Switzerland cements repatriation rules for Bangladeshi citizens

Posters of 2018 Swiss President Alain Berset, left, and Bangladesh's President Abdul Hamid during a visit by Berset to Bangladesh last year. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Bangladesh has agreed to offer more cooperation on repatriating its citizens who fail to gain asylum in Switzerland. A deal was signed between the two countries on Tuesday, making Bangladesh the 62nd country to enter into a re-admission agreement with Switzerland.

Switzerland based its demands on those of the European Union that came to a similar agreement with Bangladesh in 2017. Under the terms of the deal, Bangladesh will assist the Swiss authorities in identity checks on its nationals who must return home.

In addition, both sides have agreed to meet on a regular basis to make sure that the procedure for rejected asylum seekers is being correctly observed.

“In the wake of the migration crisis of 2015/16 in particular, numerous migrants from Bangladesh travelled irregularly to Europe via the central Mediterranean route. Cooperation with this country proved difficult for all European states with regards to expulsion of rejected asylum seekers,” the Swiss authorities statedExternal link.

The statement goes on to say that Switzerland is “one of the most efficient countries in Europe” in terms of forced repatriation of rejected migrants. With a rate of just under 60%, Switzerland has reduced the number of pending repatriations from 7,293 in the autumn of 2013 to 3,949 by the end of last year.