Switzerland defines key targets for new asylum strategy

The federal government, the cantons plus Swiss cities and municipalities are drawing up a new asylum strategy. On Thursday, an asylum committee set up for this purpose defined six fields of action. As the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced on Friday, these include communication in the area of asylum, the return of refugees to their countries of origin and improving the resilience of the Swiss asylum system. Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here. According to the press release, the restructuring of the asylum system has basically proved successful since the revised Asylum Act came into force on March 1, 2019. However, the asylum strategy needs to be reviewed in light of the persistently high number of asylum applications and adjusted if necessary. The Asylum Committee is chaired by Christine Schraner Burgener, State Secretary for Migration, and Christoph Amstad, Vice President of the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Social Affairs (SODK).