Switzerland has ‘successfully mastered’ refugee challenges: Rights group

ISTANBUL (AA) – A Swiss human rights group has said that Switzerland has “successfully mastered” refugee challenges. However, the Swiss government has recently suspended the ‘special protection status’ given to Ukrainian refugees.

The Swiss government has recently expressed the need for more accommodation facilities for refugees.

Underlining that Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered “the largest movement of refugees” since World War II, the Swiss Refugee Council said: “It is the first time that we have such a large involvement of the civil society in the accommodation and integration of refugees.”

“In order to organize the reception of these people (Ukrainian refugees), the federal government has developed a new strategy. “… Numerous refugees from Ukraine were placed with host families.

“From the point of view of the Swiss Refugee Council, Switzerland has successfully mastered these challenges,” it said, adding that from what they have seen, “the solidarity of the Swiss people has been – and still is – enormous and the commitment of civil society impressive.”

“Host families are so directly affected by the situation of the refugees,” it said. “This creates more awareness, more sensitization. Private accommodation has created more understanding for refugees.”

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) expects the number of refugees from Ukraine to reach around 75,000 by the end of the year and the number of asylum seekers to 24,000. That is why additional army personnel have been ordered to help find more beds on Friday.

The SEM, together with the army, has already increased the number of accommodation places from 5,000 to more than 9,000 beds since the spring.

According to the secretariat, around 3,000 additional places will be needed in the “medium term,” while the army is making about 2,100 accommodation places available by relocating recruit and cadre schools as well as refresher courses. This capacity can be further increased to around 2,700 spaces, it added.

The latest data showed that a total of 3,568 asylum applications were registered in Switzerland in November, 360 more than in the previous month. Compared to the same period in 2021, the number of asylum applications has increased by 2,007.

The country is going through a spike in applications as the number of cases pending in the first instance increased by 1,857 to 11,321 compared to the previous month.