Switzerland: Interpol rules bypassed?
01 May 1996
The Zurich weekly Vorwärts has raised the case of a 26 year old Algerian asylum seeker who applied for asylum in November 1993 and whose application was turned down in February 1994. Ahmed F. was detained several times during police raids on the "open" drug scene in Zurich and sent to prison for five days on the dubious charge of handling stolen goods. His case also showed that the Immigration Department of the police (Fremdenpolizei) of the Zurich Canton used Interpol channels to check the identity of undocumented asylum seekers in order to aid deportation.
Usually the authorities have to approach the embassy of the country of origin. But the Algerian embassy is reluctant to give out information in deportation cases so it appears requests for information from the Zurich police are sent to the Swiss National Central Buro (NCB) of Interpol which is based in the Federal Office for Police Matters (Bundesamt für Polizeiwesen, BAP). The NCB sends on the request to its counterpart in the country of origin, and sometimes to the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon. The BAP Press Officer, Mr Galli, confirmed that according to Interpol's statutes requests for identity checks could only be used if there was an ongoing criminal investigation. Moreover the BAP does not examine the compatibility of local police force requests with Interpol statutes and data protection regulations. It is suspected that in cases of illegal immigration and rejected asylum seekers there is an ongoing investigation on illegal entry in Switzerland.
On 8 May the Minister for Justice and Police said in a parliamentary answer in the Swiss Federal Council that the Federal Council denies information on "illegal" foreigners is generally given to the Interpol data system. But he confirmed that the fact of being "illegally" in Switzerland can be interpreted as a "criminal act" and that it is therefore possible and legally correct to give personal data on these "foreigners" to Interpol - an admission that it is routinely done. On 31 May Han Lätsch, the Vice-President of the Zurich cantonal foreigners' police (Fremdenpolizei) reconfirmed that they give personal details of foreigners detained in the "expulsion prison" in order to find out their identity and organise travel documents.
Vorwärts, 23.2.96, 29.3.96, 31.5.96; Komitee Schluss mit dem Schnüffelstaat, Bern, Switzerland.