POLITICAL WORK

PRESS RELEASE

Press release - Society Moko - April 30, 2022

Press kit with video statements, available upon request.

Switzerland must accept all third country nationals who lived in Ukraine before the war, accept students and stop confiscating the passports and documents of status S seekers that have been taken from them since April 4, 2022! We demand answers from the Federal Council and the State Secretariat for Migration to our letters of 14.04.2022 and 26.04.2022.

Who are "third country nationals"? These people (living or studying in Ukraine) currently do not enjoy any rights that people with Ukrainian citizenship enjoy, even though they are fleeing the same war. Can one imagine that in the event of war in Switzerland, a quarter of the population would be neglected and abandoned to their fate by our European neighbors?

Switzerland must participate in the European reception movement and implement Directive 2001/55/EC. The 27 European countries, as well as Ireland, have activated this directive and the decision implementing it, which allows countries to receive indiscriminately all persons who were on Ukrainian territory when the war was announced (paragraph 14 of the directive). Several European countries have already announced that they will grant annual visas or admit students to all people who have fled Ukraine (the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, etc.).

Stop the uncertainty: finding refuge is a right, but also the possibility to plan a safe future. For over two months, families, students and workers from Ukraine have been fleeing to our country and Switzerland does not give them a clear answer and leaves them in uncertainty. Society Moko takes care of more than 40 third-country nationals: medical, engineering and computer science students. But also doctors, surgeons, professional football players and others. All of these people are trapped in complete uncertainty about their future after the traumas of war and have no prospect of a career.

Repatriation of students to country of origin before graduation: risk of impoverishing entire families: Swiss authorities cannot ignore the fact that in a post-colonial phase, European degrees open up more avenues than degrees from the global South. Entire families have often paid together to send their young people to study in Ukraine. Sending them back to their home countries without a degree in their pockets would have dramatic consequences for these families. In view of the upcoming vote on the financing of Frontex, Switzerland has an interest in supporting the economic development of the countries of the South and thus preventing migration movements and subsequently dramas, especially in the Mediterranean region. The FDFA itself acknowledges that nationals of third countries contribute strongly to the development of their country of origin. At the same time, they participate in the development of the host country by contributing know-how, knowledge and experience. It should be noted that we have contacted by phone several Swiss universities, which are positive to accept Ukrainian students from third countries who are nationals of Ukraine.

Switzerland does not have the logistical means to send thousands of people back to their countries of origin en masse. A denial of the permit would throw thousands of people into the mills of emergency aid, an unnecessary burden for our country.

Switzerland must return passports and documents, thus allowing third States from Ukraine to travel to another European country. We demand that the authorities speak plainly to new arrivals and inform them about the slim chance of being granted a permit, thus giving them the opportunity to go to a friendlier European country. Since April 4, 2022, the SEM has been confiscating passports and other documents. We also demand that the documents of all persons who have received a negative decision for the S permit are returned and that the order no longer refers to a three-year ban on entering the Schengen area. Finally, changes in practice must be announced loudly and clearly to those seeking justice so that they can rely on a reliable system.

We denounce a blind practice that leads to absurd decisions and does not take into account the integration of third-country nationals in Ukraine. Examples:

• Third-country nationals whose spouse with Ukrainian citizenship was still in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe were denied S permits. What is the point of sending a person who will be entitled to family reunification back to his or her "country of origin"?

• On April 22, 2022, we received a decision that allowed us to file the application.

Concrete case studies

We have compiled a press kit with several video and audio testimonies that confirm everything we have presented here. Please contact us if you would like access to these.

Conclusion

We demand answers from the Federal Council and the SEM to end this double standard in the treatment of war refugees in Ukraine regarding the color of their passports. In addition, international media such as CBC News are beginning to take an interest in the Swiss case and are doing research. Indeed, it seems unlikely that Switzerland, where 25% of the population does not have a Swiss passport, would leave these nationals without any assistance in case of war, despite its humanitarian tradition. There is still time for Switzerland to do the right thing. We call for the reception of people fleeing Ukraine without distinction of passport, or at least the return of passports and the lifting of the Schengen entry ban, since the Dublin system does not apply (so nothing prevents Switzerland from allowing third country nationals to find refuge elsewhere).

English and German speaking contact person: Samantha Helfer 079/237.19.71

French speaking contact person: Meriam Mastour 076/570.97.38

Society Moko - societymoko@gmail.com

https://societymoko.wixsite.com/websitemoko

Society Moko is a Swiss-based organization that provides comprehensive administrative, legal, material, psychological and logistical emergency assistance to third country nationals fleeing Ukraine. It is also part of the Global black coalition, a network of organizations in Europe and Canada that share the same goal. Society moko consists of a network of over 60 volunteers, including lawyers, psychologists, teachers, politicians and association representatives.

