Refugee officials organise art exhibition
An exhibition aimed at drawing public attention to the vulnerability of asylum-seekers has opened at the Bern headquarters of the Swiss refugee office.
It features sculptures by Swiss artist Schang Hutter which evoke such themes as war, violence and the distress faced by people forced to flee to another country.
One is entitled “Scene on the Field of Battle” and another is “Monument to the Silent Majority”.
The exhibition has been timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on refugees and the 20th anniversary of the first Swiss asylum law.
It will be accompanied by three debates open to the public before it closes on August 22, one of which is about the work of Swiss refugee officials in contact with asylum-seekers.
According to the latest statistics, nearly 6,000 people applied for asylum in Switzerland last month, the biggest single number coming from the former Yugoslavia.
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