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Reception in federal asylum centres
As discussed in the chapter on Guarantees for vulnerable groups, national law does not define the categories of persons that are considered vulnerable.
In general, all but very complex asylum cases will be assessed and decided (including the appeal) within 140 days in the accelerated procedure. Separate housing facilities exclusively reserved for vulnerable asylum applicants are not provided in the accelerated procedure. For instance, no special accommodation is granted to highly traumatised people. When it comes to LGBTQI* and female asylum applicants, the solutions envisaged do not always fully account for the great importance of ensuring protected spaces (not only dormitories), separate from male applicants. However, separate buildings, wings, floors or rooms for families, women, minors or other vulnerable persons do exist – albeit to different extents – within the federal asylum centres. Special solutions (usually foster care) are found for unaccompanied minors under the age of 12. [1]
In October 2019 the Government published a report,[2] according to which there is room for improvement in different areas, such as training and awareness raising for staff, information and support for asylum applicants and the identification of victims of sexual violence. Guidelines were published in November 2021 detailing how the administration intends to implement the results of these reports.[3]
This specific situation of women and girls was addressed in a political intervention at the Swiss Parliament, further to which a broad investigation was launched to verify whether the accommodation conditions for women inside the federal centres were compliant with the international standards, and especially with the Istanbul Convention. In its report published in November 2022, GREVIO criticised the lack of a gender-sensitive accommodation policy for all Swiss reception facilities “to identify and protect women victims of gender-based violence”.[4] In its 2023 report, the National commission for the prevention of torture was aware of 22 cases of suspected sexualized violence—verbal harassment, unwanted touching, and rape—suffered by asylum seekers in federal asylum centres (CFA).[5]
The Ordinance of the FDJP on the management of federal reception centres in the field of asylum and accommodation at airports provides that asylum applicants are to be accommodated in single-sex dormitories, and that families are accommodated in the same dormitory. Furthermore, families should also be accommodated in premises “which allow a common life, and which take into account, as much as possible, the need to have a private sphere”. As far as vulnerable groups are concerned, the Ordinance simply states that the specific needs of vulnerable persons, including unaccompanied minors, will be considered during their accommodation and supervision, and that unaccompanied minors will be accommodated away from adults.
According to the NCPT report of 2023, the system of support for unaccompanied minor asylum applicants should be reviewed and adapted so that professional and continuous assistance of all children is guaranteed even in the event of a large influx.[6] The report also points at the transfer of minors in adults’ accommodation after an age assessment concluding for the adult age, defining this practice as illicit before a decision on the age of the applicant is entered in force.[7]
Concerning other vulnerable groups, the NCPT expressed concerns regarding the provisory suppression, in several centres, of rooms accessible only for women to make space for more dorms, as well as the accommodation of several families in the same room. The Commission is also very critical about the treatment of persons with disabilities, as in several centres the mobility was strongly reduced for people in a wheelchair.[8]
Reception in cantonal centres
Asylum applicants, including vulnerable ones and unaccompanied minors, are transferred to a canton if their asylum application has been granted, if they have been given a temporary permit or if their asylum procedure is still pending, but the case is complex and needs more time (extended procedure). Minors below 12 are also assigned to cantonal accommodation. Several cantons also allow placement in foster families. In all these cases, asylum applicants are thus assigned to reception facilities, for whose maintenance and regulation the assigned canton will be responsible. Reception conditions in the cantons vary.
While the SEM used to assign unaccompanied children to cantons in which specific structures were set up, it now includes all cantons in the reception of unaccompanied minors.[9] Due to the increase in the number of unaccompanied minors, several cantons increased their reception capacities.[10]
Several organisations provide assistance to traumatised asylum applicants. The Outpatient Clinic for victims of torture and war (Service ambulatoire pour victimes de la torture et de la guerre) in Bern offers a wide range of therapies that combine social work and different treatments for persons traumatised by extreme violence.[11] Similar services are available in Geneva, Zurich, St. Gallen and the Canton of Vaud.[12] However, their capacities are insufficient compared to the needs. According to national law,[13] the SEM may financially support the setup of facilities for the treatment of traumatised asylum applicants, in particular teaching and research in the field of specialised supervision of those asylum applicants.
