KOSOVO-ALBANIANS IN SWITZERLAND: TEMPORARY HALT ON DEPORTATIONS
Several hundred rejected asylum seekers from Kosovo have been permitted to stay in Switzerland until further notice. The Federal Office for Refugees (BFF) is still in search of a new travel route to Kosovo. Negotiations with Hungary and Bulgaria are dragging on.
In October 1993, the Swiss authorities were forced to stop deportations of Kosovo-Albanians whose asylum application has been turned down, when the government of Macedonia refused to allow further deportations via Skopje airport (see FECL No.20, p.8). The Macedonian about-turn had domestic reasons: The Macedonian government must take into account its strong Albanian minority.
Ever since, Switzerland, Germany, and other western European states have been looking for a new deportation route.
Switzerland has reached an agreement with Hungary, but the treaty has yet to be ratified by the newly elected Hungarian parliament. According to the speaker of the Swiss Federal Office for Refugees (BFF), Heinz Schöni, this is likely to take a long time. At the moment Switzerland is relying more on an agreement with Bulgaria, Mr. Schöni says. In the event of the opening of a Bulgarian route, the rejected Kosovo-Albanians would be transported by bus from Sofia to Kosovo. A speedy agreement is, however, not probable there either. Initially, the Swiss authorities had expected the Bulgarian route to be open by the beginning of this year. But meanwhile it seems uncertain whether an agreement will be reached before the end of 1994.
No change of policy
International observers are regularly reporting that the Serb controlled Kosovo region is on the brink of civil war. But Mr. Schöni insists that his Office does not share this view. The BFF is standing firm on its earlier assessment that, now as before, deportations to Kosovo are reasonable and that Switzerland has no intention of stopping deportations.
Meanwhile, the approx. 1500 rejected Kosovo-Albanian asylum seekers in Switzerland are awaiting an uncertain destiny.
Source: Tagwacht, 11.5.94.