by Peter Siegenthaler, swissinfo.ch

As the Swiss Refugee Council marks Refugee Day on June 18 with a focus on what refugees have to offer society, European states worry about a new wave of asylum seekers.
Swiss justice minister, Simonetta Sommaruga, tells swissinfo.ch that she wants to simplify and speed up the asylum process, while ensuring that it remains fair.

There is a real dilemma: in the world as a whole, tens of millions of people are in flight from persecution, violence and disaster, but no-one wants to take them in – least of all the rich countries of the West.

Swissinfo.ch: Which side do you stand on in this dilemma, when so many people are in flight, and no-one is willing to accept them?
Simonetta Sommaruga: I am on the side of a credible asylum policy, which needs to ensure that a people who are at risk in their own country will be accepted. My aim is to have fair procedures that will offer protection to people who have good reason to flee their home country as defined in the 1951 [United Nations] refugee convention. Anyone who does not have a recognised reason to be a refugee must go back. more

Would-be asylum seekers arrive in Lampedusa. (Keystone)