Swiss asylum requests decline after Balkan border closures
Asylums requests in Switzerland continue to decline in fourth month of Balkan countries shutting their borders
A Swiss police officer accompanies a refugee from Syria carrying her baby, upon her arrival at the railway station in the north-eastern Swiss town of Buchs September 1, 2015.
The number of people seeking asylum in Switzerland fell for a fourth month in March, mirroring declines in neighbouring Germany as Europe seeks to discourage people from making the journey from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Switzerland registered 1,992 asylum requests, roughly 25 percent fewer than in February. Asylum requests have dropped since November 2015.
Germany, which saw the greatest impact from Europe's refugee wave last year, said this month that refugees entering the country from Austria had dropped seven-fold.
Balkan countries shuttering their borders and the European Union's pact with Turkey to return refugees have contributed to lower numbers of asylum seekers. Switzerland is not a member of the bloc but adheres to its refugee policies.
"The reason for this development is the continuous decline of refugee via the Balkan route," the Swiss Migration Office said in a summary of the first quarter of 2016. "Since March, affected countries along the Balkan route have brought transit traffic to a virtual standstill."
Despite the decline, Swiss officials said developments in conflict regions remain uncertain -- United Nations peace talks resumed on Wednesday amid a fragile cessation of hostilities in Syria -- leaving the refugee situation "volatile and difficult to forecast."
The EU said on Wednesday that "alarming" numbers of potential refugees were gathering in Libya to cross the Mediterranean, suggesting numbers in Europe may begin to increase once more.
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