Switzerland votes on proposal to cap population at 10m
Reuters Published June 14, 2026
Switzerland voted on Sunday on whether to back a proposal to cap the country’s population in a referendum likened to Britain’s Brexit vote, which could have far-reaching consequences for the economy and Bern’s relations with the European Union.
Driven by concern about immigration, pressure on public services and housing, the constitutional change pitched by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, or SVP, would mandate that the population must not exceed 10 million by 2050. Official projections put it on track to do so by the early 2040s.
The unprecedented scheme to dictate population levels by law sits alongside burgeoning efforts by the political right in Europe to set tougher curbs on immigration, fed by discontent about the cost of living, weak economic growth and crime.
“If it goes above 10m, it will become tight, and immigration should be restricted,” said Helen Gulea, a 58-year-old seamstress and part-time kiosk worker in Zurich, originally from Kenya, who voted by post for the cap.
If the proposal were adopted, reaching the 10m mark would trigger a process that could make Switzerland scrap its free movement of labour agreement with the EU, whose member states supply much of the Alpine country’s workforce.
Switzerland’s ageing population is already above 9m and polls suggest public opinion is finely balanced.
A final survey this month showed opinion turning against the proposal. An earlier poll had suggested it could pass.
Patrick Leisibach, a migration expert at the think tank Avenir Suisse, said concern was now widespread that overcrowding was stretching public infrastructure to the limit.
“There’s a traditional anti-immigration vote on the right wing, but these days even many on the left are feeling the pressure,” he said.
Single market access
Under its system of direct democracy, the Swiss electorate generally votes on national referendums four times a year, which also require the support of a majority of its cantons to pass.
The government and parliament have urged voters to reject the SVP’s so-called “sustainability initiative” as folly at a delicate time for Switzerland’s export-oriented economy.
Johanna Alves, a 33-year-old Swiss student, voted against it, saying she worked in an international environment which, she worried, could be in jeopardy if the proposal passes.
“And I think it will also be really terrible for the Swiss economy in general, for our healthcare system, for research, for all of it,” she said.
Last year, President Donald Trump slapped the highest US tariffs in Europe on Swiss goods, and the prospect of a population curb could complicate corporate planning.
But SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter argued Swiss gains in prosperity had not kept pace with overall immigration and the country needed to step on the brakes.
Weeks before Trump returned to power, Switzerland sealed a deal with Brussels to deepen economic integration with the EU.
That, and other agreements governing bilateral trade relations, could be cast into doubt by a population cap with free movement a pillar of the EU single market.
Swiss voters have often rejected measures deemed harmful to the long-term interests of the economy, but that tendency has become less predictable.
In 2014, the voters bucked expectations by narrowly passing an SVP-backed proposal to curb EU immigration. Still, its impact was later diluted in the legislative process.
Should the current initiative pass, parts of it, including the prospect of Switzerland terminating free movement with the EU, could face their own referendums, officials say in private.
Even some SVP figures say the proposal is not meant to stop free movement, but to serve as a wake-up call.
“I don’t want freedom of movement ended,” said Heinz Taennler, an SVP politician and finance director of the canton of Zug.
“Another million people can still immigrate to Switzerland, but the government needs to take action.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/2007775/switz ... ion-at-10m
Migration
Re: Migration
Thousands Flee South Africa as Anti-Immigrant Attacks Grow
A threat to all undocumented foreigners to leave the country by Tuesday has led many to set up street camps as they try to get out.
A fence separates Charles Paul, a migrant from Malawi, from his South African girlfriend, Sanelisiwe Nxili, and their son, Kwakhanya Nxili in Durban, South Africa, on Thursday.
By John EligonPhotographs by Joao Silva
Reporting from Durban, South Africa
June 26, 2026
A street corner in the South African coastal city of Durban has become a bustling scene of desperation.
Thousands of migrants crowd around colorful plastic sacks, boxes and trash bags carrying what belongings they could salvage before fleeing the country. Women tuck their babies under blankets. Vendors hawk solar-powered cellphone chargers and potato chips. Portable toilets, large green water tanks and makeshift showers fashioned from gray tarps are the only sanitation available.
The people in this encampment, like the handful that have popped up around the country, have been stuck out here for days, sometimes weeks, after anti-immigration activists called on undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa by Tuesday, or face untold consequences.
The activists have not explained what they plan to do to the immigrants who stay after the deadline, but even the threat has led thousands of immigrants, mostly from other African nations, to leave South Africa.
Some immigrants have turned to consulates for help in leaving the country, overwhelming foreign missions and South African immigration authorities racing to process paperwork for families, many of them undocumented. Mobs have already attacked many immigrant homes and businesses.
Image
People sit on parking lot surrounded by luggage.
Malawian nationals waited outside an informal encampment in Durban as they await repatriation.
