Four North African countries to be designated as safe

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• The National Council has adopted an SVP motion that seeks to classify Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia as safe countries of origin.
• Turkey was removed from the motion and will not be included on the list.
• The Federal Council had rejected the motion but was outvoted by a clear majority in the National Council.

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Four countries in North Africa are to be newly classified as safe countries of origin under asylum law. The National Council has approved a motion by the SVP parliamentary group to this effect. However, it did not want to include Turkey among the safe countries of origin.

Specifically, Egypt and the three Maghreb states—Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia—are to be considered safe countries of origin. On Tuesday, the National Council voted by a clear majority in favor of the SVP’s motion, against the will of the Federal Council. It removed Turkey from the motion.

Pascal Schmid (SVP/TG) argued that these five countries offer protection from persecution. According to the SVP, the EU has declared Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia to be safe countries of origin. As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey is bound by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Finally, Algeria could be classified as safe overall. While some areas are critical, Algerians could be returned without issue to other, stable regions.