11 April, Bern, Switzerland, Society Moko

OPEN LETTER

Within the last six weeks, more than 4.2 million people have fled Ukraine, of which more than 29,500 have been registered in Switzerland. Among the fled people are also third-country nationals from Ukraine (213,000). They are all fleeing from the same war and have lost their homes within a short period of time.

However, while the institute of the protection status S has been activated for Ukrainian nationals, granting them protection quickly and unbureaucratically so, the situation for third-country nationals without Ukrainian family members remains unclear.

After they were able to escape the war in Ukraine, they are now facing existential problems in Switzerland. Many of the third-country nationals who have now fled Ukraine, have previously worked or studied in Ukraine because they were unable to do so in their country of origin due to the political situation or due to personal threats to their lives.

According to media reports, the Swiss Government assumes that Ukrainian citizens "want to return to Ukraine after war.” 

This assumption should also be granted to third-country nationals who have integrated themselves linguistically, culturally and intellectually in Ukraine and who are also devoted to Ukraine. 

Many of these third-country nationals have families, relatives and friends who are still in Ukraine - they too are still in those war zone - partially without citizenship. To limit the idea of “a sense of belonging and the need for reunification in Ukraine” to the origin of a passport cannot be in the humanitarian ideology of Switzerland.

Therefore, these people should also be granted temporary protection regardless of their country of origin, so that they can reorient themselves in peace.

Concrete cases from practice

Based on the cases known to us, the interpretation of the rules is arbitrary:

1. Currently, people from Nigeria fleeing Ukraine receive S status in Chiasso, but Nigerian nationals from the same regions of Nigeria with the same residence conditions of Ukraine, do not receive S status in Zurich, but an automatic asylum procedure.

2. Furthermore, we have been informed by the Swiss Refugee Assistance (Mrs. Erika Baumert) by email that certain third country nationals have their passports withdrawn when applying for S-status due to the automatic asylum process of certain nationalities. This is despite the fact that no decision regarding the S-status has been made yet.

a.) At the end of March, six refugees with Ghanaian nationality and different residence permits arrived in Geneva. All six have kept their Ghanaian passports.

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b.) At the beginning of April, three refugees with Ghanaian nationality and different residence permits arrive in Zurich. All of them had their passports revoked.

The arbitrary implementation of the rules are already taking place upon entry. The decision-making process seems to depend on the cantons where the people are located and which person oversees their case file. 

It should also be noted that most third-country nationals from Ukraine speak French and/or English in addition to Ukrainian and/or Russian. They could serve as translators for the integration of refugees who speak only Ukrainian or Russian and thus promote integration. Accordingly, they obviously represent an added value for the Swiss society and a bridge to cope with the wave of refugees. 

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In view of the large movement of refugees and the associated hardship of all refugees, an equal regulation for all people fleeing Ukraine is an appropriate measure. This would also reduce the administrative burden and ensure respect for the dignity of every person seeking protection.

Mass expulsions

If the current regulations continue to be implemented arbitrarily and without clear guidelines by the federal government in the respective cantons, Switzerland is expected to face mass expulsions to those third countries in the next 8 to 12 weeks.

Approximately 300,000 third country nationals without Ukrainian passports lived in Ukraine until the beginning of the war. Many of them came from Southeast Asia, North, West and Central Africa.

Denial of S protection status to certain regions, and thus expulsion, would be an unbearable burden not only for the individuals, but also for their countries of origin, and a step backward in their development. Students who have not completed their education, workers who can no longer support their families, and people who are already uprooted would find themselves in countries that cannot offer them alternatives or assistance.

Ethical, political postulate

Proposals:

- Visa-free entry until 31.08.2022 for all refugees from Ukraine analogous to the new provision in Germany.
- Status S for international students of Ukraine for the duration of their studies, as well as a waiver of tuition fees like the one in Baden-Württemberg due to the mass influx guidelines.
- Status S for all with a permanent residence permit from Ukraine regardless of their country of origin.

- Equal treatment of all refugees from Ukraine at the borders into Switzerland.

- Return of all unlawfully revoked passports during the S status procedure and no further arbitrary cantonal regulations regarding third country nationals.  

- A uniform procedure concerning the granting of S status (in particular regarding the initiation of asylum proceedings as well as the withdrawal of the passport) for all persons from Ukraine seeking protection, regardless of their country of origin.