The federal government is quickly rejecting asylum requests from men from Maghreb countries. What drives them to Europe and Switzerland? A Moroccan and an Algerian told the story.
Kari Carlin/ch media
Ventilation ducts snake along the ceiling, the walls are made of particle board and the chairs are made of black plastic. Seven men from Algeria and Morocco made an appointment in a simple room at the Federal Asylum Center (BAZ) in Zurich. They have little hope of gaining refugee status.
A man uses his mobile phone in his dormitory at the Federal Asylum Center in Zurich.Image: KEYSTONE
Therefore, since the end of April, the National Migration Secretariat has been using the so-called “24-hour procedure” comprehensively for asylum seekers from the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya). All necessary procedural steps should be completed within one day. Justice Minister Beat Jans hopes the clear procedure will allow North Africans to leave Switzerland more quickly or not seek asylum here in the first place.
Information interviews are now on the agenda. At 1pm, four men quickly entered the room, with others arriving later. They chatted to each other in Arabic and looked at their smartphones. They didn't look particularly nervous. SEM Staff Warning: If you are late the next morning to speak with an attorney or attend a hearing, you are in breach of your duty to cooperate and your application will expire. She made a proposal: Anyone who returned home voluntarily and gave up their asylum application would receive 1,000 francs in repatriation assistance.
Photo: UNHCR/chmedia
No one accepted this small gift. One person started bargaining:
But there is nothing to negotiate. This is not a market. Another asked about the dentist, and another mentioned “problems.” That's the standard, SEM employees say.
Teeth were pulled out
Free teeth cleanings to be paid for by Swiss taxpayers? It's not easy. Only perform necessary treatment. Plastic fillings are an exception; broken teeth are usually removed. Otherwise, painkillers will be used to bridge the gap.
You can't help but get the impression that a 5-minute procedure would be enough for applicants like these guys. Clearly, they were not fleeing political or religious persecution. You didn't come up with any asylum-related reasons, but you said honestly:
“We want to work here, make money and send it to our families.”
For example, Wassim (pseudonym) from Morocco. A few days ago, he took a train from Heilbronn to Switzerland. He was not checked at the border. The 21-year-old man was trapped at the Zurich main station and police arrested him for illegal stay. Wasim was detained for one night before police transferred him to a federal asylum centre.
Wasim was wearing a baseball cap, black sweatpants and a green football shirt underneath a jacket. He speaks German surprisingly well. His gait looks ghostly and his eyes are glass. It's an open secret that the drug pregabalin is common in the Maghreb. It is used to treat epilepsy and anxiety, and unlike alcohol and drugs, it is Islamically compliant.
A normal life with your own apartment and job
Four years ago, Wasim boarded a ship from Libya bound for Europe with about 40 people on board. After a long round trip, the Italian navy picked them up and took them to Sicily. Wasim applied for asylum and spent three months with his uncle in Naples before traveling to Turin until crossing the green border into France. The young man, who dropped out of school, later sought asylum in Germany. He was scared in the dormitory – because he was gay. He suddenly said:
“I regret that I stole something.”
He spent a year or two in prison in Karlsruhe – the circumstances vary. There he studied German and gained experience as a baker. Wassim is a “Dublin” case. He has submitted an asylum application to another Schengen country. Therefore, Switzerland could send him back there. Wasim knew this, as nearly all North Africans knew: they had little hope of asylum. But he has not given up his desire for a normal life, with a job and his own apartment in Europe.
Amal (pseudonym), a 26-year-old from Algiers, the capital of Algeria, also has such a dream. The electrical engineer spent 5,000 euros to arrive in Ibiza with a boat, GPS and other migrants. The crossing takes 22 hours. Yes, he was scared at sea. “Très dur, mon frère, très dur.” It's so hard, man, so hard. A lot of the money comes from his family. Now he wanted to give her something back. He spent some time in Barcelona and then spent about two years in various cities in France. He earns 60 to 80 euros a day from part-time jobs, such as at a vegetable and fruit dealer.
In Paris, he pays 200 euros a month for a room. He struggled in Algeria: the country was underdeveloped, there were no job opportunities, and his visa applications were consistently rejected. His parents, three brothers and two sisters lived there. “I came here to save my family,” Ammar said. But his asylum claim is also unlikely to succeed.
Wasim and Ammar’s immigration story is exemplary. It was mainly economic difficulties in their home countries that drove them to Europe. A survey by the Arab Barometer shows that 65% of people aged 16 to 30 in Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia have immigration plans.
depression and despair
Beat Stauffer is a writer and journalist. He has been traveling throughout the Maghreb countries for over forty years. His book “The Dead End of Irregular Migration” was recently published. The findings didn't surprise him. He said the economic situation had deteriorated since the Arab Spring, especially for ordinary people. The unemployment rate among young people around 30 years old is very high.
Stover explained with despair and dismay that many men, especially young men, accepted the life-threatening journey across the Mediterranean despite the almost non-existent opportunities to remain in Europe on a regular basis.
“These people no longer have any expectations of their homeland. They have little hope of living the life they want there.”
Like Wasim and Amal, the vast majority of asylum seekers from the Maghreb openly admit that they come to Europe because they have no future. Others cited possible asylum-related reasons. For example, Stover said, they said their family was persecuted because of their father's political speech. Applicants often say they flirted with a girl and are now threatened with retaliation from the girl's family. Sometimes they reported facing retaliation for hit-and-runs following traffic accidents or harassment from Mafia groups. These stories have one thing in common: they are difficult to verify.
most people are hiding
Apparently, the National Secretariat for Migration (SEM) rarely recognizes North Africans as refugees. As of the end of September, SEM had registered approximately 3,000 asylum applications from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. During the same period, only five people from these countries were granted asylum. Nearly 2,000 people went into hiding after negative decisions and nearly 500 were deported to Dublin or their home countries. 276 people returned voluntarily, with 1,000 francs of starting aid in their luggage.
The 24-hour procedure is intended to act as a deterrent. Federal Councilor Beat Jans spoke of the success: “They were able to reduce the number of overnight stays in the Maghreb states by 40%. “This reduced the burden on staff and also significantly improved the security situation in accommodation,” he Said in an interview with “Weekend Switzerland”.
The only problem: The number of asylum applications from Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians is only slightly below last year's levels – even though nearly three times fewer migrants (55,000) arrived in Italy by the end of October than last year. Background: The EU and Italy are transferring millions of dollars to Tunisia so that the country can in turn curb migration.
Where are Wasim and Amar? They will not be allowed to stay in Switzerland. Returning home was out of the question for both of them. Both wanted to make a living elsewhere in Europe, perhaps in Belgium, perhaps in Germany.
For the federal government, these cases are uncomplicated: Dublin cases can be transferred relatively quickly if the other country's jurisdiction is established based on fingerprints. Deportation to countries of origin is more complicated, especially to Algeria and Morocco.
Most applicants destroy their identification documents. This results in lengthy clarifications – and potentially a long time before the home country recognizes its citizens and then issues the necessary replacement travel documents. In 2023, it will take an average of 369 SEM days to obtain these so-called “passes.” The efforts involved are expensive: last year the asylum and return sector cost the federal government 229 million francs. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
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