Ukrainian refugees queue for food in wealthy Switzerland & More News Here

ZURICH, April 23 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Ukrainians lined up for food handouts in central Zurich on Saturday as wealthy Switzerland struggles to deal with the arrival of round 40,000 refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

Refugees in official lodging obtain some monetary assist from the state, though that is typically not sufficient to dwell on in a rustic the place the price of dwelling is among the many highest in the world.

Those staying with non-public host households – round half the arrivals, in keeping with the authorities – are falling by way of the cracks of the welfare system altogether.

Charities in Switzerland say many Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion had been turning to them for food, clothes and medical therapy, as was evident from the lengthy line outdoors a Zurich charity’s food financial institution on Saturday.

Among folks lined up outdoors an Essen fuer Alle (Food for All) food distribution centre alongside railroad tracks was Kristina and her 7-year-old daughter who arrived from Kyiv on March 3 to stick with a Ukrainian household good friend in Zurich.

“We come here to take food because we need it,” mentioned Kristina, 42, who didn’t gave her household title. “Our volunteer (host) cannot give food every time. She’s tired and she also doesn’t have too much money.”

Ariane Stocklin of Christian help venture incontro informed Reuters that hers is a typical story.

“Some refugees stay with families who can no longer pay for their food. Others are in asylum centres, where the food is insufficient. We see a lot of demand,” Stocklin mentioned.

Even earlier than the Ukraine disaster, welfare funds to refugees weren’t sufficient to dwell on in some areas of Switzerland.

Voters in Zurich determined in 2017 to decrease welfare funds to refugees to round 500 Swiss francs ($522) per thirty days, 30% under customary social welfare ranges.

Heike Isselhorst, a spokesperson for Zurich’s social service division, mentioned folks housed by the authorities had fundamental wants lined.

However, there was no process for aiding refugees staying with host households, she mentioned.

Gaby Szoelloesy, who coordinates cantonal social welfare departments, apologised this week to host households who really feel left in the lurch.

“But it is simply very, very difficult if we don’t even know of the host family’s commitment because it did not go via official channels,” she informed a information convention.

While the federal government has taken the weird step of permitting Ukrainian refugees to use for short-term residency and work permits, this does little to deal with the current wants of the struggling refugees staying with host households.

One Ukrainian refugee named Anna, 38, arrived in the Zurich suburb of Winterthur in late February along with her two younger kids and her mom. They dwell in the condo of a good friend’s mother and father.

“We slept in a refugee centre when we arrived, but it was not a good place for the children, no privacy, no good food. They even searched us every time we came back from outside,” she mentioned.

($1 = 0.9571 Swiss francs)

Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz
Editing by Michael Shields and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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