The possible differentiation of relatively «safe» Ukrainian regions is being discussed. Those who already live in Switzerland will not be affected by this change.
Propaganda claims that Switzerland is supposedly planning to abolish the «S» status — that is, collective protection — for Ukrainian migrants. This is supposedly explained by the fact that Ukraine is already safe and there is no longer a need to provide asylum to refugees.
However, this is not what the bill submitted by the Swiss People’s Party entails. The «S» status is indeed proposed to be abolished, but only for newly arrived Ukrainians — that is, nothing will change for migrants who are already in Switzerland. The new arrivals will have to apply for asylum on a general basis, like citizens of other countries where hostilities are currently taking place. At the same time, the parliament plans to create a list of «safe» and «dangerous» regions and follow it when making a decision on granting asylum. A similar system was previously introduced by Norway. There, first six and then eight more regions were added to the list of safe regions. The Neue Zurcher Zeitung also draws attention to the fact that such a division is problematic and rather conditional, since missile attacks by Russian troops affect all regions, and there is no truly safe place left on the territory of Ukraine: «Since December — that is, since the National Council approved this request — dozens of drone strikes, combat operations and artillery shelling have taken place even in the western regions». The authors expect that this innovation will not have a major impact on the number of refugees in Switzerland, since the majority come here either from occupied territories or from regions where there is active fighting. How the situation will develop, they write, depends on the further course of the war.
Read more refutations on the same topic in the stories Manipulation: Ukrainian Refugees Evicted From Social Housing in France – Le Monde and Fake: Germany To Introduce Firm Financial Restrictions for Ukrainian Refugees.
