Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Switzerland has followed its neighbours and announced the suspension of all procedures for Syrian asylum-seekers. The decision has been taken against the backdrop of ongoing political developments in Syria and is expected to remain in force until further notice.
The Swiss press has also been covering the ongoing budget discussions in parliament, the election of Jürg Lauber as the new president of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the Geneva auction of a rare Roman coin.
Best wishes from Bern.
Like its neighbours Germany and Austria, Switzerland has suspended asylum procedures and decisions for Syrians.
Following the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, many countries have been assessing the situation of Syrian refugees. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has suspended asylum procedures for Syrians. This measure will remain in force until further notice, the SEM announced on Monday. According to a statement on X (formerly Twitter), it is currently not possible to thoroughly examine whether there are grounds for asylum and whether it is legally and practically reasonable to enforce deportation.
According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), around 28,000 Syrian nationals were living in Switzerland at the end of 2023. Since the beginning of the civil war in 2011, Syrians are the largest group of foreign nationals to be granted asylum in the Alpine state. SEM assumes that Syrians who wish to return to their country will first wait and see how the situation develops on the ground. It may take several weeks or months for a new stable structure to form, it says.
On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called for “patience and vigilance” regarding the return of Syrian refugees to their country. “The UNHCR advises focusing on the issue of return and hopes that developments on the ground will eventually lead to voluntary, safe and sustainable returns – with refugees able to make informed choices,” Grandi said.
The Senate disagrees with the House of Representatives on Switzerland’s 2025 budget. It has reduced cuts to international cooperation but increased the military budget. Until the differences are resolved, budget discussions will continue to go back and forth between the two chambers until the end of the winter session.
After the House of Representatives began examining the 2025 budget last week, the focus turned to the Council of States yesterday. Talks on finances are hotting up. The so-called debt brake – a mechanism that requires a balance between expenditure and income – must be considered and a compromise must be found by the end of the winter session.
What is certain after yesterday’s Senate decisions is that the army will receive an additional CHF530 million in 2025, and no savings will be made for direct payments to agriculture. The Senate wants to compensate for the higher expenditure on the army in the 2025 budget with cuts in various areas. The package it has approved totals CHF346 million. The Senate approved the 2025 budget by 42 votes to 0 (with one abstention).
However, some points remain open, meaning that the budget issue passes back to the other chamber. One controversial element is the level of cuts to development and foreign aid. While the House of Representatives proposed to cut CHF250 million, the Senate decided on a much lower figure: CHF30 million. The annual budget for development aid amounts to around CHF3 billion. The political debate continues, and it remains to be seen whether a compromise can be found.
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Ambassador Jürg Lauber (in photo above) will be the first Swiss to chair the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2025.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council is made up of 47 of the 193 UN member states. In its almost 20 years of its existence, the council has never been led by a Swiss representative.
From 2025, Switzerland will rejoin the 47-member council for three years after a six-year absence. Now, ambassador Jürg Lauber has been elected as the first Swiss to chair the Geneva-based body.
Lauber knows the UN inside out. This is the second time that he has represented Switzerland at the UN headquarters in Geneva. In the interim he was ambassador at the UN headquarters in New York. He is currently the Swiss ambassador to the UN in Geneva.
“It’s a great honour and an immense responsibility. But it is an opportunity for Switzerland,” the 61-year-old from Zug said on Monday.
Lauber takes over as the UN Human Rights Council finds itself criticised on several sides. Rights groups had hoped for a more ambitious council when it was founded in 2006. Conversely, authoritarian governments – and there are more of them – say the UN body is overbearing.
An extremely rare Roman coin was auctioned in Geneva for CHF1.84 million.
The Roman coin featuring the portrait of Brutus, the assassin of Julius Caesar, has been sold at an auction in Geneva, according to the organiser of the sale, Numismatica Genevensis.
The original price of the so-called aureus – a gold coin weighing 8.19 grammes – was €742,000 euros (CHF690,000). The coin depicts Brutus and dates to 42 BC. Brutus had attempted to seize power after the assassination of Julius Caesar. The coin would therefore also have had “propaganda value”, according to the director of Numismatica Genevensis.
The coin was sold “to a European collector”, the company said, after an “intense battle between eight online bidders”.
The coin first came to light in the 1950s when it appeared in the catalogue of a private collector. It was later sold to a private collector at an auction in Zurich in 2006 for CHF360,000.
The coin is kept in an airtight container to prevent alteration and “guarantee its authenticity”, according to the director of Numismatica Genevensis.
- 24heures reportExternal link (in French)
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Ariane Rustichelli, director of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), will step down in spring 2025 after the March meeting of the Council of the Swiss Abroad, OSA has announced.
After almost 17 years in charge of the organisation, she now wishes to take on new personal and professional challenges at the age of 50. The director post will be advertised in January 2025.
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