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«Taking in refugees from the Moria camp»

Postulat d'urgence 2020/26
Level: Municipality
Municipality: Obersiggenthal (AG)
Status: Rejected

Attendance

In an urgent postulate, the SP demands the reception of refugees from the (new) Camp Moria on Lesbos.

“Councillor Obersiggenthal is requested,

  • to agree to take in 6 refugees from Moria;
  • to call on the canton and the Confederation to take the necessary measures to allow the reception of refugees from Moria;
  • to coordinate with the towns and municipalities in the canton of Aargau and with Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Winterthur and Zurich, which take similar initiatives to receive refugees”.

The postulate was declared non-urgent in September 2020 and is expected to be addressed in December.

01.02.21: Recommendation of the municipal council to reject.

“The federal government is responsible for refugees. The federal government also has the best overview of where the need is greatest and, with its specialists, is able to organise targeted help and take in refugees. The municipal council does not have this overview and these resources. Moreover, it has no say in refugee policy, neither regarding the number of refugees assigned nor their origin. The municipality is always informed unilaterally by the canton after it has procured accommodation for refugees (temporarily admitted persons) in the municipality and can only take note of the origin of the refugees (and their flight route).

Already in past refugee crises the municipal council was open and took in more refugees than it would have been obliged to. Today, too, the cantonal guidelines are being exceeded. The municipality does not want to shirk its humanitarian responsibility and is also doing a lot to integrate the refugees it has taken in into the social community. The commune council remains committed to making an above-average contribution to overcoming such crises. It would like to leave the coordination of such efforts to the competent federal and cantonal authorities.

In Moira, there was undeniably a human tragedy of devastating proportions. This tragedy was very much emphasised in the media. Unfortunately, the situation of many other refugees in the world is also tragic. For example, in the Horn of Africa and Libya, where hunger and violence reign in refugee camps. Or also for refugees in southern Italy who live in unprotected dwellings – women have to prostitute themselves there in order to be able to buy food for themselves and their relatives. The situation for refugees in Syria and Jordan is also difficult.

The municipality also regularly receives requests for support from refugees from other sources. For example, a recent request from the Swiss Red Cross for support for flood victims in Sudan – 830,000 people have lost their homes. The local council does not agree that it should now, against the background of media prominence, unilaterally support the refugees who have found shelter on the Greek islands. It cannot judge whether there are refugees elsewhere who are in even more urgent need of help.”

Excerpt from the local council’s response

11.03.21: Rejection by the residents’ council.


This initiative is part of the campaign “500 people for Aargau”.

The refugee camps in Greece are in dire straits. Several tens of thousands of refugees are locked up in camps under the most degrading conditions. Their situation is so unbearable that at Easter 2020, the three national churches of Switzerland jointly appealed to the Federal Council to alleviate the tragedy and accept 5000 refugees from Greece into Switzerland.

The campaign “500 people for the municipalities in Aargau” takes up this appeal and wants to achieve that municipalities and cities voluntarily increase their quota for taking in people. In this way, they can create the necessary capacity in and with the canton for the government to register the “free space” with the federal government for the admission of people from precarious camps. Numerous communes have already given positive feedback.

Ask your municipality in Aargau to take in people too. The requests are coordinated by the association Netzwerk Asyl Aargau.

Letter template “500 people for the municipalities in Aargau”.

Document

Press reports

Fraktionsmitteilung SP – Einwohnerratssitzung vom 23./24. September 2020
Lors de la réunion de son groupe parlementaire, le PS a discuté en détail des questions relatives à la prochaine réunion du conseil des résidents. L’accent a été mis sur les prêts pour la nouvelle construction du bâtiment scolaire de Goldiland, d’un montant de 11,59 millions de francs suisses, et sur la demande de mise en œuvre du nouveau concept de TIC pour les écoles d’Obersiggenthal. Le budget annuel et la responsabilité de la municipalité d’Obersiggenthal par rapport à la catastrophe dans le camp de réfugiés de Moria ont également été discutés.