedure asilo riguarda 500 siriani in Svizzera
Original
The suspension for Syrian asylum seekers “simply postpones the decision until the situation is clearer,” said SEM spokeswoman Anne Césard, when contacted by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The State Secretariat of Migration was unable to say when the applications of the 500 people whose procedure has been suspended were submitted.
More
More
Fall of Assad: Switzerland calls for reconciliation in Syria
This content was published on
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the Swiss foreign ministry has called on all parties to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.
New asylum applications are still possible and the freeze on forced returns to Syria, decided in 2011, remains in place, Anne Césard said, reiterating that the SEM decision “has not been understood.” According to October data, some 10 people have so far received a removal decision without yet having been returned to Syria.
Duration unknown
According to the spokeswoman, the suspension of procedures could last from a few weeks to a few months. On Monday, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis had spoken of a few days to a few weeks. A similar decision had been made for Sudan in February. Almost a year later, it is still in effect.
Several European countries, including France and Germany, announced Monday that they were suspending the processing of asylum applications from Syria. Austria went so far as to announce that it was preparing a “repatriation and expulsion program.”
There are more than six million Syrian refugees in the world. At the end of last year, there were about 28,000 Syrian nationals living in Switzerland, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Swiss town rejects surveillance cameras at train station
This content was published on
Vevey does not want the station area to be monitored by cameras. In a vote held on Sunday, the population rejected a plan to install 44 cameras in the area in order to combat street dealing.
Palestine demo broken up at Israel-Switzerland basketball match
This content was published on
Around 150 pro-Palestine activists tried to force their way into Switzerland's match against Israel at the U-19 World Cup in Lausanne.
Swiss foreign minister: ‘EU was only given what was necessary’
This content was published on
After negotiating hard on the package deal with the European Union and finding a balance, Switzerland gave the EU only what was needed, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Saturday.
Passenger dies in helicopter crash on Swiss glacier
This content was published on
A helicopter crashed in the Fusshörner region on the Oberaletsch Glacier in canton Valais on Saturday afternoon. The passenger in the helicopter, which was carrying three people, died.
Abbot of Saint-Maurice steps down following sex abuse report
This content was published on
Jean Scarcella has decided to step down as Abbot of Saint-Maurice in the Swiss canton of Valais, the abbey announced on Saturday.
Philipp Matthias Bregy named new president of Centre Party
This content was published on
Valais National Councillor Philipp Matthias Bregy is the new President of the Centre Party. The delegates elected him as the successor to Gerhard Pfister on Saturday in Bern without discussion.
Global call for active neutrality launched from Geneva
This content was published on
A number of players have launched a worldwide appeal for active neutrality in Geneva at a time when the major powers are taking a tougher line. The city is competing with Vienna to attract an international congress on this issue in 2026.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.