A Kurdish journalist applied for asylum upon her arrival at Zurich Airport. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) decided that the application was not admissible in the airport procedure based on the safe third country principle. The SEM considered that the conditions for a safe return to Brazil, where the journalist had been prior to her arrival in Switzerland, were present. The Court held that SEM needs to examine whether Brazil is safe in the particular case of the applicant. Unlike the third countries listed as “safe countries” by the Federal Council, the asylum authorities must take into consideration the characteristics for each individual case to decide whether the third country offers a sufficient protection against refoulement.
