Eritrean asylum issue continues to stump Swiss politicians

Italy plans to invest some €5.5 billion (CHF5.1 billion) in a bid to clamp down on migrants arriving on its shores. Associated Press

In an effort to establish dialogue with the authorities in Asmara, Switzerland has been supporting development cooperation projects in Eritrea since 2017. Yet despite diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, Eritrea remains resistant to allowing forced repatriation of its citizens. Swiss politicians now want a change in strategy.

Swiss vocational education teacher Hans Furrer knows Eritrea well. He has visited the country multiple times over the past four decades, promoting several initiatives in cooperation and development. His most recent visit was in March 2024.

One of the most significant projects Furrer runs is the Massawa Workers Vocational Training CentreExternal link, which offers courses in seven different trades. “This project provides an opportunity for young people in Eritrea,” Furrer says. “Those who have completed their apprenticeships or refresher courses in our vocational school have not felt the need to leave the country and migrate to Europe.”

Since its establishment in 2017, the vocational training school has experienced steady growth and now serves approximately 300 students each year. The project is a result of collaboration between the Swiss Support Committee for Eritrea and the National Congress of Eritrean Workers (NCEW) in the port city of Massawa.

“The collaboration with the NCEW was key to our success,” adds Furrer. “In Eritrea, as in all counties of the Global South, it is essential to avoid an approach that resembles neocolonialism, assuming that we know what does not work and what needs to be changed. Thanks to the union, we were able to quickly establish connections with local companies and identify apprenticeship training needs.”

The project, according to Furrer, stands out from other initiatives in Africa because it has proven to be the most sustainable. “During the pandemic we couldn’t go to Eritrea, and in that period the Eritrean teachers developed new projects completely under their own steam, opening new vocational schools in the cities of Keren and Barentu,” he says.

Cooperation projects in Eritrea  

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) discontinued its activities in Eritrea in 2006 due to ongoing difficulties with the authorities and the inability to implement sustainable projects in the field. However, in October 2017, the SDC decided to resume cooperation and development activities in the country, including supporting vocational training projects like the Massawa Workers Vocational Training Center.

The financial aid provided has two main objectives. On one hand, the SDC wants to develop the skills of Eritrean women and men in their home country. On the other hand, it hopes to build mutual trust and dialogue between the two governments, particularly on migration issues. After a two-year pilot phase which ended in 2019, the Swiss foreign ministry decided to continue the collaboration, with the second phase set to end in September 2024. In response to a query from SWI swissinfo.ch, the SDC stated that there are no plans for a third phase.

Driven by domestic politics?

The decision to return to Eritrea after a ten-year absence could be seen as being driven more by domestic political issues than by humanitarian interests or a larger commitment to development aid. But foreign ministry spokesperson Jonas Montani denies this interpretation. “This project does not have specific objectives in migration policy, but instead focuses on improving opportunities for young Eritreans and bilateral relations between the two countries,” he told SWI swissinfo.ch, while acknowledging that the SDC’s involvement could have a positive effect on Swiss migration policy.

The impossibility of returning Eritreans whose asylum applications have been rejected by Switzerland is frequently discussed by politicians. Numerous parliamentary initiatives have been proposed by various parties in recent years. For example, in the latest summer session, the House of Representatives adopted a motion by Radical-Liberal senator Petra Gössi which calls on the government to find a solution for returning unsuccessful Eritrean asylum applicants.

The idea is to send them to a third country with which Switzerland has a transit agreement, allowing them to be returned to their home country. However, left-wing parties and some members of the Centre Party oppose the idea, arguing that it will only result in more costs without achieving anything. Justice Minister Beat Jans has emphasised that Asmara will not take back its citizens, even if they are coming from another African state.

Eritrean disapora in Switzerland

About 43,000 people from Eritrea live in Switzerland. The number of asylum requests presented by Eritreans has been declining for years. These dropped from 9,928 in 2015 to 2,109 in 2023. Furthermore, the number of rejected Eritrean asylum seekers has gone down slightly. At the end of 2022 it was 309, while last year it was 278. The main countries of origin of asylum seekers in June 2024 were Afghanistan, Turkey, Eritrea, Algeria and Morocco.   

As elsewhere in Europe, the year 2023 saw clashes between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean regime in Switzerland. In September, several hundred people of Eritrean origin fought a street battle in Opfikon, a municipality outside Zurich. The clash resulted in a dozen or so injuries and major police action. There was a similar outbreak of violence in late 2023 in Grellingen (Basel Country).

The communal violence between supporters and opponents of Eritrean strongman Afwerki is now a regular feature of Eritrean cultural festivals. For some Eritreans here, he is a hero who in 1993 led the struggle for national independence. Others see him as a ruthless dictator who has ruled the country with an iron fist for thirty years and has made Eritrea into a huge prison where there is no press freedom, a constitution, or a parliament.  

