The Swiss go abroad for more than a day twice a year, and the trend is upwards. The consular management of the Department of Foreign Affairs calls for the personal responsibility of travelers and advises against risky adventures.
According to Figures from the Confederation, Swiss citizens make around 12 million trips abroad per year. As a rule, travelers are well prepared, said Marianne Jenni, director of the Consular Department of the Federal Foreign Affairs Department (DFAE) on Thursday in Bern before the media. However, more and more people go to regions in crisis.
Ms. Jenni described this phenomenon as “Dark Tourism”, that is to say travel not recommended by the DFAE. Currently, 24 countries are on this list, said Ambassador Serge Bavaud, head of the DFAE crises management center. Among them are states like Syria, North Korea or Afghanistan. In these regions, the DFAE can only provide limited aid, or even in certain situations.
“No replacement of common sense”
Since the start of the millennium, the Confederation has developed advice to travelers, currently for 176 countries. “Traveling has certainly not become safer in recent years,” said Jenni. She called for the personal responsibility of tourists.
Consular management can certainly provide aid in an emergency, but there are legal limits. “The Confederation provides a subsidiary help – the primary responsibility is the responsibility of the travelers themselves,” said Ms. Jenni.
Swiss representations abroad are ready to help, has also advanced Yvonne Rohrer, head of the consular protection division. “But we are not repatriation insurance and do not replace common sense.” There is no legal right to consular protection.
Compared, few cases of detention
The representatives of the Confederation recalled the existence of the “Travel Admin” application, on which travelers can record their stays abroad. Compared to the growing number of travel, this instrument is still much too little used.
Ms. Rohrer described as “very minimal” the proportion of Swiss who have problems with law abroad. Currently, the DFAE is aware of 188 cases, 62 of which concern alleged crimes linked to drugs.
Regarding the difficulties of entry of Swiss nationals in the United States, which was made public, Ms. Rohrer said that the DFAE was aware of two cases in which people had been retained in the short term. In these two cases, the DFAE should not have intervened, because the people were already on the way back at the time of making contact.
This article was published automatically. Source: ATS
