Top Swiss diplomat to head migration and asylum agency
Christine Schraner Burgener in Bern on Thursday
Keystone / Anthony Anex
Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, has been appointed the new head of the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/SWI swissinfo.ch/ilj
Español
es
Diplomática suiza al frente de la agencia de migración y asilo
“Mrs Schraner Burgener is the ideal person for this job,” Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.
The career diplomat was ambassador in Germany during the migrant crisis of 2015, pointed out Keller-Sutter. She has dealt with migration issues as an ambassador in Thailand and as part of her UN special envoy job, she added. Schraner Burgener has also held a number of posts at the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs in the capital Bern.
Challenges
Schraner Burgener will be in charge of almost 1,000 people at the SEM, which deals with migration and asylum issues. “Hardly any topic is as polarising as migration,” noted Keller-Sutter.
Schraner Burgener will take up her post on January 1, 2022, replacing Mario Gattiker, who is retiring. The diplomat said she was looking forward to tackling the job. “Migration and its origins affect everyone in some way or another. It keeps increasing, due to persecutions, wars, famines, climate change and also pandemics,” she said.
Earlier this month, as UN special envoy, Schraner Burgener warned that Myanmar risked sliding back into prolonged crisis after the coup in the country.
Schraner Burgener said she was not abandoning her post during a difficult time. “I hope to be able get some things in motion in the next few months. The objective is to reinstate the previous government,” she said. This is why she is only starting her new job in 2022.
More
More
Myanmar faces “catastrophe”: Swiss UN diplomat
This content was published on
On Monday, the Swiss diplomat told Swiss public television SRF that the situation is extremely concerning. “It would be catastrophic if Myanmar takes a step back to 2011 when the country had been under a dictatorship for 50 years,” said Schraner Burgener. “We fear that all attempts to democratise the country will again be crushed…
As a Swiss Abroad, how do you feel about the emergence of more conservative family policies in some US states?
In recent years several US states have adopted more conservative policies on family issues, abortion and education. As a Swiss citizen living there, how do you view this development?
Geneva-based UN migration office cuts fifth of workforce
This content was published on
The UN's International Organisation for Migration HQ in Geneva is slashing 20% of its 1,000 staff due to the US aid freeze.
Switzerland budgets CHF 666m to rejoin EU research programmes
This content was published on
Rejoining European Union research programmes, such as Horizon Europe, will cost Switzerland an initial sum of CHF666 million.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Meet the Swiss woman charged with bringing peace to Myanmar
This content was published on
How do you help a country from which nearly a million fled? This is the task facing UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener of Switzerland.
This content was published on
Officials at the Geneva-based UN evidence-gathering body for serious crimes in Myanmar are closely watching events in the southeast Asian nation.
This content was published on
In a statement, the foreign ministry said it deplored the circumstances that had led to “numerous deaths and injuries and to serious damage to property”. “The political and social conflict that divides the country can only find a lasting solution at the political level and in the framework of the rule of law,” commented Swiss…
This content was published on
Christine Schraner Burgener and Christoph Burgener are poised to become the first Swiss to job-share the role of ambassador in a four-year posting to Bangkok. Each will be responsible for different countries in order to keep the lines of diplomacy straight, but they will be sharing in all other aspects – office, salary and staff.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.