Switzerland denies reports of ethnic-based deportation plan for Pashtuns, embassy says

Switzerland denies reports of ethnic-based deportation plan for Pashtuns, embassy says

GENEVA — The Swiss government has rejected reports that it is considering the deportation of Afghan refugees based on ethnic identity, calling such claims “completely unfounded,” according to a statement from Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. The response follows a recent article in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung that cited internal discussions at the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) about the pote…

The Afghan embassy in Geneva said the Swiss government had rejected reports of deportation of Afghan migrants based on ethnicity as "unfounded". The embassy said in a statement on Tuesday that it had asked the Swiss Federal Migration Board to clarify a report by a Swiss media outlet that Pashtun migrants were being deported to Afghanistan. The Afghan embassy in Geneva said the Swiss Migration Board's international relations department had dismis…