SWITZERLAND
Repressive immigration laws endorsed
Annolies Truman, La Chaux-de-Fonds
6 October 2006
On September 24, a Swiss referendum overwhelmingly validated two anti-immigration laws. The laws received 68% support.
While Switzerland is not part of the European Union, in effect Europeans have privileged access to residency and the job market. The first law places further restrictions on the rights of foreign workers who come from non-European countries.
Employers now need to prove they have found no-one in Switzerland or the European Union to do the job before they are allowed to employ a non-European worker. Reuniting families will also become more difficult.
The second law makes it 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.
The referendum result was a victory for the federal right-wing coalition, in particular for Christoph Blocher who introduced the law. Blocher is the justice minister and leads the nationalist and rapidly growing Swiss People’s Party.
The centre-left Socialist Party (PS) challenged the law, resulting in the referendum. The PS and the far left campaigned against the laws, arguing that the immigration issue was caused by poverty and global inequality. They argued that the laws were hypocritical as Switzerland depends heavily on foreign trade and its economy has been built on the back of foreign labour.
The Movement for Socialism warned that the laws are clearly discriminatory and will increase the number of illegal workers, leading to poorer pay and working conditions.
