nw08030 's List: Immigration

• September 24, a Swiss referendum overwhelmingly validated two anti-immigration laws. The laws received 68% support.
• further restrictions on the rights of foreign workers who come from non-European countries.
• found no-one in Switzerland or the European Union to do the job before they are allowed to employ a non-European worker
• harder for refugees to obtain asylum. Refugees now have only 48 hours to claim asylum, only 5 days to appeal a negative decision and no right to welfare benefits if their application is rejected and they are unable to return to their country of origin. 
  
• victory for the federal right-wing coalition
• hristoph Blocher
• Swiss People’s Party. 
  
• referendum.

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• Swiss voters have approved tougher regulations on asylum and have limited immigration for citizens from outside the European Union
• 70 per cent of the Swiss were behind the measures
• evidently convinced by the government's arguments that harsher measures against asylum abuses were necessary to avoid social tensions and provide protection for those fleeing persecution.
• oalition of centre-left parties, trade unions, churches and aid organisations had forced the vote, arguing that the reforms went against Switzerland's humanitarian tradition
• controversial clause in the legislation will mean jail sentences of up to 24 months for those refusing to leave Switzerland
• amended law on foreigners in principle limits immigration for citizens outside the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (Efta) to highly skilled labour
• encourage integration, in particular by language course
• criticised the restrictions for family members of immigrants and harsh jail terms for illegal immigrants who refuse to leave the country

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• SVP - led by Chistoph Blocher
• One single issue dominated the campaign - foreigners
• mandate to push forward policies like the deportation of foreign criminals, and a ban on building minarets
• Opponents fear growing divisions in Swiss society and damage to Switzerland's reputation for consensus and tolerance

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• Swiss are going to the polls this weekend to vote on a proposal to limit foreigners to 18% of the population
• government and business community argue an immigration cap would be disastrous for the country's image and economy
• banks and business community
• t supporters of the vote - a loose grouping of right-wing politicians - insist Switzerland has suffered from a flood of cheap unqualified foreign labou
• strong isolationist streak in the country which is neither a member of the European Union nor of the United Nations
• six over the past 30 years

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• edefine what it means to be European

• children's rights were being pushed aside by a "restrictive" immigration policy
• Social Democratic Party, said the report showed where official action clashed with children's rights.
• an article in the foreigners law says the subsequent immigration of family members may be approved if important familial reasons can be presented.
• Two-thirds of voters were convinced by the government's arguments that harsher measures against asylum abuses were necessary to avoid social tension and provide protection for those fleeing persecution.
• entre-left parties, trade unions, churches and aid organisations had forced the vote, arguing that the reforms went against Switzerland's humanitarian tradition.

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• Senate finally followed the House of Representatives on Wednesday in approving a proposal that only an elected body or a local assembly must deal with citizenship requests
• 2005 study also showed that foreigners have less chance of obtaining a Swiss passport if voters decide on citizenship applications at the ballot box.
• Senate decision means that Switzerland's new naturalisation law is now accepted by a majority of federal politicians
• Foreigners requesting Swiss citizenship will have to accept that some personal data is passed on to communal assemblies. This will include information about their nationality, time of residence in Switzerland and their degree of integration
• 2004, Swiss voters rejected simplified naturalisation procedures for second- and third-generation foreigners
• Switzerland, foreign residents must often wait 12 years before being eligible to apply for citizenship, compared with between four and ten years in EU states
• In most EU countries it is easier for children born to foreign residents to become naturalised than it is in Switzerland. And most citizenship decisions are taken at the town council level

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• xperts question whether this "kneejerk" reaction, which has growing political support in Switzerland, can really prevent crime. Instead they call for better integration of young foreigners and their parents,
• Two rightwing parties – the Swiss People's Party and the Lega dei Ticinesi – called on the cantonal parliament to expel the men and revoke their Swiss nationality
• revised Swiss law on foreigners has strengthened the cantons' hand to expel foreign criminals. Currently, those who have completed a sentence of at least two years behind bars can be expelled. While the measure has sizeable political support, it has only been applied very unevenly.
• But the question of expelling minors, and possibly their parents too, remains a sensitive political issue
• majority of foreign youths are very well integrated, especially in the countryside, there are groups in urban areas that need hel
• clear split between those in favour expelling people and those agains
• effective long-term integration policy, they had to recognise that most of the young criminals in such incidents had grown up here.
• effects of not properly integrating first-generation immigrants, who pass on all their problems to their children

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• rightwing Swiss People's Party has handed in to the federal authorities a list of signatures on an initiative calling for foreign criminals to be deported
• According to the Federal Statistics office, 14,000 youths were convicted of crimes in 2005. Of these, 4,000 were foreign-born individuals.
• day after the Federal Migration Office announced its priorities for 2008.
• nitiative proposed by the People's Party goes further, and is asking for the automatic deportation of foreigners who have been convicted of offences including murder, rape, robbery, human smuggling or drug trafficking.
• campaign quickly attracted the ire of critics including the Federal Commission against Racism, Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities and the United Nations. The UN said it was likely to incite racial hatred

