Parliament has passed a law that will allow authorities to search mobile phones, tablets, and USB drives of those claiming asylum if their identity can’t be determined in any other way.
The bill cleared the upper house yesterday.
The idea was initially put forward by the Swiss People’s Party in 2017.
Officials carried out a pilot project between 2017 and 2018. In 15% of cases the information helped clarify the identity of the applicant as well as the route taken.
The new law is clear, devices can only be checked as a final measure when all other options have be exhausted.
Left wing parties, such as the Greens and the Socialist Party voted against – calling it a ‘disproportionate encroachment on human rights.’
The Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter says the law will only be used in a few cases.
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