Tribune de Genève. Around 1,800 refugees have been intercepted trying to cross into Switzerland over the last four weeks, and almost a quarter have been sent back to Germany, which has a policy of favouring Syrians. Swiss border guards have stopped around 1,800 refugees along Switzerland’s northern border over the last four weeks. 444 have been […]
French police search homes of Geneva mosque imams
Tribune de Genève. Last night the French authorities searched the french homes of two imams associated with the mosque in Petit-Saconnex in Geneva, who live in the french town of Ferney-Voltaire not far from Geneva. The wave of searches across France, since the country declared a state of emergency following the attacks in Paris, has now […]
Swiss canton of Ticino passes law that bans burka
Le Matin. According to the Swiss newspaper Le Matin, from now on it is forbidden to cover your face in a public space in the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino. Following a successful popular vote to ban face covering in public in the canton in September 2013, the Canton’s government has now approved changes to […]
New Swiss vote on EU immigration gets official go ahead
In December last year a group called RASA – an acronym for “out of the dead end” in German (Raus aus der Sackgasse), started collecting signatures for a popular vote that would serve as a Plan B should EU negotiations fail with Brussels over the 9 February 2014 vote to limit immigration from EU countries. […]
A jihadist could lose his Swiss nationality
20 Minutes. For the first time the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) is considering taking the Swiss passport from a dual national who went to do jihad in Syria. The SEM opened an inquiry, which can be found in the recent federal task force report on terrorism. “When an individual has their Swiss nationality […]
A look inside the IKEA houses Switzerland plans to use for refugees
20 Minutes. Instead of housing refugees in army tents, one Swiss canton has decided to experiment with flat-pack IKEA houses. They cost around CHF 1,000 and can be put up in four hours. With a floor area of 17.5 m2, each one is designed to shelter five people. One of the biggest problems with tents […]
Do foreign workers raise unemployment? Study’s surprising answer.
Tribune de Genève. In the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland, more than one of four workers lives across the border. Numbers have doubled since 2002 when Switzerland agreed to open its job market to EU citizens. By the middle of 2015 there were over 62,000 EU-based workers, mainly from Italy, crossing the border to […]
“Foreign conflicts must not be settled here”
20 Minutes. Conflict between Turks and Kurds in Bern over the weekend provoked a strong reaction from Swiss politicians. According to the newspaper 20 Minutes, violence broke out between Turkish and Kurdish marchers in Bern leaving 22 hurt, including four police officers and a police dog. In the video below a car can be seen […]
Airlines to face big fines for transporting illegal immigrants
Le Matin. Airlines that bring foreigners to Switzerland without valid travel documents, will be fined under new rules from 1 October 2015. The new rules, which were ratified by the Swiss federal council on 2 September 2015, are designed to reduce the number of asylum requests. The new measures apply to all flights landing in […]
Syrian refugees not coming to Switzerland
24 Heures. Refugees crowd onto platforms in Hungary, Austria and Germany while the situation remains relatively calm in Switzerland. In August, Switzerland recorded 3,899 asylum seekers, 3 more than July. Of these only 401 were from Syria. Most were from Eritrea (1,610), followed by Afghanistan (461). So why is the Swiss situation so different to […]
