Switzerland deported around 3,600 asylum seekers as part of the Dublin asylum agreement in 2011 (Keystone)

Of the 7,000 such cases handled by the Swiss Federal Migration Office in 2011, around 3,600 people were sent back to one of the nearly 20 participating countries. Some have not yet been sent back on technical grounds.

In 1,700 cases the paperwork for their return had been completed but the asylum seekers disappeared, Jürg Walpen of the Federal Migration Office confirmed. It is unclear whether they remained in Switzerland.

Swiss detention centres for such asylum seekers are currently overstretched.

Asylum law is currently being revised by the Swiss parliament to speed up asylum procedure and fight abuses of the law. Also under the proposals the government would be able to fund the construction of new cantonal detention centres to accommodate asylum seekers who are being deported.

The Dublin asylum agreement aims to regulate the asylum proceedings among nearly 20 European states.

In Switzerland, the federal authorities are responsible for asylum proceedings, but it is up to the country’s 26 cantonal authorities, which enjoy considerable autonomy, to implement the policy.

There were 22,551 asylum applications submitted in Switzerland in 2011 – up by about 45% on that in 2010 and the highest figure since 2002.

swissinfo.ch and agencies

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Asylum_seekers_go_underground_.html?cid=33115252