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The return centers in Aarwangen, Biel and Champion offer “worrying” living conditions for young people, according to the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture.
The return center in Champion (Gampelen) in the canton of Bern.
Tamedia AG
Dilapidated centers with dilapidated infrastructure. Families crammed into tight spaces and children with no place to play. Such are the living conditions in the return centers for rejected applicants in Aarwangen, Biel and Champion (Gampelen), in the canton of Bern. Conditions that concern the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture (CNPT), she said in a statement on Thursday.
The CNPT particularly criticizes the centers of Aarwangen and Bienne. Several young people and their little brothers and sisters sometimes live for years with their parents in the same room where they sleep, eat, play and most often also do their homework, she explains. The commission even visited a couple with two children who all lived together in a 14m room.2she complains.
Not compatible with the UN
In addition, the regulations of compulsory daily attendance, which are strictly enforced, make it very difficult for parents, children and young people to maintain regular contact with people outside the area where the center is located. , adds the commission, which visited the Bernese establishments between May and August 2021 for a regular examination.
“These conditions are not compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child”, according to Regula Mader, president of the commission. They violate children’s right to adequate living conditions and the right to rest and leisure, as well as the right to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to their age, she says. It therefore recommends that the canton accommodate families in apartments.
Women not safe
Moreover, after talking with the women of the three centers visited, it appears that they do not feel safe in the common areas, particularly at night. Toilets and showers are not clearly separated by gender in all centers, and are not always sufficiently protected, explains the commission. Which therefore recommends that centers accommodate women and young girls away from single men.
However, the committee is aware of the difficulties encountered by the authorities and the staff of the return centers when they accommodate people under the emergency aid regime and subject to an enforceable removal order. It welcomes the efforts of the canton of Bern to improve their living conditions since the summer of 2021, the time of this control visit.
As a reminder, the Bienne-Boujean center can no longer serve as a return center. The city of Biel refused, at the end of November, the extension of the operation of the center composed of many containers.