Proposals to cut asylum spending

A government-appointed committee has proposed measures to cut spending on asylum seekers and to make the process more efficient. The measures include penalising those who conceal their identities.

A government-appointed committee has proposed measures to cut spending on asylum seekers and to make the process more efficient. The measures include penalising those who conceal their identities.

The committee’s recommendations are two-pronged. It suggests rewarding asylum seekers who cooperate with the authorities and providing incentives for cantons to streamline the asylum process.

Jean-Daniel Gerber, director of the federal refugee office and co-chairman of the committee, says one of the major hurdles to processing applications has been that up to 70 per cent of asylum seekers hide their identities.

He says a lot of people come to Switzerland looking for work and the committee’s proposals would only give jobs and housing to those who were prepared to reveal their identities.

“Those who do not cooperate will not be able to enter into the labour market and maybe they won’t come to Switzerland.”

The committee also recommends rewarding cantons for dealing with applications as quickly as possible and implementing decisions. Gerber says one of the problems at the moment is that a canton gets money for processing asylum seekers even if it does nothing to speed up the process. He says that in the past, looking after asylum seekers has been a logistical, rather than a financial problem, because the federal government guarantees funds for their welfare.

The Government is looking reduce spending on asylum seekers to one billion francs by 2001.

The cantons and the federal government are also expected to call for changes in regulations governing social security, pensions and sickness insurance payments for asylum seekers.

From staff and wire reports