“I would have no future in Afghanistan”

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He walked, swam, traveled by car and in the back of a truck. Yasar Nasery (19) fled from Afghanistan to Switzerland via ten countries. About a year after leaving his hometown of Kabul, the then 16-year-old arrived in Geneva by train in the middle of summer 2020. And applied for asylum.

When he arrived at the asylum seekers’ center, Yasar Nasery was a so-called UMA – an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker. Their numbers have increased dramatically in the past two years. In 2021, 989 unaccompanied children and young people applied for asylum, in 2022 there will be about two and a half times as many. And the number continues to increase.

“I was afraid of being arrested”

Every tenth asylum application now comes from children or young people who have come to Switzerland without their parents or other adults with whom they can identify. Five years ago it was four percent, ten years ago it was just under two percent. Like Nasery, most of them are young Afghans between the ages of 16 and 17.

It was a coincidence that he ended up in Switzerland, says Nasery. When he turned his back on Kabul, he had no destination. main road. “The escape was not planned.” He says he was caught while with his girlfriend. Someone reported the lewd behavior to the authorities. “I was afraid I would be arrested and possibly killed in prison,” he says.

Like all asylum seekers, Nasery first came to a federal asylum center in Switzerland. He later lived for a short time in a home for unaccompanied young people in Oberwil BL. From there it is only a few minutes’ walk to the apartment building where the young Afghan now lives. A bed to sleep in, a table to eat at, a small sofa: the sparsely furnished one-room apartment on the second floor has been home since last November.

“In the beginning it was hard to be so alone all of a sudden,” says Yasar Nasery. The young man with curly hair now speaks High German very well. He seems thoughtful and reserved.

Working helps against loneliness

There are no pictures of family and friends on the walls of his apartment. But he misses her, especially on holidays, says Nasery. His mother and siblings still live in Afghanistan, his father, with whom he has a somewhat difficult relationship, has lived in London for a long time. ‘I call her occasionally. But the internet in Afghanistan is bad and very expensive.”

Work helps him with his loneliness. Nasery is doing an internship as a health and social affairs assistant at a retirement home in Oberwil – in an industry where staff is desperately needed. He now leads an independent life. If necessary, he can consult with his manager once a week.

Cantons on the attack

Unaccompanied minors and young people are entitled to special protection based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Their asylum application is given priority and they are supervised much more closely than adult asylum seekers – partly because of this, adults often try to pose as minors.

Given the high level of care, the strong increase in unaccompanied young people poses major challenges for the cantons. The current statistics of the cantons are available at a glance. In more than half of the cantons, a red level currently applies to unaccompanied minor foreigners, which means that the cantons have great difficulty in providing suitable housing. And from the middle of the year another stampede is expected.

The authorities are working hard to find new shelters, caretakers and foster homes for children. For example, the canton of Bern has opened five new dormitories since the middle of last year and foster families are being sought in various cantons. Meanwhile, the government of Aargau had to apply to the federal government for an admission freeze because there were no more free beds.

Corona is a refugee driver

The reason for the strong increase, according to the federal government, is that the situation in the countries of origin and transit has again deteriorated sharply as a result of the Covid pandemic. At the same time, traveling became easier again. And in Afghanistan, an estimated 1.6 million people have fled the country since the Taliban came to power.

Baselland, where Yasar Nasery lives, receives more young people from the federal government in a month than in all of 2020, says Pascal Brenner. He is head of the Erlenhof center, which is responsible for the reception and reception of unaccompanied young people in the canton.

They come to stay

Nasery is not an isolated case, he says. Completely different from the image that many have of unaccompanied minors, they are often very goal-oriented and motivated. This is also confirmed by specialists from other cantons.

Because most of them are sure that they want to stay in Switzerland. “We have to take that seriously and work intensively on their integration,” says Brenner. He is convinced that this will pay off for Switzerland in the long run.

It is also Yasar Nasery’s goal to get out of welfare as soon as possible and to get a residence permit. Was it the right decision to flee? “Yes,” he says without thinking twice. “I wouldn’t have a future in Afghanistan if I was unemployed after training.” His dream is to become a social worker. To be able to help those people who, like him, come to Switzerland as refugees.

Source:Blick