Migration partnerships

On 14 December 2012, at the request of the Federal Council, the National Council accepted the Amarelle postulate (12.3858; Migration partnerships. Control and evaluations), which calls for an evaluation of Switzerland’s migration partnerships. With a view to commissioning an independent assessment of this relatively new instrument, the interdepartmental Committee for International Cooperation on Migration ruled in autumn 2013 in favour of implementing an external evaluation. Following an invitation to tender, the mandate for performing the external evaluation was awarded to the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG), which focused its bid on a qualitative evaluation of interviews and documentation.

The overall findings of the external evaluation were positive with regard to the impact and added value of migration partnerships. The results of the external evaluation confirm that migration partnerships are an appropriate instrument for intensifying our cooperation with countries of origin and transit while striking a balance between the different interests of all those involved. The report concludes that migration partnerships are based on a relatively even balance of power between Switzerland and its partner countries. Moreover, the evaluators regard the improved cooperation between the various federal agencies and the resulting policy on migration matters as one of the most important achievements. Overall, the added value of migration partnerships in comparison with other approaches in bilateral migration cooperation can be summarised in five points:

1. They cover a wide range of subjects;
2. They formalise and legitimise long-term cooperation;
3. They are based on reciprocity;
4. They are flexible and create a network of relationships based on trust, which can be mobilised at any time in the event of any problems; and
5. They focus on taking a long-term, holistic approach to finding solutions.

However, the evaluation also revealed considerable discrepancies in how different groups perceive the impacts of migration partnerships. Among the general public, there tends to be the expectation that a migration partnership has a direct impact on the numbers of asylum seekers, or on the level of irregular migration in Switzerland and the number of migrants returning to their countries of origin. The report on the external evaluation, however, conforms that no such causal relationship can be proven. On the other hand, the evaluation clearly indicates that cooperation in the context of a migration partnership ensures that procedures are conducted more smoothly, particularly with regard to returns. The operational relationships formalised by a migration partnership are particularly effective with regard to returns, and initial trends show that migration partnerships can, in the long term, lower the number of cases awaiting enforcement.