Student Sahar, 22, is to be deported to Afghanistan. She is not alone.
Afghan asylum seekers have a more difficult time obtaining a residence permit in Sweden than other EU countries.
– It is irrelevant, but it is thought-provoking, says Per Adolfsson at the Swedish Migration Board’s legal department.
Data from the EU’s statistical office Eurostat show that during the first quarter of the year, Sweden granted 180 Afghans residence permits and made 120 decisions on deportation.
The proportion of positive messages was thus on 60 percent.
This places Sweden in a special position in Eurostat’s statistics.
No other country that made decisions in the asylum cases of Afghan citizens at the beginning of the year has an equally low proportion of approvals.
Germany (92%), Spain (99), Italy (95), Greece (95), Austria (93), Switzerland (98) and the Netherlands (99) all had a significantly higher proportion of residence permits granted.
In a couple of countries, Liechtenstein and Poland, each asylum application led to a positive result (for Poland it was 25 people and for Liechtenstein 5).
“Statistics are tricky”
It was only France, a country where many Afghans with Swedish refusals had previously applied for and been granted a residence permit, which with a approval rate of 64 percent was close to the Swedish level.
– Statistics are always tricky. I do not know how to do in other countries, says Per Adolfsson, acting head of the migration law unit at the Swedish Migration Agency’s legal department, who has the task of directing and supporting operational activities in asylum and migration law issues.
Are Eurostat’s figures unreliable?
– Well, my point is that you can look at statistics in different ways and that countries register in different ways. I’m not saying that’s the whole explanation, but it can be a partial explanation.
Judging by the numbers, the differences are big. Why is it like that?
– I can not answer that. There are differences in the legal systems and the composition of applicant groups can also differ between countries. What we look at a lot is how cases are changed in court and there we see that we do not have a particularly high percentage of change.
Does it matter that Sweden stands out?
– Yes, in some formal sense I would say that it is irrelevant. But on the other hand, it is thought-provoking.
What are the thoughts?
– I would like to know what makes the difference – I agree that it is a very interesting question. If you deviate from other countries’ assessments, this is something we look at.
How should Sweden’s deportations to Afghanistan go?
– When we look at whether there are practical enforcement possibilities, we decide whether it is physically possible to travel to the country. Is it possible to fly there? And it does now. As Swedish legislation is designed, the basic attitude is that you must respect an authority decision and, so to speak, enforce yourself. If you get a negative decision, you should go home.
A spokesman for the Taliban regime has said that those who return will be brought before a sharia court. Is this something the Swedish Migration Agency relates to?
– We relate to all the information we receive, which is about conditions in the country. But an individual statement needs to be linked to other country information about what actually happens when you return.
The last time the Taliban were in power between 1996 and 2001, Sweden did not deport people there. Has the Taliban changed so that the situation is less dangerous now?
– No, it can not be said that it is harmless. However, we must make individual assessments based on the reasons given by each individual. I find it very difficult to say in what parts the security situation has changed, but I would say that the Taliban regime is not as repressive as before.