ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Thousands of Iraqi and Kurdistan Region nationals are currently awaiting decisions on their asylum applications in Switzerland, the Swiss justice ministry told Rudaw on Thursday. According to the ministry, around 7,289 individuals from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are currently residing in Switzerland. Of those, some “2,080 are at various stages of the asylum process,” with their cases still under review. The latter figure marks a 17.3 percent decrease compared to January 2024, when there were 2,515 pending asylum applications from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The overall number of Iraqis and Kurds living in Switzerland has also risen. In January 2024, that figure was 6,866, meaning there has been a 6.2 percent increase in their population over the past months. However, these figures exclude individuals whose asylum applications are still being processed. The largest concentration of the Iraqi-Kurdish community is in Zurich, which is home to 1,469 residents from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Government data shows that Switzerland hosts around 2.19 million foreign nationals, making up roughly a quarter of its 9 million population, with Zurich having the highest concentration of foreigners. Switzerland’s foreign ministry, citing a 2020 bilateral agreement with Iraq, stated, “The focus is on the return and reintegration of rejected asylum seekers. Switzerland seeks to strengthen cooperation with Iraq on migration issues and is committed to supporting internally displaced people.” Meanwhile, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) continues to campaign for stricter immigration controls. It has launched a petition calling for migration limits, while the Swiss government has increased border checks in a bid to reduce irregular migration. Niyaz Mustafa contributed to this article.