In the wake of these outbreaks of violence, both Swiss houses of parliament passed a motionExternal link from Radica-Liberal senator Andrea Caroni calling for action to be taken against foreigners who behave violently in defence of the regime they fled from.   

Fresh start: has it helped?

In an initial evaluation report produced at the end of the first phase, the SDC says that “compared to the outset in 2017, Switzerland has much more information about the situation on the ground than it did in the past, it has access to government departments, it has built a basis of trust, and it has created an opening in view of new developments”.

For the second phase too, the SDC commissioned an external evaluation, the conclusions of which will be published shortly. For Radical-Liberal parliamentarian Damian Müller, however, the results to date are insufficient. He proposes a change of strategy, arguing that the one in place is a mistake. “The fact that Eritrea continues to reject forced repatriations is proof of this,” he says. Müller is a member of the House of Representatives’ foreign policy committee. He maintains that Eritrea has no interest in development aid from this country.

Sibel Arslan takes a different view. The Green Party politician says projects in Eritrea are important and that Switzerland should go on supporting them. She opposes the federal government’s approach of linking international cooperation strategically with migration policy.

“Solidarity, support for populations in need and the fight against poverty are [values] enshrined in our constitution,” points out Arslan, the current vice-president of the House of Representatives’ foreign policy committee. “The Greens have always been against the idea of mixing international cooperation with migration policy. This kind of linkage is mistaken.”

Arslan favors instead the search for solutions through dialogue, where Switzerland has a long tradition. So does Müller. “I propose to put the emphasis on political dialogue, as Italy is doing,” he says.

Last January, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in Rome. At the end of June, Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso went to Asmara with a sizable delegation of heads of large Italian companies, and another delegation followed from the Italian Senate’s foreign relations and defense committee. These missions to Eritrea are part of what is known as the Mattei Plan, which aims to strengthen Italy’s role in Africa. Apart from reinforcing cooperation in development and partnerships with various African states, with this funding programme of €5.5 billion (CHF5.1 billion), Italy intends to stop migrants from arriving on its shores.

No-one goes back willingly  

The federal government’s website states that diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Eritrea are not very strong, although they have deepened in recent years. “Cooperation with Eritrean authorities has improved, especially in the area of identification,” Jonas Montani, foreign ministry spokesman, told SWI swissinfo.ch. Furthermore, Secretary of State for Migration Christine Schraner Burgener told the newspaper Sonntagsblick that Switzerland will appoint a liaison officer based in Nairobi, who will frequently visit Eritrea to pursue dialogue with Asmara.

“No civil servant will achieve any results,” says Furrer, who believes that only a high-level meeting between Justice Minister Jans and his Eritrean counterpart will lead to meaningful negotiations.

Until now, all diplomatic efforts to resolve the Eritrean issue have been unsuccessful. Two Swiss federal ministers, Didier Burkhalter and Simonetta Sommaruga, met with the Eritrean foreign minister in 2016. Current Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has visited Asmara twice, in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, a meeting between special presidential advisor Yemane Gebreab and Secretaries of State Livia Leu and Mario Gattiker yielded no tangible results.

Eritrea refuses to change its position. It rejects any forced repatriation of its citizens from Switzerland or any other countries, insisting that repatriation must be voluntary.

One of the goals of the project managed by Furrer was to create an incentive for Eritreans to return. The Massawa Workers Vocational Training Center aimed to provide opportunities even for Eritreans in the diaspora.

“The idea was to give Eritrean asylum seekers the opportunity to do a year-long apprenticeship in Switzerland and then continue at our vocational school in Massawa,” explains Furrer. “Yet this idea was never implemented, partly because no one willingly returns to Eritrea due to fear of repression by the regime.”

This is not surprising. The latest United Nations report on Eritrea highlights systematic repression of basic freedoms and a dire human rights situation. The country is known for its use of “arbitrary and incommunicado detention” and indefinite military conscription, which is comparable to forced labor.

Forced returns from the EU

In 2022, there were just under a millionExternal link asylum applications made in the EU – 52.1% more than in 2021 and the highest number since 2016. The increase is partly due to the war in Ukraine, while with 1,400 people dead or missing in 2022, the Mediterranean crossing remains the deadliest of all migration routes to Europe.   

Almost 390,000 asylum applications were approvedExternal link by EU countries, while around 430,000 non-EU nationals were ordered to leave the EU, of whom almost 75,000 were repatriated. Some 54% of the returns were voluntary; 46% were forced. 

The European Parliament calls for EU states to invest in voluntary return programmes, which can also involve allocating a certain amount of financial or logistical aid for returning.  

A 2019 reportExternal link by the European Asylum Support Office highlighted the fact that the Eritrean government rejects any forced repatriation. However, in 2016, a representative of the Eritrean foreign ministry told a British delegation that forced returns were acceptable if certain conditions were met, such as dealing with the Eritrean authorities first or providing financial support for repatriation; the figure of $50,000 (CHF42,525) per repatriation was mentioned.

Adapted from Italian by Terence MacNamee/ds