Updated 02.43 | Published 02.32
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full screen Several charities see an urgent need to increase the daily allowance for asylum seekers, among them Children’s Rights in the Society, Bris. Archive image. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
The state must increase the daily allowance for asylum seekers because it is not enough even for basic needs. Instead, they are forced to turn to charities to get food on the table, say several of the organizations themselves.
We see an urgent need to increase the amount for asylum seekers, write representatives of Bris, the Church of Sweden, Save the Children, the Red Cross and Sweden’s city missions on Dagens Nyheter’s debate page.
The daily allowance for asylum seekers of SEK 71 has not been increased since the allowance was introduced in 1994. According to the charities, this has led to many asylum seekers turning to them to afford things like food and clothing.
According to a new Novus survey, commissioned by the organizations, six out of ten Swedes think that the daily allowance for asylum seekers, including Ukrainian refugees, should be increased. The debaters believe that the daily allowance should be at the same level as the subsistence allowance.
“It leaves no room for spending beyond the most necessary, but would in any case reduce the acute financial vulnerability of people seeking protection in Sweden,” the organizations write.