Immigration from Africa to Switzerland
According to the official Swiss population statistics, a total of 66,599 immigrants from Africa lived in Switzerland in 2007 (0.9% of the total population or 4.5% of the foreigners living in Switzerland). People with Swiss citizenship and origin from sub-Saharan Africa refer to themselves as Afro-Swiss or Afro-Swiss .
In 2008, a total of 30% of the Africans living in Switzerland were asylum seekers .
Africans living in Switzerland
In 2007, 51,867 people with an African nationality were classified as permanent residents of Switzerland.
This number increased fivefold from 1980 to 2007 (average increase 6% per year, doubling time 12 years).
Since no ethnic origin is recorded in the census, there is no official information on the number of naturalized Swiss citizens of African origin. There are unofficial estimates for some African countries. It is estimated that in 1995 more than 1,500 immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands lived in Switzerland.
distribution
North and Northeast Africans
- North Africa : 19,496 (1980: 6,205)
- East Africa : 9,578 (1980: 1,597)
The largest group of immigrants of North African origin come from Tunisia .
Sub-Saharan Africans
- Central Africa : 11,006 (1980: 860)
- West Africa : 10,187 (1980: 1,390)
- Southern Africa : 1,600 (1980: 487)
The reason for the above-average increase in the Swiss population from Central Africa is immigration from Angola , Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
immigration
Almost a third of the Africans living in Switzerland are asylum seekers. In addition, asylum seekers live in Switzerland as sans papiers who stayed there after their asylum application was rejected; their number is unknown.
In 2009 the number of asylum applications from Nigerians rose sharply. In April 2010, the director of the Federal Office for Migration , Alard du Bois-Reymond , issued a statement on the large number of possibly unfounded asylum applications from Nigerians. Du Bois-Reymond said that 99.5% of asylum seekers of Nigerian origin were criminals who wanted to take advantage of the asylum system and came to Switzerland to act as petty criminals and deal in drugs. The Nigerian ambassador in Bern, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi , condemned Boi-Reymond's statement as an unjustified generalization.
The question of repatriation is regularly taken up in Swiss politics in the context of "immigrant crime". B. in connection with a wave of crime in the Pâquis district of Geneva , in which predominantly Algerians were involved, or in connection with the nationwide activities of the Nigeria Connection . Switzerland has signed several repatriation agreements with African states. Such an agreement has also existed with Algeria since 2006; however, it has stalled because of Algeria's refusal to ratify additional protocols. Switzerland has technical readmission agreements with Guinea , the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone for the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers. There is also a repatriation agreement with Nigeria, but this was suspended by Nigeria after the death of a Nigerian citizen during a forced repatriation in March 2010.
Well-known immigrants from Africa
Famous immigrants from Africa can be found mainly in sports and especially in football, e.g. B. Gelson Fernandes , Oumar Kondé , Mobulu M'Futi , Blaise Nkufo , Cédric Tsimba , Johan Djourou , Breel Embolo . The first Swiss ever to play in the NBA is Thabo Sefolosha , the son of a South African.
Also known is Ricardo Lumengo , who emigrated from Angola and was elected to the National Council in the Swiss parliamentary elections in 2007 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Foreign nationals in Switzerland - Report 2008 ( Memento of the original dated August 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (1196 Kb), Federal Statistical Office, p. 72.
- ↑ A conversation with rapper Nativ: «This revolution begins in our heads». June 17, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020 .
- ↑ What is it like to be an Afro-Swiss? This documentary shows it. Retrieved July 24, 2020 .
- ↑ Foreign nationals in Switzerland - Report 2008 ( Memento of the original dated August 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (1196 Kb), Federal Statistical Office, p. 14.
- ↑ 1995: Cape Verdean Diaspora Population Estimates ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Federal Statistical Office ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Task Force Against Asylum Abuse April 11, 2010.
- ↑ Nigerian Ambassador requests discussion with Swiss Federal Office Head April 29, 2010; Switzerland-Nigeria: Asylum seeker intervention FOM ambassador NZZ April 29, 2010.
- ↑ Refugee repatriation debate rears its head; Debate on the repatriation of refugees (English) swissinfo.ch March 4, 2010.
- ↑ Nigeria effectively suspends deportation April 16, 2010.
