Non-governmental organisations and centre-left parties have launched a petition aimed at improving the status of illegal immigrants.
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swissinfo.ch
The alliance described Switzerland’s existing immigration and asylum policies as hypocritical, contradictory and absurd.
“The immigrants are used in the labour force but they are denied basic rights,” a statement said.
Some improvements for illegal immigrants have been achieved over the past decade, but the fundamental problems remain, according to the campaigners.
The alliance, formed to mark the tenth anniversary of the fight for those without legal papers, or “sans papiers”, said it hoped to raise public awareness of the plight of around 100,000 illegal immigrants.
The campaign which is to culminate in a major demonstration in autumn includes street festivals and “actions of civil disobedience”.
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Last year federal authorities received requests from 15,567 people, a 2.7 per cent decrease from 2009. This is the second year in a row the number has dropped. Of those requests, 3,449 people were granted asylum in 2010. That represents a higher percentage of success among all applicants than in the previous year because quotas…
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Members in the House of Representatives voted in favour of a motion to allow such children who have been through the Swiss school system to take up an apprenticeship after they leave school. The votes took place during a wide-ranging debate on migration, asylum and the free movement of peoples. At present children of sans…
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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.