Asylum seekers put pressure on cantons

The number of asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland has risen sharply in the past few months, and some cantons say their shelters are bursting at the seams.

Half the current influx comes from sub-Saharan Africa, Eduard Gnesa, head of the Federal Migration Office told Swiss radio on Friday, with the greatest numbers coming from Eritrea, Somalia and Nigeria. Others have fled Iraq.

The reason for the influx is the worsening situation in the asylum seekers’ home countries, he said.

In August the office received 1,600 asylum applications, ten-12 per cent up on the same period last year. But the total for 2008 is only expected to be about 13,000, against an average of 17,500 in the past eight years.

Many of the refugees are arriving in Europe via the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is receiving 1,000 per day. Others are coming via Greece.

While describing the Lampedusa situation as “dramatic”, Gnesa played down the implications for Switzerland. “This is not a crisis,” he said. He added that the government would open emergency accommodation to ease the pressure on the cantons.

However, officials from accommodation centres in canton Bern told the newspaper 20 Minuten that although their transit facilties were full, they had been told to expect more new arrivals.

They warned that overcrowding could lead to conflict among the inmates, and that with the colder weather diseases could spread.