According to the "legal system" of 22 countries, apostasy is a criminal act. In 13 of these countries, the death penalty can even be imposed for this. No wonder that people who are not religious try to get away from these countries again and again. But admitting to be an atheist can also be life-threatening in countries that do not have such draconian laws, because threats do not always emanate from the state. Often it is religious-extremist circles that virtually hunt down unbelievers.

A small part of the persons who are forced to flee in this way end up in Switzerland or try to come here. Some of them make contact with the Freethinkers, and we learn about others through our contacts with other humanist organizations. We try to help on a small scale.

People on the run

We investigate dossiers of people who are trying to escape. We check the information through persons who know the circumstances of the country in question, and contact Swiss embassies or the State Secretariat for Migration in individual cases.

People who have arrived in Switzerland

Within the scope of our possibilities, we support persons in dealing with authorities, applications and the like. And we try to temporarily place asylum seekers needing accommodation with members.

Above all, however, we offer them the opportunity to exchange ideas with people with a similar world view at the Freethinkers meetings. Here - unlike in their former homeland - they can have such conversations in a relaxed atmosphere and without fear.

 Help for secular refugees secular-refugees.ch 

In order to be able to provide even better support in the future to people who have fled to Switzerland because of their distance from religion, the Swiss Freethinkers have founded the programme "secular-refugees.ch - a humanist aid for refugees" in March 2020.

In addition to direct assistance for people seeking protection, the programme also contributes to integration work. We would like to promote exchange between refugees and the inhabitants of the communities in which they live. For this purpose we organize cooking evenings, guided tours, reading groups etc.

In addition, we would like to contribute to ensuring that the concerns and challenges of non-religious refugees are perceived by political actors, media representatives and a broader public. And we advocate the recognition of apostasy as a reason for asylum.

«I found myself in a life-threatening situation in Bangladesh because of my texts and my activism. That's why I came to Switzerland and got to know the Freethinkers Association. I received financial support that helped me a lot. But even more important to me are the sympathy and trust that the Freethinkers have shown me and the feeling of not being alone in this catastrophic situation.»