Fearing for their safety as the deadline approaches, thousands of migrants waiting to leave South Africa have resorted to sleeping outside government offices, foreign missions or, here in Durban, an old park just a block from a picturesque beach on the Indian Ocean.
“It’s a humanitarian disaster in the making and the state authorities seem to be asleep at the wheel,” said Dale McKinley, an immigrant rights activist in South Africa. “It’s outrageous.”
The government has said the unfolding crisis has been the result of years of migrants taking advantage of the country’s immigration policies.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation. When people come to South Africa as refugees, the government does not put them in refugee camps but instead allows them to integrate into society. But many immigrants manipulate the refugee system to stay in the country longer, said Njabulo Nzuza, the deputy home affairs minister, while others who come for economic opportunities often overstay their visa.
Since 2008, South Africa has battled waves of deadly xenophobic violence, with immigrants often being blamed for the country’s high unemployment and high crime. But the country has never seen such large, spontaneous migrant camps cropping up on the street, Mr. Nzuza said.
Image
Two people lift a large, dark bag into a bus window, where another person reaches for it.
Malawian nationals waited to board buses.
The largest camp started several weeks ago when thousands of Malawians began sleeping at a park in a residential community in suburban Durban while waiting for their government to repatriate them. The police at one point clashed with the migrants and fired tear gas.
About a week ago, those Malawians were moved to an old fairground. Large white tents have been set up on a massive paved lot surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Inside, aid organizations are providing food and medical care. But the demand has been so high that thousands of Malawians have been forced to wait outside before they are let in to be processed and put on buses to return to Malawi.
The government said that at least 8,000 people were at the camp, and that at least 7,000 Malawians had already been sent back.
On Thursday afternoon, Charles Paul, from Malawi, reached between an opening in the fence to caress his 2-month-old son, Kwakhanya, who was strapped to the chest of his girlfriend, Sanelisiwe Nxili.
It was almost time to say goodbye. After seven years in South Africa, Mr. Paul, 24, has decided to return to Malawi because of the threats against foreigners. Ms. Nxili, 23, is South African, so she is staying behind with their child. She too is nervous about what comes next.
The family survived on Mr. Paul’s monthly salary of about $365 as a carpenter. Ms. Nxili said she would have to send her son to live with her mother so that she could find a job.
“They must not chase them all away,” Ms. Nxili said of the anti-immigrant activists threatening migrants in South Africa. “They must document them.”
Even those who are in the country legally say they are not being spared. At another camp in Durban, hundreds of refugees have been cramped on a sidewalk in front of a home affairs office. Most of the refugees say they were attacked by South Africans who told them to leave the country, even though they are here legally as refugees.
Government officials have told those in the camp that they must return to their communities or will be taken to an immigration detention center. The refugees have refused, arguing that neither option is safe.
Image
Two people sit with children among a large pile of luggage.
Malawian nationals waited at an informal street camp in Durban.
On a recent evening, children bounced on foam mattresses on the sidewalk next to a convenience store as their mothers sat by wrapped in blankets. Cars sped past on the busy road as 37-year-old Valerie Ngabo pondered the unthinkable: returning to her war-torn village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She has been in South Africa since 2008, and during a previous wave of xenophobic violence in 2015, the mother of four was forced to spend six months sleeping outside, she said. More recently, she said, South Africans have attacked the hair salon she owns, beat her and her colleagues and told them to leave.
Life might be better in Congo, she said.
“There’s no hope,” said Ms. Ngabo, adding that she had been approved for resettlement in the United States in 2024, but has been unable to go after President Trump froze the refugee program when he took office last year. “There’s nowhere I can go,” she said.
Gladys Irakoze, 26, was born in South Africa to refugee parents from Burundi. She always thought she could blend in among South Africans, but that no longer seems possible, she said. Things have gotten so hostile toward immigrants that even her 10-year-old son has been threatened by his classmates.
Ms. Irakoze, also staying in the camp, said she did not recognize her country anymore. “I didn’t expect this to actually happen in South Africa,” she said.
Image
A person sits on the ground behind a fence. White tents are visible in the background.
An immigrant from Malawi sits on the ground at an informal encampment, waiting to leave South Africa
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/worl ... e9677ea768
A threat to all undocumented foreigners to leave the country by Tuesday has led many to set up street camps as they try to get out.
A fence separates Charles Paul, a migrant from Malawi, from his South African girlfriend, Sanelisiwe Nxili, and their son, Kwakhanya Nxili in Durban, South Africa, on Thursday.
By John EligonPhotographs by Joao Silva
Reporting from Durban, South Africa
June 26, 2026
A street corner in the South African coastal city of Durban has become a bustling scene of desperation.
Thousands of migrants crowd around colorful plastic sacks, boxes and trash bags carrying what belongings they could salvage before fleeing the country. Women tuck their babies under blankets. Vendors hawk solar-powered cellphone chargers and potato chips. Portable toilets, large green water tanks and makeshift showers fashioned from gray tarps are the only sanitation available.