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• Switzerland, Amnesty was concerned by racism and cited a 2006 report by the UN special rapporteur on the subject, which concluded that the lack of a national policy on racism made it difficult to tackle the problem

• implement the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination
• UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review in May 2008 the Swiss had to answer numerous questions about the "xenophobic climate
• Pierre-Richard Prosper, the UN special rapporteur said Switzerland had made progress since 2002, in particular in the field of criminal law and police training, but "could do better"
• non-governmental organisations attacked Switzerland for failing to respond to criticism and recommendations made in 2002 to tackle racism.
• Christina Hausammann, the coalition coordinator,
• ack of effective instruments or structures in Switzerland to ensure the convention's implementation, as well as the absence of an anti-discrimination law
• coalition of 14 NGOs said discrimination against black people, Muslims, people from southeastern Europe and asylum seekers had increased over the past six years
• Federal Commission against Racism
• new foreigners law, which entered into effect on January 1, 2008,
• creating a negative image against citizens in Switzerlan

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• 7.7 million – could see the number of its inhabitants rise to 8.35 million by 2030
• Immigrants will make up the bulk of the population increase, believes the Federal Statistics Office,

• Swiss media hardly reports on migration issues and what they do highlight – often crime - puts foreigners in a negative light
• new study commissioned by the Federal Communications Office
• Migration, Media and Integration study carried out by Zurich University and radio training centre klipp & klang
• 6.4 per cent of the total coverage of political themes is dealing with migration and migrants, so the representation is weak
• negative news values, usually linking migrants to crimes, drug crimes or traffic violations
• 46 per cent of reporting was found to have a negative slant
• five per cent of reporters in Switzerland were of foreign origin

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• People assumed to be from the Balkan region and non-whites are most at risk of being treated differently in virtually all areas of life, even if they are Swiss citizens
• project was a joint venture between the non-governmental organisation Humanrights.ch and the Federal Anti-Racism Commission.
• Doris Angst of the Federal Anti-Racism Commission
• non-governmental organisation Humanrights.ch
• Michael Marugg,
• lack of anti-discrimination legislation as a weakness in Switzerland
• don't have a general anti-discrimination law, we have a penal code but only very strong and very isolated cases can be dealt with by that; what we need is a more general anti discrimination law that can also be the basis for prevention

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• eport highlights problems of direct racial discrimination in gaining access to employment, housing, goods and services. The victims are mainly Muslims and originate from the Balkans, Turkey and Africa
• European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)
• Swiss People's Party, which was singled out for criticism for promoting racist generalisations
• State bodies for anti-racism and migration had continued to raise awareness of racism and racial discrimination and steps had been taken to combat rightwing extremism
• dangerous growth of racist political discourse against foreign nationals, Muslims, blacks and other minorities. The ECRI found the Swiss People's Party to be part of the problem, saying the party had taken on a "racist and xenophobic tone" in recent years, leading to racist generalisations
• recommended more training in anti-racism laws for police and judges and better resources for anti-discrimination bodies
• wiss People's Party responded saying the report was flawed as it had misunderstood its policies, which were not against foreigners per se but rather foreign criminals and those who refused to follow Swiss laws
• Swiss Refugee Council agreed with the report overall

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• foreigners born in Switzerland are not automatically eligible for naturalisation, a situation which the new organisation, Second@s Plus, says must change
• round one fifth of Switzerland's seven million population are foreigners, with an estimated 500,000 of them being second or third generatio
• Roberto Rodríguez, national coordinator of the new organisation,
• People's Party has forced a nationwide vote on the issue of using the ballot box to decide applications for Swiss citizenship
• banned, but the party argues that the communes - which normally decide on citizenship – should themselves determine how they confer Swiss status
• supports the nationwide introduction of "facilitated citizenship" for those born in Switzerland.
• failed in 2004
• Switzerland does not recognise jus soli, the right of having citizenship in the country in which you are born
• Swiss German dialects are markedly different from the High German spoken in neighbouring Germany and Austria, and pose more problems for immigrants than learning French
• education, with the organisation calling for earlier schooling to help increase equal opportunities in later life

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• Studies show it's harder finding somewhere to live in Switzerland if you have a foreign name – especially one from the Balkans. The same is often the case when applying for a job
• Andrea Ruckstuhl, head of the youth section of the Swiss commercial employees' association, the Second@s Plus motion is the "wrong approach"
• not solve the fundamental problem that in Switzerland many people display discriminatory attitudes towards non-Swiss

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• Senate on Wednesday followed the House of Representatives in approving a proposal by the rightwing Swiss People's Party, despite opposition by the centre-left
• second motion imposing stricter pre-conditions for naturalisation applicants was also passed
• Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

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• Asylum seekers whose lives are at risk are not returned to their original country
• 2008, the Migration Office received 405 applications for asylum from Afghans. It granted asylum to 21 and subsidiary protection to a further 88

• minaret
• ymbol of Islamic law, and as such incompatible with Switzerland's legal system