Reception and procedure centre
Irrespective of their method of entering Switzerland, all asylum seekers have to report to one of the four FOM reception and procedure centres in Chiasso, Vallorbe, Basle or Kreuzlingen. On their arrival at the reception centres, the asylum seekers’ personal details are registered. In a subsequent hearing, they have to give a brief summary of their personal and family circumstances as well as their grounds for seeking asylum. At the same time, their fingerprints are registered and photographs taken. With the help of this data, checks are made in police records as to whether the person concerned has already – possibly under other names – filed an asylum application in Switzerland. As a rule, proceedings at the reception centre last five to ten days. Accelerated procedure can be applied for manifestly unfounded or abusive applications, but also for clearly positive cases. The asylum application will then be completed at the reception centres and, if required, the execution of removal enforced. The other asylum seekers are allocated to a canton until the completion of their asylum proceedings.
Question: What did Mamadou B., Ahmed H. and Sadiye C. claim at the reception and procedure centre?
On 4th December, Mamadou B. files his asylum application in Chiasso (Centro di registrazione e di procedura) near the Swiss border. At his summary hearing, Mamadou B. explains that he had never possessed identity papers in his native country of Sierra Leone: «My birth certificate was lost during an attack on my house…». On Mamadou B.’s grounds for seeking asylum, the interviewer at the reception centre takes down the following statement word for word: «The rebels came and attacked our village, drove away the people and destroyed our house…». After all his main grounds for seeking asylum have been covered, Mamadou B. adds: «I am afraid to return to my village as there are still some rebels hiding in the region…».
Because Mamadou B. has not submitted any identity documents and the interviewer has not received any answers to various questions about his native country, first doubts arise about the applicant’s Sierra Leonean origin.
On 25th March, Ahmed H. files his asylum application at Vallorbe reception and procedure centre. A summary hearing is held, in which Ahmed H. explains that he left his unstable country on economic and political grounds. He does not submit an identity card to the files.
On 28th March, Ahmed H. is allocated to the Canton of Geneva for the duration of his asylum proceedings.
On 30th April, a grey, rainy Wednesday morning, Sadiye C. reports at the desk of Kreuzlingen reception and procedure centre. She submits an asylum application and hands over her two identity cards. A diary is found on her person; despite her loud protests, this is confiscated but later returned to her. Sadiye C. is interviewed on 5th May. She explains to the rather sceptical interviewer why she has two identity cards: one of them is genuine – issued in Bingöl on 3rd September 1997 – the other, made out in the name of «Esen Karatas», is a forgery. When asked about her grounds for departure, she answers: «The police were after me, if you send me back to Turkey, they will put me in prison.» «On 10th November of last year I took part in a demonstration against restricted admission to the university; when the police intervened, most of the others got away, but I was too near the front and was arrested, as also on past occasions. Now they are accusing me unjustly of having actively supported a banned left-wing party. They hit me and did bad things to me...»
