Swiss referendum on automatic deportation of violent criminals passes

[Eldritch]

The Swiss have this thing called "democracy", which means that if the majority of the Swiss support a bill, it passes. Pretty cool idea, huh?

Swiss approve foreign criminal initiative



The Swiss have voted to adopt tough new regulations on the deportation of foreigners convicted of serious crimes and welfare fraud.

Final results showed 53 per cent voting in favour of a rightwing initiative. The initiative also won the backing of 18 out of 26 cantons.

In a complex nationwide vote on Sunday, the electorate were faced with a choice between a hardline option and a compromise version; or approving or rejecting both proposals.

Turnout was higher than usual - at 52 per cent - a sign of how contentious were the issues being voted on.

The rightwing People's Party initiative called for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of crimes ranging from murder to breaking and entry and social security fraud. The proposal denies judges judicial discretion over deportation.

An alternative option by parliament would have allowed for a case-by-case examination and additional integration measures.

Parliament's counter-proposal was rejected by 54 per cent of voters, results showed.

An unofficial voting platform for migrants, Baloti, reported very different voting results: 85 per cent against the initiative, and 15 per cent for.

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"In future, foreign nationals who have committed one of the criminal offences named in the text of the initiative should automatically lose their right of residence and be deported to their country of origin," said a government statement. It said Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga would "set to work on implementing the initiative without delay".

"The majority of voters have sent a clear signal that they consider foreign criminality to be a serious problem. The Federal Council [government] respects the will of the people and will set to work on putting the task confided in it into practice," it went on.

The government statement also pointed to problems in implementing the initiative, saying parliament would have to draft a list defining precisely which offences would result in deportation.

A statement by the People's Party said voters had sent a clear signal that "criminal foreigners should be systematically deported". It said the acceptance of the initiative marked "the first step on the road to greater security". The legal framework for the initiative's introduction had to be created as soon as possible, it said.

The Federal Migration Commission said the initiative would be very difficult to enforce. It said the state must not act arbitrarily in deporting foreigners, but judge each case individually.

"Even People's Party parliamentarians agree that no one should be sent back to a country to face torture or death. Automatic deportation, as demanded by the initiative, is therefore not possible," the commission said in a statement.

The main Christian churches, which had opposed both initiative and counter-proposal, called for deportations to continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

In a joint statement, the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches and the Catholic Bishops Conference said the cantonal and federal authorities must ensure that implementation of the initiative conformed to the constitution. They also said it was important "not to cast a negative light on migrants".

Link.

[The Lawspeaker]

Well done, Switzerland !

[Matritensis]

Indeed,well done! It's encouraging to realize that common sense is not completely dead in Europe...yet.

[Monolith]

I wonder what makes that country so different from other European countries. Surely, the recent events make Switzerland either totally unimportant, or very important in the eyes of the ruling elite(s).

[Guapo]

Good, send them back to Republika e Kosovës.

[Eldritch]

I wonder what makes that country so different from other European countries.

Mainly, their willingness to take responsibility for their own lives, and the fact that they don't think of their fellow wo/man (and by corollary, themselves) as mindless cattle who don't know what's best for them.

[Crossbow]

The Swiss made a wise decision.

[curiousman]

Good

[Loki]

Swiss vote for deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes

Significant victory for the nationalist party that pushed the proposal against the will of the government



Swiss voters today approved a plan for automatic deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes or benefit fraud, in what was a significant victory for the nationalist party that pushed the proposal against the will of the government.

Some 52.9% of voters backed the proposal from the nationalist Swiss People's party (SVP). It was opposed by 47.1% of voters. A government-backed counterproposal failed – it would have required a case-by-case review by a judge before an individual was deported.

"I'm totally for it," said Emma Link, 86, after voting in Geneva. She blamed foreigners for what she said was rising crime, adding that she had recently been robbed on her way home from a nearby shop.

The SVP plan drew fire before today's referendum from legal experts who said it could breach offenders' human rights. Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, said people who had lived all their life in Switzerland, married Swiss citizens and had children but never obtained Swiss passports, would be unusually hard hit by expulsion.

Under Switzerland's political system, any group wanting to change the law can collect 100,000 signatures to force a referendum. Last year the country drew international condemnation after voters defied a government recommendation by approving a law to ban the construction of minarets.

The government will now have to draft a law requiring automatic expulsion of foreigners found guilty of crimes such as murder, rape, drug dealing or benefit fraud. Kohen predicted such a law would be challenged before the European court of human rights.

Likewise, the European Union – with which Switzerland has signed a bilateral treaty guaranteeing freedom of movement – would probably object to its citizens being automatically deported without the chance of judicial review, he said.

During the run-up to the vote, anti-racism groups bemoaned that the SVP's posters showed white sheep kicking black sheep off a Swiss flag, saying it played on stereotypical images of foreigners as criminals.

Virginie Studemann voted against the plan. "I think it's sad for our country," she said outside a polling station in the center of Geneva. "It's part of a concerted attack against foreigners."

Voters also rejected a proposal to revise the country's tax system today. The Swiss news agency SDA reported that 58% of voters opposed the plan, while 42% backed a proposal by the Social Democrat party to introduce a minimum tax in all Switzerland's 26 cantons, or states.

The Polling group gfs.bern saidearlier this month that initial enthusiasm for the plan evaporated after heavy campaigning by business groups, who warned it could harm the Swiss economy. Several prominent billionaires also spoke out against the proposal and threatened to move abroad if it were accepted.

[Fintorah]

Switzerland wouldn't have the choice for future democracy if it didn't have the backbone it's showing. I'm proud of Switzerland , even if the minaret ban was a bit theatrical. Now if only we had this sort of democracy everywhere...