Iraqi, Afghan Refugees Face Expulsion from Scandinavia
Last week, hundreds of refugees and their supporters took to the streets of Stockholm protesting the Swedish Migration Board's decision to deport about 600 Afghans whose applications for asylum were rejected by immigration authorities. In its ruling the Board justified the forced deportations by saying that the "conditions for single men to be integrated in Afghanistan are good." But asylum seekers and their supporters reject this argument. "Speaking about young men is irrelevant," said Bengt Kristiansson of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), a non-profit advocacy group. "It doesn't matter whether you are young or old in the areas where war is prevailing." The SCA, which provides assistance in the areas of health, education, and disability in many parts of Afghanistan, says the Board lacked sufficient knowledge about what was actually happening in that country. "Sweden should definitely not start implementing any forced deportation," Kristiansson said in a statement. Humanitarian groups such as the Red Cross and Amnesty International have also opposed the Board's verdict, which they suspect was based on collective information, not individual cases. However, the Board has denied that charge, stating that it considered each asylum case on its own merits. In a bid to increase pressure for a reversal of the Board's decision, Afghan refugees and their supporters are now planning another march from Gothenburg to Stockholm in the next few days. The two cities are a little over 300 miles apart. Protests over the rejection of Iraqi refugees' asylum claims are also expected. Although Sweden has already accepted about 5,000 Iraqi refugees, the stricter criteria for asylum might result in disappointment for many.
The Migration Board does not see the situation in Iraq as an armed conflict but states there are "severe circumstances." That means all Iraqi asylum seekers are likely to be deported unless they prove they fear personal risk to their lives back home. Activists have described the Board's arguments as a cover-up to support the anti-immigrant stance of the ruling conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's Moderate Party, which they believe is in violation of international humanitarian law. Citing the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, they argue that no refugees can be returned to a country where they are likely to face persecution or torture, or face threats to their lives and freedoms. Last year in December, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) also warned against the return of Iraqis until there are "substantial" improvements in the security and human rights situation in Iraq. Regarding Iraqi asylum claims, UNHCR officials recently said they hoped Swedish authorities would reconsider their decision and act in line with the UN guidelines. According to UNHCR, some 50,000 more Iraqis are escaping the violence in their homeland each month, most of whom are ending up in neighboring Jordan and Syria, which want international help to ease the burden. Refugees International, a Washington, DC-based humanitarian group, has called Iraq "the world's fastest growing refugee crisis." The group urged the United States and all Western governments to assist displaced Iraqis by accepting asylum seekers and providing aid to the Middle Eastern countries harboring hundreds of thousands of refugees. The wave of displacement sparked by the war in Iraq is considered by many to be the biggest in the Middle East since 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the newly created Israel. Like Sweden, Denmark, which participated in the invasion of Iraq, is also extremely reluctant to accept refugees from Iraq and seems determined to deport hundreds of those who are inside the country.
Human rights groups have objected to such selective approaches towards asylum. "Those who have worked with foreign forces are not the only people at risk," said Amnesty International's Malcolm Smart in a statement, urging the United States, UK, Denmark, and other countries to provide "generous" resettlement programs for the refugees. Criticizing governments for not accepting refugee claims for asylum, Refugees International president Kenneth Bacon offered similar views. "Governments have the right to safeguard security and to protect their borders, but they must do so in conformity with their human rights obligations," he said. "Forced return can never be justified legally or morally," Bacon added. "The responsibility for safeguarding the rights of refugees remains with states." ....................................................................................
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