Eritrean Asylum Seekers Face Deportation in Switzerland

Hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers face potential deportation from Switzerland. A Swiss parliamentary committee is backing this proposal.

Petra Gossi, a Swiss MP from Radical Liberal Party, has submitted a motion at a parliamentary committee. The motion urges the government to reach an agreement with a 3rd country for the deportation of illegal Eritrean migrants.

Asylum cases of around 300 Eritreans have been rejected by Swiss authorities. The Eritrean government is not willing to take them back. Swiss MPs are now proposing UK-Rwanda type arrangement to deport these Eritrean asylum Eritreans.

UK is set to deport around 5700 illegal migrants to Rwanda this year. First illegal migrant was deported to Rwanda this week under voluntary deportation.

The motion submitted by Petra Gossi will be discussed by the Swiss House of Representatives in June. Since last year, dozens of incidents have happened involving violence between Eritrean opposition (Brigade Nhamedu) and pro Eritrean government groups across Europe. Some political parties in European countries are demanding restrictions and tougher laws to stem the flow of Eritreans.

Interestingly this week EU council imposed restrictions on issuance of visas to Ethiopians over Ethiopian government’s lack of co operation in repatriating its illegally residing citizens in Europe.

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