Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of people asking for asylum in Switzerland was down significantly in the third quarter of the year, compared to last year, but up 8.7 percent over the second quarter 2009. A total of 3,744 asylum seekers filed papers in Switzerland between July and September, according to the Federal Office for Migration (FOM).
The tally for the year to date comes to 12,136. The FOM points out that 1,161 persons were sent back to another EU country under the provisions of the Dublin Convention, which stipulates that an asylum seeker who applies in one country and then moves to another country, must have his application settled in the country of first asylum. Many Georgians who originally applied for asylum in Poland were sent back to that country for that reason.
The principal countries of origin of asylum seekers in Switzerland are Eritrea, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. Last year 16,606 people applied for asylum in Switzerland. The high point was reached in 1999, when more than 47,500 people applied for asylum.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 19 October 2009.
Filed under: Society
Tags: asylum seekers, Bern, Dublin Convention, Federal Office for Migration, migration
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November 5th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
what about when some person applied for an asylum from a country[italy] and he or she was unaccepted,they told him or her to leave the country.so when he leave to another country like swiss,to ask for help.should they take him back to italy again?
November 5th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
when a person got a big problem with his her family,just because of different in religion .and the problem is perfectly serious. is he or she qualified to be rejected?
January 19th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
That shows the number of asylum seekers in Switzerland is droping significantly.In 1999 the figure was 47,500 asylum seekers and in recent time, 16,606.Many factors maybe responsible for that:First, as a result of new harsh legislation targeting asylum seekers.Also due to the fact that most countries in Africa and Asia are relatively at peace,so there is no much need for migration.At the sametime many people are aware that Switzerland is not the epitome of human right,so they prefare other country to Switzerland.Instead of coming to meet lukeworm reception.On the other hand,economic melt down could be responsible for restive nature of Switzerland government in caring for asylum seekers,you know, charity begins at home.
January 19th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Peter, I think you’re drawing conclusions based on partial information. Switzerland’s drop in refugee numbers runs parallel to that in other European countries, so you have to look at the larger context. UNHCR has written a lot about this and they provide good charts, statistics, starting here: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=441929762