Switzerland has come under fire from the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) for handcuffing a pregnant lady while she breastfed her child.
This was one of several harsh practices and improper pressures the Swiss government applied to migrants during deportation, according to inquiry.
In a recent report released this month, NCPT reportedly detailed Switzerland’s inhumane treatment of immigrants.
Between April and December 2021, the report tracked about thirty air deportations from Switzerland, and it released its findings in a report in September.
“Although the handling of the returnees was generally professional and respectful, the Commission regrets the continued frequent use of partial restraints during the transfer and at the airport,” the commission said.
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In 2021, the NCPT recorded 130 forced air repatriations, including six families and 15 children. Three of them went back to their home countries on their own.
The NCPT called the deportation of a mother who was four months pregnant degrading and inhuman in its report.
The panel explained how the expectant mother was detained and handcuffed in front of her kids.
“She had to breastfeed while handcuffed, and the handcuffs were not removed during the medical examination,” NCPT noted.
The pregnant woman was allegedly carried by three or four police officers inappropriately up a staircase while repeatedly complaining of stomach aches, according to the Swiss organization.
The panel criticized Switzerland’s deportations for using excessive physical constraints, saying that this should be avoided at all costs. It stated that having migrants restrained forcibly in front of kids may be upsetting for a child.
In addition, a 2021 investigation by Amnesty International examined the circumstances of federal asylum centers in Switzerland.
Security personnel and abuse victims from state-run facilities alerted the rights organization, and they started an inquiry.
Amnesty conducted 32 interviews with persons, including 14 abuse victims, 18 current and former security personnel, attorneys, social workers, and educators who had seen abuse. Additionally, it looked over legal complaints, medical records, and other pertinent data.
The alleged abuse took place in asylum centers in Basel, Giffers, Boudry, Altstätten, and Vallorbe between January 2020 and April 2021.
Additionally, Amnesty discovered instances of thrashings, the use of pepper spray that made breathing difficult, and the confinement of refugees to metal containers that caused hypothermia.
The group also detailed incidents in which victims were subjected to prolonged force that made it difficult for them to breathe, which resulted in epileptic convulsions or comas.
Switzerland declared its intention to accept 1,600 immigrants in 2022 and 2023 in May 2021.
The country’s immigration quotas are used to determine the intake. According to Switzerland, those fleeing persecution in their home countries as well as those who have been affected by current military situations in the Middle East and the central Mediterranean would be particularly welcome.
