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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Swiss introduce apartheid-like restrictions: Local authorities ban asylum seekers from public places



Samir75017
09-08-13, 16:04
Refugees prohibited from 'loitering' in playgrounds or visiting swimming pools and libraries.

Wednesday 07 August 2013

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8750770.ece/BINARY/original/pg-34-gattiker-corbis.jpg
Mario Gattiker, the head of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Immigration which endorsed the apartheid-style restrictions, justified the move to journalists saying: “We need rules to ensure a peaceful and orderly coexistence of residents and asylum-seekers.”

Switzerland’s local authorities have introduced draconian restrictions which ban asylum-seekers from frequenting public places such as school playgrounds, swimming pools and libraries in a move angrily denounced by human rights groups as intolerable and racist.

In the town of Bremgarten west of Zurich, where a new centre for asylum-seekers opened last month, officials said refugees would not be allowed to “loiter” in school playgrounds and would be banned from visiting public swimming pools, playing fields and a church. A total of 32 “exclusion zones” have been drawn up.

Raymond Tellenbach, the town’s mayor, told the German broadcaster ARD: “We have decided on security grounds not to allow access to these areas, to prevent conflict and guard against possible drug use.”

Mario Gattiker, the head of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Immigration which endorsed the apartheid-style restrictions, justified the move to journalists saying: “We need rules to ensure a peaceful and orderly coexistence of residents and asylum-seekers.”

However a spokesman for Switzerland’s non-governmental Refugee Council described the restraining orders as “intolerable and inhuman” and demanded that the authorities suspend the measures. “It is up to the authorities to create an atmosphere of openness,” the spokesman added. The human rights group Solidarité Sans Frontières said the restrictions were “blatantly discriminatory.” However Roman Staub, the mayor of the nearby town of Menzingen said he fully supported banning asylum-seekers from the vicinity of schools: “This is certainly a very difficult area, because here asylum-seekers could meet our schoolchildren – young girls our young boys,” he remarked.

Switzerland plays host to almost double the number of asylum-seekers per head of population of its European neighbours. It counts one refugee for every 332 inhabitants, compared to one per 625 inhabitants on the rest of the continent. Some 48,000 refugees are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. In June this year voters took part in a referendum which overwhelmingly backed moves to tighten asylum restrictions amid fears voiced by the popular right-wing Swiss People’s Party that the country was being inundated with refugees.

The new rules stipulate that military desertion is no longer a reason for claiming asylum. Would-be refugees can also no longer apply for asylum through Swiss foreign embassies.

The growing refugee population has obliged Swiss local authorities to seek new ways of accommodating asylum-seekers. Several Swiss army mountain bunkers have been decommissioned and turned into refugee centres.

Critics point out that most of the bunkers are miles away from human habitation and that under current rules resident refugees are subjected to a curfew which forbids them from leaving the premises after 5pm.

Some Swiss politicians have nevertheless complained that the presence of asylum-seekers in remote Alpine regions could have a negative impact on the tourist industry.

Swiss introduce apartheid-like restrictions: Local authorities ban asylum seekers from public places - Europe - World - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/swiss-introduce-apartheidlike-restrictions-local-authorities-ban-asylum-seekers-from-public-places-8750765.html)

CONTRA
09-08-13, 18:55
Asielzoekers verbannen uit openbare leven Zwitserland

BREMGARTEN - Asielzoekers mogen in diverse Zwitserse gemeenten niet langer op 'gevoelige openbare plaatsen' komen. Daaronder vallen ook bibliotheken, kerken, zwembaden, sportvelden en de omgeving van scholen.

De maatregelen om asielzoekers te weren uit openbare plaatsen blijken al een jaar lang onderdeel te zijn van de afspraken die de immigratiedienst BfM maakt met gemeenten. Nadat de afspraken met de stad Bremgarten zijn uitgelekt, is er in de Zwitserse media een hevige discussie losgabarsten over deze 'apartheidspolitiek'. 'Vorsicht - verbotene Zone' kopte de Neue Züricher Zeitung boven een commentaar.

De verboden zones, een term die doet denken aan de ghetto's voor de Joden in de jaren dertig, worden onder meer door burgemeester Roman Staub van de stad Menzingen omschreven als 'gevoelige gebieden'. De omgeving van een school valt daar beslist onder volgens Staub, 'omdat daar asielzoekers onze schoolkinderen zouden kunnen tegenkomen'. In Bremgarten geldt hetzelfde voor kerken, ondanks het feit dat een deel van de asielzoekers die naar Europa komen, christen is.

pijnplekken

In Alpnach, waar over een week een nieuw centrum geopend wordt, zijn ook 'Sperrgebiete' gedefinieerd die asielzoekervrij moeten blijven. Daaronder vallen 'pijnlijke plaatsen' als alle scholen, sportvelden en omringende parken, de omgeving van het ouderencentrum en de aangrenzende woonwijk. In Luzern mogen asielzoekers alleen na afspraak en onder begeleiding naar het zwembad, terwijl Bremgarten ze daar liever helemaal niet ziet.

Mensenrechtenorganisaties bekritiseren de maatregelen als rondduit racistisch, en Unhcr-woordvoerder Dan McNorton wijst Zwitserland erop dat 'deze mensen legaal in Zwitserland zijn en geen misdrijf hebben begaan'. Hun bewegingsvrijheid mag daarom niet zomaar worden beperkt.

In Zwitserland geldt sinds september een zeer strenge asielwetgeving, die de grote toestroom van asielzoekers naar het land moet indammen. Het land vangt al twee keer het Europese gemiddelde aan asielzoekers en de maatschappelijke grens is bereikt, bleek in juni. Tien stemde 80 procent van de kiezers in een referendum over de wet voor het handhaven van de strakke regels.

Volgens het hoofd van de immigratiedienst, Mario Gattiker, zijn de toegangsverboden en andere maatregelen 'in verhouding' en noodzakelijk in verband met 'de bezwaren en wensen van de lokale bevolking'.

Nederlands Dagblad

Samir75017
10-08-13, 23:54
Switzerland: Asylum Seekers? Stay Out of the Pool

HRW: The Swiss government is arbitrarily interfering with asylum seekers’ free movement rights by giving local authorities the authority to prohibit them from using public school and sports facilities, Human Rights Watch said. On August 7, 2013, the head of Switzerland’s Migration Ministry, Mario Gattiker, told Swiss media that an agreement between his ministry and the municipality of Bremgarten allows local officials to issue “rules of the game” limiting or prohibiting asylum seekers’ use of such spaces.

Gattiker was quoted as saying that the rules are intended to secure an “ordered” and “conflict-free” relationship between asylum seekers and locals and will help avoid “friction and resentment” if “50 asylum seekers” simultaneously use a football pitch or a swimming pool. European and other international law requires Switzerland to justify any free movement restrictions as a necessary, proportionate, and non-discriminatory measure to secure national security, public order, or public health.

“For Switzerland, the home of the United Nations and its refugee agency, to introduce a blatantly discriminatory policy that effectively segregates asylum seekers from the communities in which they live is shocking,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The Swiss authorities should encourage all Swiss communities to treat some of the world’s most vulnerable people with respect and dignity, rather than reinforcing prejudice and division.”

http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/08/europe/switzerland-asylum-seekers-stay-out-of-the-pool