Swiss asylum centres recorded some 2,000 violent incidents in 2022
The number of problems recorded in 2022 was proportionally down on that a year earlier, authorities said on Wednesday.
While the overall number of such cases rose by 10%, the larger number of occupants in the centres in 2022 meant the numbers dropped proportionally by a half, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Newspapers from the Tamedia group initially reported the figures.
In 2021, some 1,591 problematic incidents were recorded during 766,497 overnight stays; in 2022, there was a total of 2,064 incidents for 1.7 million stays.
Such incidents include violent acts, harassment, aggressive behaviour, insults and threats.
Prevention
SEM says the proportional decrease is in part thanks to preventive measures, such as the presence of conflict mediation officers or Muslim counsellors in asylum centres.
In 2022, overall asylum requests in Switzerland increased by 64%. Some 75,000 Ukrainians also arrived in the country on a special “S” permit. While people from Maghreb states accounted for 8% of all overnight stays, they accounted for 65% of security incidents; Ukrainians, who made up 12% of stays, were involved in 0.4% of reported incidents.
On Tuesday, SEM published a forecast for asylum figures in 2023, when it expects to see between 24,000 and 40,000 new requests lodged.
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