Swiss parliament debates family reunification for rejected refugees

National Council does not want family reunification for temporarily admitted persons Keystone-SDA

“Provisionally admitted foreigners” should no longer be allowed to bring family members to Switzerland, the House of Representatives said on Tuesday. The issue will now be debated in the Senate.

The decision regarding temporarily admitted persons – the status refers to rejected asylum seekersExternal link who cannot return to their home country for some reason – was taken during an extraordinary session on the subject of asylum.

The motion, proposed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, was accepted by 105 votes to 74, with nine abstentions. The government had argued against the idea, recalling Swiss obligations to the fundamental right to respect for family life.

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Temporarily admitted persons have no right to asylum in Switzerland and their stay in the country should therefore be short, said People’s Party spokesman Thomas Knutti. If their family were allowed to join, they would “never leave Switzerland again”, he claimed – the country is “simply too attractive”.

Justice Minister Beat Jans argued that the motion would have little effect: the right to family life is enshrined in the Swiss constitution and has been repeatedly recognised by the Federal Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The hurdles for family reunification for such people are in any case already high, he added.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dos

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