SWISS-YUGOSLAV AGREEMENT ON READMISSION
Swiss authorities are preparing the forcible repatriation of some 12,000 citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). A bilateral readmission treaty to this effect is expected to enter into force within the next two months. Most of the people covered by the agreement are ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
The Swiss Federal Council (Government) has already formally approved the readmission agreement and given the FRY citizens concerned until the end of August to leave the country.
According to a senior official, the content of the agreement is identical with the German-Yugoslav readmission treaty of last year.
The Swiss-Yugoslav agreement enables the repatriation of more than 12,000 asylum seekers - mostly Kosovo-Albanians whose asylum applications have been turned down. Since November 1994, Swiss authorities have been unable to carry out deportation measures to the FRY, because the Government of the FRY refused to grant entry to its own citizens.
The agreement can be signed as soon as it has been formally approved by the Government in Belgrade. This is expected to happen within two months. The agreement will enter into force at the earliest the first day of the second month after its signing.
Due to the FRY ban on entries, the Swiss Government repeatedly extended the temporary stay of the Yugoslav citizens concerned. The new deadline is 31 August. Until that date, the Federal Office for Refugees will set definitive individual time limits, within which the persons concerned must leave the country. This will enable a regular and continuous pace in the repatriation process.
A total of 12,431 rejected asylum seekers from the FRY are currently in Switzerland. For another 5,200 the final decision is still pending.
Switzerland has accorded temporary residence permits to 1,450 refugees from the FRY. Permanent residence permits have been granted to 2,224 refugees on humanitarian grounds. 2,436 refugees have obtained status under the 1951 Geneva Convention.
Asylkoordination Schweiz and several other Swiss asylum organisations appealed to the Swiss Government to refrain from sending ethnic Albanians to Kosovo in view of the "explosive situation" in this province.
Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 4.3.97.