http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/is-bunker-housing-for-asylum-seekers-at-tipping-point-/41098858?rss=true
NOV 14, 2014 - 11:00
After fleeing repressive regimes and risking their lives to get to
Switzerland, the last place asylum seekers imagine ending up is an
underground nuclear bunker. It’s an increasingly common, drastic step taken
by overburdened cantons.
As the autumn sun slowly sets over Lake Geneva, some 200 people strike up a
defiant chant.
“Stop bunkers! We need fresh air!”
Holding lit torches, the group – mainly asylum seekers from Eritrea, but
also from Syria and other parts of Africa - slowly makes its way through
the centre of Lausanne, stopping traffic and open-mouthed passers-by.
At the head of the column, two people carry their message: “We are not at
war. Don’t house us in bunkers.”
Since August a group of asylum seekers based in canton Vaud, supported by
half a dozen Swiss associations, have been fighting to improve the living
conditions in their new homes – converted underground nuclear fallout
shelters dotted across the region.
“I was shocked when I learned I was going to stay in a bunker. Eritreans
have family members who have been imprisoned underground so there is a bad
connotation,” said Hussain*, an Eritrean who has been living for four
months in a civil protection shelter in Lausanne.
The 28-year-old is one of 400 asylum seekers housed in eight underground
shelters run by the cantonal Vaud Establishment for Migrants (EVAM). In
each, 50-60 migrants sleep together in collective dormitories without
windows and with limited privacy. They have to leave their bunker every day
at 10am and only return in the evening. The average length of stay varies
from a few months to a year.
Health impact
Under such conditions their mental and physical health have deteriorated,
say NGOs supporting their protest.
“I can’t sleep at night. It’s always noisy and the scabies I caught in
Libya itches terribly. I was treated for it, but as the bunker is very
dirty I caught it again. At night I can’t stop thinking about prison and
the desert. I feel terrible,” said Efrem*, aged 19.
Exhausted by the living conditions, the protesters want to change
accommodation and move above ground.
“For the moment the only way to get out of the bunker is to get a health
problem,” said Ibrahim*.
In the short-term the group says the shelters should be open 24hrs a day.
They also want access to a kitchen and a reduction in the number housed in
each shelter. They say their demands made in writing to the president of
the cantonal government and to the head of EVAM have had little impact.
Pierre-Yves Maillard, the Social Democrat president of the Vaud government,
said members were “aware of the these requests and taking them seriously.”
A forthcoming debate is expected in the Vaud parliament.
LIVING UNDERGROUND
Vaud struggles to provide housing for asylum seekers
This year has seen an increase in asylum seekers, in particular from
Eritrea and Syria. But across the country local authorities are struggling
to ...
Politics
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In Switzerland the federal authorities are responsible for asylum
proceedings but it is up to the country’s 26 cantonal authorities, which
enjoy considerable autonomy, to implement the policy and oversee questions
such as accommodation.
The details of what should be offered is open. Article 12 of the Swiss
Constitution states that “persons in need and unable to provide for
themselves should have the right to assistance and care, and to the
financial means required for a decent standard of living”.
In December 2013 the Federal Court rejected a complaint from a 34-year-old
asylum seeker wanting to be transferred from a Vaud fall-out shelter.
According to Switzerland’s highest court, spending a night in a collective
accommodation is not degrading or “against the minimum requirements” of the
constitution.
While asylum seekers do not have the legal right to choose their living
quarters, the Swiss Refugee Council says cantons are responsible for
ensuring housing is “appropriate”.
Faced with a recent increase in the number of asylum seekers in
Switzerland, principally from Eritrea and Syria, the communes, cantons and
migrant bodies across the country have been struggling to find appropriate
accommodation. Many have resorted to converting old buildings, schools and
disused air-raid shelters or even more radical short-term solutions (see
video).
OPEN DOORS
A short-term solution to a refugee housing crisis
The asylum centres in one Swiss canton are full and Einsiedeln’s well-known
Abbey has come to their aid. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) Canton Schwyz cannot ...
With eight bunkers in operation and potentially more in the pipeline, Vaud
is using underground housing more than other regions. Geneva recently
opened a second bunker, canton Bern has five, canton Neuchâtel two and
canton Fribourg one. Jura and Valais manage to do without bunkers.
Officials at EVAM say unfortunately they have to work with the reality on
the ground: a sharp increase in numbers and a local shortage of housing.
“Asylum seekers and applicants who have been rejected shouldn’t be housed
underground, but we prefer that than to let people sleep on the streets,”
said EVAM spokesperson Sylvie Makela.
“Vaud is one of the cantons that receives the most asylum seekers – 8% of
the total number who file requests in Switzerland – and Vaud is also one of
the cantons where the lack of housing and apartments is the most acute. We
are subject to the housing market laws and lack of apartments just like
everyone else.”
EVAM says it is constantly seeking housing solutions, but unfortunately it
remains difficult to find empty buildings, unoccupied apartments or land to
build on and so there is little choice but to use nuclear shelters.
Beat Meiner, secretary general of the Swiss Refugee Council, is critical of
their overuse, however. “We are not moles. We need fresh air and light.
Humans are not made to live underground,” he commented. “Whereas for
rejected adults, bunkers might be a solution, for asylum seekers this is
completely unacceptable. Exceptionally, if there is no other way to prevent
them becoming homeless, the bunkers may be used as a temporary solution for
a very short period of time. In general we should try to avoid using them.”
Lausanne lawyer Jean-Michel Dolivo, who supports the demonstrators and who
lodged a formal question on the issue at the Vaud parliament, felt the use
of bunkers was symptomatic of a generally tougher line towards asylum
seekers.
“The aim of Swiss asylum policy is not to welcome people but to send them
back as fast as possible. If they live in poor conditions it will put
pressure on them to leave,” he added.
Makela accepted that housing asylum seekers underground was perhaps not
aiding Switzerland’s humanitarian image. “But at least we are housing them
somewhere,” she declared, adding that the attitudes of local communities
were not helping their task to find other options.
“Every time we propose to local communes to build accommodation to house
asylum seekers the local population opposes,” said Makela.
*name withheld
The number of new people requesting asylum in Switzerland between January
and September 2014 stood at 18,103. These included 5,721 Eritreans, who are
the biggest group ahead of Syrians (3,059) and Sri Lankans (845).
>From the beginning of January to the end of September, 140,000 migrants
reached southern Italy by boat, most arriving from Libya. Half came from
either Eritrea or Syria. This compares with 43,000 for the whole of 2013.
By Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch
Received on Fri Nov 14 2014 - 08:13:37 EST