Reunited must may not be what you are sacrificing
the Red Cross: They divided the families deserve better
This is an opinion piece. It is the writer who stands for the views that are put forward in the text, not the newspaper Aftonbladet.
DEBATE. The 24 november 2015 called the government to press briefing to present a temporary aliens act in order to reduce the number of asylum seekers. Many of us were surprised by the content.
Just a month earlier had six parliamentary parties jointly decided on the restrictions in the migrationslagstiftningen to ”create order and structure in the receipt”. Now the subsidies were discontinued the blocköverskridande the agreement and the policy tightened both dramatically and suddenly.
The temporary law is limited by, among other things, the right to family reunification significantly. It has resulted in Sweden now there is a large number of people, many from Syria, who have fled the war and have received a residence permit but who are forced to live divided from their family for several years. In their refusal decision, refer to that it is reasonable that the family reunification will have to wait until the temporary law expires in July 2019.
In the run-up to the election there were a number of political moves to extend the temporary law or make it permanent. Right now, there is a complex formation of governments that come out at the time. The policy direction for the next four years to be negotiated.
I have three medskick and a call to all politicians in the Swedish parliament.
► The humanitarian consequences of denying people the family reunion is big.
the Red Cross noted in a report in the fall to restrictions on the right to family reunification, are leading to children and parents split for several years.
The temporary law leads to that the children remain in difficult circumstances in refugee camps and in third countries, often together with a parent, and another parent in Sweden will miss their children’s upbringing. The law also directs that women suffer more than men because they have harder to reach up to the tough supply – requirements and residential requirements are.
That long period of separation creates suffering for children and families can understand.
► There is no showing that the temporary law is the main reason for the reduction of the number of asylum seekers, which was the purpose of the act.
the Government has not done any evaluation to find out if the temporary law actually had an effect.
the Red Cross noted in our report that the decrease is rather due to the introduction of cross – border and id checks and the EU’s agreement with Turkey.
Recently, also the Swedish migration board in a private impact assessment that a return to pre-existing rules for family reunification would give ”marginally more” asylum seekers about the situation in the world continues to look like it does today.
► A continued limited right to family reunification would not be fair.
Recently a ruling from the migration court of Appeal in a case in which an 8-year-old boy in the previous instance been denied the right to reunite with their parents who are left in the war in Syria.
the Judgment is important because it establishes that two years in this and similar cases is a long time for children and parents to be away from each other, but that it may be considered a violation of the Echr and the crc.
this case is an example of the Swedish migration board and the migration courts in many cases to make assessments in the familjeåterföreningsprocesser which are not compatible with the conventions to which Sweden is committed to follow. Among other things, it is because the explanatory memorandum to the temporary act is flawed and does not provide any guidance to the rättstillämparen.
Finally, my request: Let not the right of the people to be reunited with his family once again become a political victim. The shattered families deserve better.
\nMartin Ärnlöv, secretary-general of the Swedish Red Cross
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