Ukrainian refugees queue for food in prosperous Switzerland
ZURICH, April 23 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Ukrainians lined up for food distribution in central Zurich on Saturday as wealthy Switzerland has grappled with the arrival of around 40,000 refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
Refugees in official accommodation receive some financial support from the state, but this is often not enough to survive in a country with the highest cost of living in the world.
Those placed with private host families — around half of the arrivals, authorities say — fall through the welfare system altogether.
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Charities in Switzerland say many Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion turned to them for food, clothing and medical treatment, as evidenced by the long queue outside a Zurich charity’s blackboard on Saturday.
Among the people lined up along the railroad tracks outside a food distribution center Essen für Alle (Essen für Alle) were Kristina and her 7-year-old daughter, who arrived from Kyiv on March 3 to visit a Ukrainian family friend in Zurich to stay.
“We come here to get food because we need it,” said Kristina, 42, who didn’t give her last name. “Our volunteer (hostess) cannot give food every time. She is tired and doesn’t have much money either.”
Ariane Stocklin of the Christian aid project incontro told Reuters that their story is a common one.
“Some refugees stay with families who can no longer pay for their food. Others are in asylum centers where food is not enough. We’re seeing a lot of demand,” Stocklin said.
Even before the Ukraine crisis, the social benefits for refugees in some areas of Switzerland were not enough to live on.
Zurich voters voted in 2017 to reduce welfare payments to refugees to around 500 Swiss francs ($522) a month, 30% below normal welfare levels.
Heike Isselhorst, spokeswoman for the Zurich social welfare office, said that the basic needs of the people accommodated by the authorities were met.
However, there is no procedure to support refugees staying with host families, she said.
Gaby Szoelloesy, coordinator of the cantonal social services, apologized this week to host families who feel abandoned.
“But it’s just very, very difficult when we don’t even know about the acceptance of the host family because it didn’t go through official channels,” she said at a press conference.
While the government has taken the unusual step of allowing Ukrainian refugees to apply for temporary residency and work permits, it does little to meet the current needs of struggling refugees living with host families.
A Ukrainian refugee named Anna, 38, arrived in the Zurich suburb of Winterthur in late February with her two young children and their mother. They live in the apartment of a friend’s parents.
“When we arrived we slept in a refugee center but it wasn’t a good place for the kids, no privacy, no good food. They even searched us every time we came back from outside,” she said.
($1 = 0.9571 Swiss Francs)
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Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz Editing by Michael Shields and Raissa Kasolowsky
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