In a report published in 2016 and subsequently updated in 2018 by Asile LGBT Genève, it was highlighted that the reception and accommodation conditions were particularly worrisome for LGBTQI+ asylum applicants.[14] This has been confirmed by another report, again concerning LGBTQI+ asylum applicants, published in November 2022 by the Observatory for Asylum and Foreigners Law in the French-speaking Switzerland.[15]
In its report published in November 2022, GREVIO regretted that “it is difficult to gain an up-to-date picture of the situation in all cantons” as well as the “wide disparities in accommodation conditions and in strategies to protect women from violence”. According to the report, the main sour points remain the “major shortcomings in training on gender-based violence for staff working in collective accommodation centres, and a lack of practical tools to help detect cases of violence.[16]
Shelters offering special protection to victims of trafficking as well as victims of domestic violence are missing in most areas.
In 2024, two publications from the Federal Commission on Migration (CFM) demonstrated that living conditions in emergency accommodation for asylum seekers jeopardize the well-being and development of children and young people. This is incompatible with both the Swiss Federal Constitution and international conventions. One publication is a study by the Marie Meierhofer Institute for Child Research (MMI), which for the first time gathered data on the living conditions of minors in emergency shelters across Switzerland, and the other one is a legal opinion prepared by the University of Neuchâtel, which provides a legal analysis of the results.[17]
[1] Experience-based observation of the SRC, January 2025.
[2] Swiss Confederation, Rapport sur la situation des femmes et des filles relevant du domaine de l’asile, October 2019, available in French (and German and Italian) here. See also: Anne-Laurence Graf, Eine Zusammenfassung der Empfehlungen zum Schutz von asylsuchenden Frauen und Mädchen im Anschluss an das Postulat Feri, October 2021, available in German (and French) here.
[3] SEM, Situation von Frauen und Mädchen in den Bundesasylzentren: Bericht zur Umsetzung der Massnahmen in Erfüllung des Postulates 16.3407 Feri vom 9. Juni 2016, 17 November 2021, available in German (and French) here.
[4] GREVIO, Baseline Evaluation Report – Switzerland, November 2022, para 275. The report is available in English here.
[5] National commission for the prevention against torture, Summary of the report by the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture to the State Secretariat for Migration on its visits to federal asylum centers (2021–2022), 2023, available in French here, pp. 17 –19.
[6] NCPT, Report on federal asylum centres 2021-2022, available in German here, 19 and ff.
[7] NCPT, Report on federal asylum centres 2021-2022, available in German here, 31 (ch. 131).
[8] NCPT, Report on federal asylum centres 2021-2022, available in German here, 34-36.
[9] Konferenz der kantonalen Sozialdirektorinnen und Sozialdirektoren (SODK), Empfehlungen der SODK zu unbegleiteten minderjährigen Kindern und Jugendlichen aus dem Asylbereich, 20 May 2016, available in German here.
[10] For a global and regularly updated view of the reception facilities for unaccompanied children in the cantons, see: Alliance for the Rights of Migrant Children, Cartographie cantonale des structures de prise en charge pour MNA, available in French (and German) here.
[11] Swiss Red Cross, Service ambulatoire pour victimes de la torture et de la guerre, available in French (and German) here.
[12] For contacts and more information, see the website Support for Torture Victims, available here.
[13] Article 44 AO2.
[14] Asile LGBT Genève, Recherche-action sur l’accueil des réfugié.e.s LGBTI à Genève, January 2019, available (in French) here.
[15] ODAE, Asile LGBTQI+ – La situation des personnes LGBTQI+ dans le domaine de l’asile, 15 November 2022, available in French here.
[16] GREVIO, Baseline Evaluation Report – Switzerland, November 2022, para 276. The report is available in English here.
[17] Communication of the CFM of 30 September 2024 in French; Communication of the SRC of 30 September 2024 in French.