Asylum center: report exonerates security company
In January 2016, a journalist in the "SonntagsZeitung" made serious allegations against the security staff at the Kreuzlingen Reception and Procedure Center. The State Secretariat for Migration, SEM for short, had these allegations investigated by former federal judge Michel Féraud. The report now available exonerates the security company as well as the SEM, but contains recommendations on how certain internal processes can be optimized, writes the SEM.
On January 17, 2016, the "SonntagsZeitung" from TA-Media published an undercover report from the Kreuzlingen Reception and Procedure Center that contained serious allegations, particularly against the security staff at the center. State Secretary Mario Gattiker therefore had the allegations investigated externally. Former federal judge Michel Féraud was entrusted with this task and has now made his Report submitted.
No evidence of systematic violence
According to Féraud, there are no concrete indications that asylum seekers have been beaten or otherwise physically abused at the Kreuzlingen reception and processing center (EVZ), as the SEM writes. A room in which asylum seekers were beaten up, as reported in the report, does not exist.
The author of the newspaper article claims that terrorists, smugglers and drug traffickers sneak into the federal asylum centers undetected. These allegations have all proven to be unfounded and baseless, the statement further said.
Former federal judge Féraud had investigated eight specific incidents. They concern allegations that security personnel had used physical force in an inadmissible manner. In three cases, aggressive behavior by asylum seekers had created a dangerous situation, which is why the staff had to intervene physically - also to protect themselves and third parties. In one of these cases, proceedings are still pending. In five cases, the suspicion of violence was not substantiated. On the other hand, the report documents a verbal lapse in one case and a disproportionate measure in another. The case concerned an asylum seeker who had to stand outside for 20 minutes in low temperatures. The SEM takes these criticisms seriously. State Secretary Mario Gattiker had insisted to the management of the security service provider that the treatment of asylum seekers must in any case be fair, respectful and proportionate.
Recommendations in relation to further training
In connection with the security personnel deployed at the Kreuzlingen ECC, former federal judge Féraud said there were no indications that the security company was not complying with the framework agreement or had not been able to fulfill the mandate it had assumed. The accusations raised by the journalist in this context, according to which Securitas employees would show deficits in dealing with Muslims, were unfounded, according to the SEM media release.
However, former federal judge Féraud also makes recommendations in his report. With regard to dealing with severely traumatized or recalcitrant asylum seekers and with regard to dealing with confrontations between asylum seekers, special attention should be paid to further training, as required by the framework agreement between the SEM and Securitas AG.
The SEM's quality assurance and controlling concept stipulates that security service providers report once a year on the training and continuing education they have conducted. Michel Féraud recommends that special attention be paid to the corresponding reports on further training and that, in addition, a high quality of the further training measures be ensured. These recommendations have already been incorporated into the processes, according to the report. In addition, in a pilot project planned in 2015, support staff were also to be present at the center during nighttime hours to support the security service. This project was suspended while former federal judge Féraud investigated the allegations. Now it will be relaunched in Kreuzlingen, as the SEM writes in conclusion.
