Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Nigerian community in Bern is planning a peaceful demonstration on Bern to protest the death of an asylum seeker who died while being deported back to his country. “This is not a case of racism,” said Urs Von Arb head of return operations of the Swiss Federal Migration Office who spoke to the Bern-based immigration project, African Mirror.
The Nigerian citizen, who was living illegally in Switzerland, had been on a hunger strike after his asylum petition was denied. The man died as he was about to be put on a plane 17 March as part of a deportation procedure. The 29-year-old is the second Nigerian national to die while in federal custody.
The initial autopsy results given out by Zurich cantonal police do not indicate either illness or mishandling. The man, Zurich authorities say, had been detained for drug dealing.
In response to this latest incidence Switzerland has called off indefinitely its “special” flights to return asylum seekers whose requests have been denied. In 2011 the country, as a member of the Schengen Area, will begin to have outside observers for the flights.
Nigerians who live in Switzerland illegally but who voluntarily return to their country automatically qualify for financial aid and for an additional CHF6,000 to set up a business upon their return home.
The demonstration is being organized by the African Mirror Foundation, the Nigerian Diaspora Day (Nidoe) in Switzerland, and the Nigerian Union of Switzerland. It will take place on Saturday 27 March from 16:00 at the Genfergasse in Bern.
Background, GenevaLunch.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 26 March 2010.
Filed under: Society
Tags: deportation, illegal immigrant, immigration Switzerland, Nigerian
March 27th, 2010 at 11:30 am
in my opinion,swiss government should grant the asylum seekers atleast a temporary permit F like the somalians..because the situation in Nigeria is really bad..these men when deported back to the country even with the 6,000 cash money will still face persecution..they are often detained by the police because they dont have any document with them..the Nigerian government uses propaganda to paint a good picture of already bad country Nigeria.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:21 am
[...] of the hot issues is the return of those whose requests have been rejected. The death of a Nigerian at the Zurich airport earlier in 2010 prompted the government to call a halt to return flights, but these are gradually [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:10 am
[...] 1 June to public television TSR that it has paid a sum of money to the family of a 29-year-old Nigerian who died at Zurich airport 17 March, but it has not confirmed the amount of CHF50,000 reported by African Mirror, a Swiss-based [...]