Following the release of his new book – The Dark Side of Migration – Swiss forensic psychiatrist Frank Urbaniok has called on policymakers shaping Europe's migration policy to finally take into account crime statistics involving migrants. He said that certain migrant groups commit a disproportionately high number of crimes due to cultural factors.

With over three decades of experience in analysing perpetrators of violent crimes, Frank Urbaniok is one of Switzerland’s most prominent forensic experts. He argues that cultural influences from countries such as Afghanistan, Morocco and Tunisia significantly contribute to the higher crime rates among migrants from these regions. “In Switzerland, Afghans are reported for serious violent crimes more than five times as often as Swiss citizens, Moroccans over eight times, and Tunisians more than nine times as often,” Urbaniok stated in an interview with the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, citing analysis of crime data from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

“The disproportionate crime rate has a great deal to do with cultural influences. This includes how violence is dealt with, perceptions of women, and the role of the rule of law in these countries. I’ve worked with criminals for 33 years and seen thousands of cases up close. That’s why I know how strong and relevant these imprints can be. Sometimes, they persist across generations,”

– he said.

The cover of his book has drawn criticism for featuring an image of a knife, but Urbaniok defended it as a “fitting symbol,” saying it “reflects the growing sense of insecurity in public spaces.” While he cautiously clarifies that he does not condemn all migrants, Urbaniok makes no secret of his belief that the cultural background of asylum seekers should be a factor in immigration-related decisions.

“There are countries that are unproblematic, others that are problematic, and some that are very problematic… and I don’t understand why this plays no role in deciding who we allow into the country,”

– he said, as quoted by the Modernity news platform. Urbaniok proposes an explicit quota system that would limit the intake of asylum seekers from countries with high crime rates.

He argues that the notion of an absolute right to asylum is unrealistic and harmful to public safety.

“In theory, hundreds of millions of people could have the right to seek asylum in Switzerland, but we could never take them all in,” he added.

The renowned psychiatrist rejected allegations that his book exaggerates the facts and claimed that much of the public discourse surrounding migrant crime is “targeted disinformation” aimed at downplaying uncomfortable truths. “Many fear that the citizens simply won’t be able to cope with the facts,” he said. In several European countries, crime statistics involving foreign nationals are obscured by categorising already naturalised citizens as, for instance, “German” or “Austrian,” even when they were born abroad or have a historical migration background.

“Too many problematic individuals end up staying here,” Urbaniok said.

“I see them in the statistics and in my work every single day for the past thirty years. It’s uncomfortable. What’s truly uncomfortable is the realisation that these problems can persist even a generation later. That’s why we cannot say the situation is under control. On the contrary — the problems are enormous,”

– he warned.