Swiss justice minister discusses plight of Syrian migrants in Brussels
A woman waves an Syrian opposition flag in celebration days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in Damascus, on December 12, 2024.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss justice minister discusses plight of Syrian migrants in Brussels
Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans met his European counterparts in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the situation of Syrian asylum-seekers in Europe. Jans called for coordinated action by European states.
Jans told reporters in Brussels that it was time to help Syrians rebuild their country. “We must not disappoint the great hope that is there now. European countries must try to establish democracy there,” he declared.
It is also about preventing other people from leaving Syria and possibly seeking protection in Europe, Jans acknowledged.
The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced at the beginning of the week that asylum procedures underway in Switzerland for people from Syria had been suspended. This concerns around 500 cases in Switzerland. In Europe, 15 countries have taken a similar decision, Jans noted.
Around 4,000 Syrians are in Switzerland hold temporary residence status.
“If a return is reasonably possible, we will lift this status and discuss the matter with these people,” said the Swiss minister, adding that Switzerland would support Syrians who wished to return voluntarily.
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.
On a separate issue, Romania and Bulgaria will become full members of Europe’s Schengen free-travel area from next month, swelling the number of nations to 29, the EU said on Thursday.
Jans said this change would not bring any major changes for Switzerland. According to the Federal Council’s estimate, this will have no influence on immigration or migration. For the moment, migratory flows are not passing through Bulgaria or Romania on their way to Central Europe.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
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.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
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.