Swiss court allows deportation of young Afghans under strict conditions

Young Afghan asylum seekers may be removed from Switzerland to Afghanistan if they have particularly favourable individual circumstances and face no particular threat from the Taliban regime, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court has ruled in a reference judgment, SRF reported.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. It is significant because the State Secretariat for Migration has ordered the removal of about 200 Afghan men over the past 18 months. Their appeals had been pending before the Federal Administrative Court while the court prepared its guiding decision.

The case concerned a young Afghan man who applied for asylum at the end of 2025. The State Secretariat for Migration rejected his application, citing his good health, lack of family responsibilities and work experience. It also said he could rely on support from his family in Afghanistan.

The court upheld the removal order, finding that the man would not face a particular threat from the Taliban regime if he returned. It therefore considered the conditions for removal to be met.

The Federal Administrative Court said it had updated its assessment of Afghanistan. In its view, the security situation has improved since the Taliban took power. However, the social, economic and humanitarian conditions remain a concern, while the human rights situation is particularly precarious for women and religious and ethnic minorities.

Removal to Afghanistan therefore remains generally unreasonable unless particularly favourable circumstances exist, as in the case of the young man. It remains unclear whether the ruling can be applied directly to all pending appeals.

Further removals may also be difficult in practice because there are no direct flights to Afghanistan. At the end of July, 15,574 people from Afghanistan were registered in Switzerland’s asylum process, but it is not known how many meet the requirements for removal.