The people in this encampment, like the handful that have popped up around the country, have been stuck out here for days, sometimes weeks, after anti-immigration activists called on undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa by Tuesday, or face untold consequences.
The activists have not explained what they plan to do to the immigrants who stay after the deadline, but even the threat has led thousands of immigrants, mostly from other African nations, to leave South Africa.
Some immigrants have turned to consulates for help in leaving the country, overwhelming foreign missions and South African immigration authorities racing to process paperwork for families, many of them undocumented. Mobs have already attacked many immigrant homes and businesses.
Image
People sit on parking lot surrounded by luggage.
Malawian nationals waited outside an informal encampment in Durban as they await repatriation.
Fearing for their safety as the deadline approaches, thousands of migrants waiting to leave South Africa have resorted to sleeping outside government offices, foreign missions or, here in Durban, an old park just a block from a picturesque beach on the Indian Ocean.
“It’s a humanitarian disaster in the making and the state authorities seem to be asleep at the wheel,” said Dale McKinley, an immigrant rights activist in South Africa. “It’s outrageous.”
The government has said the unfolding crisis has been the result of years of migrants taking advantage of the country’s immigration policies.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation. When people come to South Africa as refugees, the government does not put them in refugee camps but instead allows them to integrate into society. But many immigrants manipulate the refugee system to stay in the country longer, said Njabulo Nzuza, the deputy home affairs minister, while others who come for economic opportunities often overstay their visa.
Since 2008, South Africa has battled waves of deadly xenophobic violence, with immigrants often being blamed for the country’s high unemployment and high crime. But the country has never seen such large, spontaneous migrant camps cropping up on the street, Mr. Nzuza said.
Image
Two people lift a large, dark bag into a bus window, where another person reaches for it.
Malawian nationals waited to board buses.
The largest camp started several weeks ago when thousands of Malawians began sleeping at a park in a residential community in suburban Durban while waiting for their government to repatriate them. The police at one point clashed with the migrants and fired tear gas.
About a week ago, those Malawians were moved to an old fairground. Large white tents have been set up on a massive paved lot surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Inside, aid organizations are providing food and medical care. But the demand has been so high that thousands of Malawians have been forced to wait outside before they are let in to be processed and put on buses to return to Malawi.
The government said that at least 8,000 people were at the camp, and that at least 7,000 Malawians had already been sent back.
On Thursday afternoon, Charles Paul, from Malawi, reached between an opening in the fence to caress his 2-month-old son, Kwakhanya, who was strapped to the chest of his girlfriend, Sanelisiwe Nxili.
It was almost time to say goodbye. After seven years in South Africa, Mr. Paul, 24, has decided to return to Malawi because of the threats against foreigners. Ms. Nxili, 23, is South African, so she is staying behind with their child. She too is nervous about what comes next.
The family survived on Mr. Paul’s monthly salary of about $365 as a carpenter. Ms. Nxili said she would have to send her son to live with her mother so that she could find a job.
“They must not chase them all away,” Ms. Nxili said of the anti-immigrant activists threatening migrants in South Africa. “They must document them.”
Even those who are in the country legally say they are not being spared. At another camp in Durban, hundreds of refugees have been cramped on a sidewalk in front of a home affairs office. Most of the refugees say they were attacked by South Africans who told them to leave the country, even though they are here legally as refugees.
Government officials have told those in the camp that they must return to their communities or will be taken to an immigration detention center. The refugees have refused, arguing that neither option is safe.
Image
Two people sit with children among a large pile of luggage.
Malawian nationals waited at an informal street camp in Durban.
On a recent evening, children bounced on foam mattresses on the sidewalk next to a convenience store as their mothers sat by wrapped in blankets. Cars sped past on the busy road as 37-year-old Valerie Ngabo pondered the unthinkable: returning to her war-torn village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She has been in South Africa since 2008, and during a previous wave of xenophobic violence in 2015, the mother of four was forced to spend six months sleeping outside, she said. More recently, she said, South Africans have attacked the hair salon she owns, beat her and her colleagues and told them to leave.
Life might be better in Congo, she said.
“There’s no hope,” said Ms. Ngabo, adding that she had been approved for resettlement in the United States in 2024, but has been unable to go after President Trump froze the refugee program when he took office last year. “There’s nowhere I can go,” she said.
Gladys Irakoze, 26, was born in South Africa to refugee parents from Burundi. She always thought she could blend in among South Africans, but that no longer seems possible, she said. Things have gotten so hostile toward immigrants that even her 10-year-old son has been threatened by his classmates.
Ms. Irakoze, also staying in the camp, said she did not recognize her country anymore. “I didn’t expect this to actually happen in South Africa,” she said.
Image
A person sits on the ground behind a fence. White tents are visible in the background.
An immigrant from Malawi sits on the ground at an informal encampment, waiting to leave South Africa
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/worl ... e9677ea768