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Ukraine refugees from the canton of Lucerne think their social assistance is too low. (icon picture)
39 Ukrainian refugees living in the canton of Lucerne have appealed to the cantonal court. This is to check whether the social welfare payments that the canton pays to asylum seekers violate federal law.
Because the Lucerne asylum social assistance is one of the lowest in the country: 14.15 francs per day is received by an adult if he lives in single accommodation. If he lives in collective accommodation such as an asylum home or a civil protection facility, it is only CHF 11.50. For comparison: recipients of social assistance with a Swiss passport, but also recognized refugees, receive more than twice as much at CHF 33.90.
Low flat rates already criticized in the cantonal council
With these approaches, Lucerne is at the lower end of the cantons. According to the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare (Skos), the daily rates in the cantons for asylum seekers in individual accommodation are between CHF 9.70 and 26.80.
The deep asylum social assistance was already an issue in the Lucerne cantonal council. It didn’t do much – although the government council adjusted this to inflation at the beginning of the year – but that’s just 20 to 30 centimes more per day and asylum seeker, as the green canton councilor Urban Frye criticizes.
“You can’t live with that”
He is also behind the court proceedings and bears the costs of the proceedings. Frye is the initiator of the Ukrainian cultural center Prostir in Reussbühl LU, from whose environment all Ukrainians who will be judges come from. However, Frye emphasizes that the concern affects all asylum seekers, not just Ukrainians who have protection status S.
“You can’t lead a decent life with so little money,” he told the “Bote der Urschweiz” and announced that if necessary, the case would be brought before the Federal Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. In his opinion, the canton of Lucerne should pay between 16 and 20 francs per person per day.
Does the canton enrich itself with the asylum seekers?
Explosive: Frye accuses the government council of misappropriating federal funds: “The canton makes a profit of around 200 francs with every refugee for whom it receives contributions from the federal government,” he says and calculates: The federal government pays the cantons per month and asylum seekers CHF 1,500.
This includes social assistance, but also costs such as rent and health insurance. But while the canton of Aargau, for example, pays 550 francs a month to asylum seekers, it is only 350 in Lucerne. The canton has not yet been able to answer where the remaining 200 francs end up.
Lucerne wants to improve
Perhaps going to the federal court or to Strasbourg is no longer necessary: the government council is currently brooding over a change to the canton’s asylum ordinance. “This should include an increase in the rates of economic social assistance for people from the asylum sector,” said the responsible social director Guido Graf. His management plans to submit the draft for consultation in the first half of 2023. (sf)