As chair of the IGC, Switzerland will focus on the theme of integrating migrants and refugees in the labour market.
Keystone / Valentin Flauraud
Switzerland will chair the Intergovernmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugees and Migration (IGC) in 2025, the government announced on Monday. It will focus on the theme of migrants in the labour market.
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“Migrants and refugees can make an important contribution to economic growth and prosperity,” the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said in a press release.
The SEM plans to organise several high-level summits around this theme at the IGC, a non-decision-making forum that brings together 17 countries from Europe and overseas. Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans, who is responsible for migration affairs, is expected to attend.
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The migration situation in Europe is tense. Italy stopped accepting Dublin cases from other European countries nearly two years ago, while Germany has reintroduced border controls to combat illegal immigration.
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In Switzerland, Jans recently suffered a setback, with parliament deciding in December to tighten the conditions for access to temporary protection status S for Ukrainian refugees. However, a year after taking up his post in the government, the Basel-born politician has repeatedly highlighted the positive results achieved in the field of migration, thanks in particular to the fast-track 24-hour asylum procedure.
Switzerland is a founding member of the IGC, whose secretariat is based in Geneva, and is taking on the chair in its 40th anniversary year.
Translated from French with DeepL/gw
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