SWISS CHRONICLE | from September 3 to November 25, 2004
03.09.2004
Christoph Blocher, head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, is proposing to create refugee camps in crisis regions with the help of the army.
11.09.2004
Lausanne, hundreds of people demonstrate their support for the 523 rejected asylum seekers.
13.09.2004
Switzerland is sending rejected asylum seekers back to Africa (Togo and Benin) in a joint operation with Germany and Belgium.
15.09.2004
Vaud, the Asylum Coordination is submitting a petition with some 13,000 signatures to the Grand Council, demanding the regularization of 523 asylum seekers facing deportation. The previous day, a petition signed by 94 municipal elected officials was handed over to the chancellery.
18.09.2004
Lausanne, activists spend a night under the stars to raise public awareness about the plight of people facing a non-entry decisionNem).
23.09.2004
After the National Council, the Council of States approves the ratification of a readmission agreement with Nigeria.
26.09.2004
Swiss voters reject two proposals for easier naturalization for foreigners in a referendum.
02.10.2004
Italy, the city of Domodossola inaugurates a square dedicated to «the Swiss people» to thank them for welcoming thousands of refugees fleeing Benito Mussolini's regime in 1944.
02.10.2004
Bern, outraged by the xenophobic sledgehammering of the UDC, more than a thousand people demonstrate against the racism rampant in Swiss politics.
09.10.2004
Citing economic reasons, Ch. Blocher prohibits 17 employees of the Federal Office for Refugees (ODR) to participate in the 1st Swiss Symposium on Asylum organized in Bern by the HCR and the Swiss Refugee Aid OrganizationOSARhe himself will not go there.
15.10.2004
The Federal TribunalTF) issues a ruling in which it rejects the appeal of two Kosovar women. Their successful integration, the presence of their entire family in Switzerland, and the difficulties of resettlement in their home country are not sufficient grounds for obtaining a residence permit.
26.10.2004
A petition with 3,400 signatures asking the authorities to abandon austerity measures affecting people suffering from anorexia is submitted to the Chancellery in Vaud.
26.10.2004
Switzerland and the European Union (EU) sign 10 bilateral agreements (including Schengen/Dublin). Switzerland will notably participate in the police and judicial information system of the «Schengen Area.».
29.10.2004
La Chaux-de-Fonds (NE), the public prosecutor has opened an investigation to shed light on the case of a Guinean asylum seeker who was issued a NEM (Notification of Exclusion from Asylum Procedure) and claims to have been beaten by police officers on October 22.
02.11.2004
Support organizations for people affected by ALS, from the cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Aargau, and Lucerne, are meeting in Solothurn. They are asking the OFAM to issue federal standards for emergency aid.
02.11.2004
Publication of the ODR’s first monitoring report on NEMs. Only 15% of rejected applicants seek emergency assistance.
03.11.2004
The Federal Council confirms the creation of the Federal Office for Migration (FOM), which will merge the ODR and the Federal Office for Immigration, Integration and Emigration (IMES) on January 1, 2005. It will be headed by the director of the IMES, E. Gnesa.
04.11.2004
Vallorbe (VD), the Municipality announces that the Asylum Seeker Registration Center will only accommodate about a hundred residents and that security will be reinforced, following the stabbing of 3 people on a train at Vallorbe station on October 11th, committed by a rejected asylum seeker.
04.11.2004
Geneva, an Ethiopian asylum seeker, robbed of 200 franks last October by 4 gendarmes who accused him of stealing a CD player, is filing a complaint with the attorney general.
09.11.2004
Yverdon-les-Bains (VD), arson occurs at a center for asylum seekers.
11.11.2004
Vaud, 150 artists and intellectuals oppose the deportation of 523 rejected asylum seekers.
12.11.2004
The Federal Tribunal clears Jürg Scherrer, director of the Biel police, who had equated Kosovar refugees with people prone to criminality and violence. The cantonal court of Bern had convicted him of racism.
13.11.2004
Vaud, the government is giving up on making the Vaud Foundation for Asylum Reception (FAREAS) a public law institution. In September, its new director had announced layoffs and the closure of 4 reception centers.
17.11.2004
The Federal Tribunal disavows the Geneva Indictment Chamber. The latter too quickly dismissed the complaint of an African man who claimed to have been mistreated and insulted during a police search in December 2003.
17.11.2004
Bern, the Council of States recognizes the right of municipalities to submit naturalization requests to the people. It also tightens the law on foreigners.
18.11.2004
Unlike the Bern Administrative Court, which on the 15th had judged it «inadmissible to strike out the claim for any emergency aid,» the one in Solothurn admits the withdrawal of emergency aid to NEMs who do not cooperate in establishing their identity.
18.11.2004
Back from a trip to Bosnia, Bernard Soguel, a Neuchâtel State Councillor, believes that Bosnia is not a safe country to send back certain categories of people.
19.11.2004
The Conference of Cantonal Directors of Social Affairs is asking the Confederation to cover the costs incurred by the abolition of social assistance for applicants affected by a NEN and is opposing the extension of this measure to all rejected applicants.
22.11.2004
The canton of Zurich announces the closure of 3 asylum seeker reception centers and the elimination of around 60 jobs in the sector, due to a significant drop in applications.
25.11.2004
Vaud, returning from a 3-day trip to Bosnia, State Councilor J.-C. Mermoud deems the return of rejected asylum seekers possible and considers the use of force if necessary. On the 23rd, left-wing deputies announced they would oppose any forced deportations.