Posted on April 5, 2018

Swiss May Try to Expel Eritreans Whose Asylum Bids Fail: TV

Reuters, April 4, 2018

Switzerland could try to expel as many as 3,200 Eritreans whose requests for asylum fail, marking a major policy switch in a country that has granted thousands temporary refuge, broadcaster SRF reported on Wednesday.

People from Eritrea — which has drawn criticism over its human rights record — topped the Swiss list of asylum seekers last year with nearly a fifth of the more than 18,000 overall requests. More than 13,700 Eritreans were in the asylum process in February.

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Now authorities have started to inform Eritreans that they have to leave, SRF’s Rundschau program said, although they cannot force people out as Switzerland lacks a treaty on repatriations with the Horn of Africa country.

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“At the moment we are reviewing around 3,200 temporary admissions for Eritreans,” an SEM spokesman told SRF, adding each case would be treated individually.

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Eritrea has said the U.N.’s allegations of human rights violations are biased and based on false information. It dismissed suggestions of crimes against humanity as laughable.