Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 65,000 Ukrainian refugees have received asylum in Switzerland. About 12,000 of our fellow citizens who received temporary protection are men of military age (18-60 years old). Currently, Swiss politicians are debating whether to repatriate them.
The S migration status in Switzerland, which was created after the Yugoslav wars, did not apply until March 2022. It was then that, for the first time in the country’s history, official Bern decided to provide temporary protection to people fleeing Russia’s war against Ukraine using this status. This step was fully consistent with the policy of the European Union, because, although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, it is often guided by the decisions of Brussels.
Pascal Schmid, an MP from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), believes it is time to review this migration scheme. Previously, the possibility of repatriation of Ukrainians of conscription age was announced in Poland and Lithuania.
“Who really needs protection? Women, children and the elderly. But potential conscripts are not refugees.” – Mr. Schmid believes.
Christian Wasserfallen from the center-right Liberal Party even demands that Switzerland sign an agreement on readmission with Ukraine, i.e. get the right to expel men of draft age from the country and “to help Ukraine solve the problem of mobilization”.
However, not all parliamentarians support this idea.
“I consider this demand to be hypocritical and incompatible with Switzerland’s humanitarian traditions. It comes from the same politicians who refuse to provide Ukraine with effective support, for example, in the form of reconstruction assistance.” – says Selin Widmer, a representative of the Left Social Democrats.
We would like to remind you that the Ukrainian army currently has a significant shortage of specialists in many fields. In some areas of the front, the Russians outnumber the Ukrainians by 7-10 times. The armed forces manage to hold on thanks to the ingenuity of the military, weapons of Western and domestic production, and the widespread use of drones. However, without a sufficient number of personnel, it is quite difficult to restrain the enemy, and even more so – to advance.
