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Ten EU countries have promised to receive children from the burned-out Moria camp on Lesbos. Sweden is not one of them.
Migrants flee Moria camp after the fire broke out on Tuesday. According to the Greek Migration Minister, Notis Mitarachi, it was presented by asylum seekers who were not satisfied with the quarantine rules introduced after 35 people tested positive for covid-19.
Thousands of refugees have been left homeless after fires in the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
On Friday, ten EU countries promised to receive a total of around 400 homeless children from the camp. Germany and France say they are prepared to receive between 100 and 150 children each.
No similar message has arrived from Sweden.
On Wednesday, the Swedish Minister of Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson (S), discussed the issue with the Swedish Migration Board.
“As for a possible transfer of asylum seekers from Greece, it is the Swedish Immigration Board that makes the decision and not the government,” he said in a written comment to TT.
However, the Swedish Migration Agency notes that they can only make decisions in so-called Dublin investigations. This means problems that concern people with an ongoing or previously completed asylum process in Sweden, or who have a family in Sweden. In this case, these requests come directly from Greece.
– The leeway we currently have is to test any Dublin investigation, says Johanna Måhlén, a communicator for the Swedish Migration Board.
TT: So if none of these refugees from the camp have a family or a process in Sweden, then there is nothing they can do?
– Not quite. The leeway for the Swedish Migration Agency is in line with Dublin’s requests.
It is unclear what opportunities Sweden has to receive children from the burned-out camp, in cases outside the scope of a Dublin request.
– The government cannot give the Swedish Migration Agency the task of bringing people from other countries home, so the government violates the constitution, says Adriana Haxhimustafa, Morgan Johansson’s press secretary.
The message is that the only case in which it is possible is if the European Commission has decided on a redistribution of the refugees to the Member States.
– Hypothetically, the European Commission can say “Now we want all Member States to receive people from this field” and then also review the Swedish legislation. But we are not there, the European Commission has not said anything about that, says Adriana Haxhimustafa.
Crowded camp
Moria, on the island of Lesbos, is one of dozens of detention camps for refugees and migrants built in Greece after the 2015 crisis. The camp is sized for about 4,000 people, but outside the official part, another 8,000 to 12,000 people live in tents and simple tin sheds.
The field has been criticized for years for its poor sanitary conditions.
In a large fire that broke out on Wednesday, much of the camp was destroyed.
Source: AFP
