David Keller: Major challenges
The pandemic presented huge challenges in the field of asylum. David Keller, head of the Reception and Procedure Centres division, reflects on the events of the past year.
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The federal asylum centre in Chiasso: The show must go on
Natalie Cereghetti interviews asylum seekers at the Federal Asylum Centre in Chiasso. She recalls the outbreak of the coronavirus there.
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The federal asylum centre in Kreuzlingen: Anything but complicated
The coronavirus pandemic brought restrictions and challenges of a different kind in 2020.
Continue readingSafety concepts worked well
There were relatively few coronavirus infections in SEM’s collective accommodation facilities. The rapid implementation of safety concepts worked well, and the asylum seekers were very cooperative with respect to the hygiene measures and social distancing. Out of all the asylum seekers who resided in the federal asylum centres in 2020, 234 came down with the virus. Fortunately, there were no deaths.
Pending cases at a record low
SEM was able to considerably reduce the number of pending cases subject to old legislation in 2020. At 3,852, the number of pending cases at the end of last year was its lowest since statistics first began in 1994. In comparison: at the end of February 2016, there were 31,196 pending asylum cases during the refugee crisis.