This weekend, the Swiss voters decided to introduce a new asylum procedure. The procedure has been tested in the past 2 years by the Swiss Refugee Council in one Asylum Center in Zurich. One element of the new asylum process is a video in 16 languages informing to the asylum seekers about their rights, obligations and the individual steps in the asylum procedure. The video was produce by dubbed perceptions.

The evaluation of the new asylum procedure has been documented in the journal ASYL. The article reflects also on the use of the information video. What does the evaluation has to say about the video?

The video is shown to new asylum seekers prior to their first discussion with an asylum consultant. In general, the video is being well received by the asylum seekers. It provides them with first official information on which they can base their discussion with their consultant. The video calms their initial fears. They understand that they need to tell the truth, but don't need to be afraid of the process, nor of the medical service they can seek out. And they appreciate to learn that their children are allowed to go to school.

The asylum consultants too value the video. They are straight confronted with people that possess a basic knowledge of the asylum process. The conversation focuses on concrete questions rather than a general introduction to the asylum process.

One challenge of the video was not to overload the asylum seeker with information. The video seems to confuse some migrants in regard to the Dublin agreement. This information is not well understood by the people watching the video.

I remember that originally we were planning to put much greater emphasis on the Dublin process, but later decided to just mention it, on the side. In reflection this was a mistake. Maybe omitting this information completely would have served the purpose of the video better.

Unfortunately the video is not open for public viewing. But you can read more about the production process here.

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This information is taken from the original article in German language from the journal ASYLUM 2/16. The journal can be requested here.

Picture taken during the shoot in 2014.