For Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, experience of Syrian refugees in Scandinavia is a cautionary tale

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Displaced Syrians arrive to Deir al-Ballut camp in Afrin's countryside, along the border with Turkey, on February 19, 2020. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 19 October 2021
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For Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, experience of Syrian refugees in Scandinavia is a cautionary tale

  • Scandinavia opened its arms to Syrian refugees in 2015, but attitudes have since hardened
  • The waves of people fleeing Afghanistan have brought the issue of European asylum policy to the fore

STOCKHOLM: Of the millions of Syrians displaced by civil war since 2011, a significant minority has managed to reach Europe, escaping not only violence and persecution but also forced army conscription and poverty.

Even in the initial phase of the arrival of the wave of humanity, many European countries closed their borders. But along with Germany, the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark were among the most welcoming.

In September 2014, images of the drowned toddler Alan Kurdi lying face down in the Mediterranean surf near Bodrum in Turkey drove home the terrible truth about the Syrian civil war.




A graffiti by artists Justus Becker and Oguz Sen depicts the drowned Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi at the harbor in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on March 10, 2016. (AFP) 

That same month, the Swedish Migration Authority announced that all Syrian refugees applying for asylum would be granted permanent residency on arrival.

“Our assessment is that the conflict will not end in the near future,” Anders Danielsson, the agency’s director general, told national radio at the time. “Therefore, international law dictates that they should receive permanent residency permits.”

Following the announcement, the number of Syrians applying for asylum in Sweden rose from 30,000 in 2014 to 51,000 in 2015, according to government figures. Neighboring Denmark also saw an increase during 2015, processing about 21,000 asylum applications.

But six years on, the pendulum of public opinion has swung far in the opposite direction.




Along with Germany, the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark were among the most welcoming to Syrian refugees. (AFP file photo)

“Denmark went first down the nationalist-populist road, followed by Norway,” Swedish socialist MP Ali Esbati told Arab News.

Esbati fears his own country is beginning to follow suit. “This is due in part to many people in Sweden feeling that we did what we could in 2015 and took the responsibility that a rich country should take, while other countries did not.”

Indeed, as the situation in Afghanistan again brings the issue of European asylum policy to the fore, the political mood in Sweden is a far cry from the receptiveness of 2015.

“We will never go back to 2015. Sweden will not find itself in that situation again,” Stefan Lofven, Sweden’s prime minister, told the national daily Dagens Nyheter on Aug. 18, three days after the Taliban seized Kabul.




Afghans gather on a roadside near Kabul airport on August 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan. (AFP)

Esbati said that what upsets him most about the comments is the lack of acknowledgement of Sweden’s success in welcoming and integrating Syrians.

Among those who fled to Scandinavia in 2015 was Abdulla Miri. Desperate to avoid conscription into the Syrian regime’s armed forces, Miri chose to flee to Europe, promising his fiancee Nour he would get her out, too.




Refugee Abdulla Miri

“I’d paid so many bribes that my money was running out,” he said, speaking to Arab News at his home in Stockholm.


Read the second part of the report: Scandinavia’s cold shoulder


Miri recalls an incident soon after his arrival in Denmark en route to Sweden when he noticed two police officers watching him. “This was before I started to dress like a Scandinavian, so it was pretty obvious to them that I was a refugee,” he said.

“I thought I was in trouble, but the police officers helped me buy a ticket to Sweden. They knew that almost all the refugees wanted to cross the bridge to Sweden, so the three of us just laughed about the situation.”

Nine months later, Sweden granted Miri political asylum.

The Syrian refugee crisis began in March 2011 after a brutal regime crackdown on protests in support of a group of teenagers who were rounded up over the appearance of anti-government graffiti in the southern town of Daraa.

The arrests sparked public demonstrations throughout Syria, which were violently suppressed by security forces. The conflict quickly escalated and the country descended into a civil war that forced millions of Syrians from their homes.

Syrian refugees have sought asylum in more than 130 countries, but most live in neighboring states: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Turkey has the largest share of the refugee population, today sheltering around 3.6 million people.

European countries collectively host around a million Syrian refugees, with 70 percent hosted by just two countries: Germany with 59 percent and Sweden with 11 percent. Austria, Greece, the Netherlands and France host between 2 and 5 percent, while other countries host below 2 percent.

Most refugees from Middle Eastern and African states reach Europe by trekking overland from Turkey via Bulgaria and Romania, or by crossing the Mediterranean on rickety boats operated by people traffickers.

At least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe by sea in the first six months of 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration — more than double the number during the same period in 2020, when 513 migrants are known to have drowned.

Those who survive the perilous journey get a mixed reception. Many trying to reach the UK, for instance, tend to find themselves stranded at the French port of Calais in squalid makeshift camps. For the most part, those who choose to settle in Germany or the Nordic states are afforded international protection status.

INNUMBERS

6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of whom 5.6 million are hosted by neighboring countries.

1,146 Asylum-seekers who drowned attempting to reach Europe in the first 6 months of 2021.

Since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, well over a million international protection decisions on applications by Syrians have been taken by asylum authorities in EU+ countries, according to UNHCR.

However, economic problems, a spate of Islamist terrorist attacks, and a sense that migrant communities have failed to fully integrate have led to a rise in right-wing populism in many European states, causing the welcoming spirit exhibited in 2015 to ebb away.

Nawal Abdo Hadid, a 62-year-old Syrian who lives in the quiet Copenhagen suburb of Gentofte, has been told her residency permit will not be renewed because the Danish authorities consider the situation in Syria no longer dangerous.




Nawal Abdo Hadid

“When I got the letter, I had a heart attack,” Hadid told Arab News. In addition to her heart problems, Hadid suffers from asthma, which makes it difficult to climb the three flights of stairs up to her one-room apartment. Her home is sparsely decorated, giving the impression of a life spent in perpetual limbo.

Hadid believes her return to Syria could be a death sentence because of her posts on social media that are critical of the government. A neighbor whom she accused of being a pro-Assad “criminal” has threatened Hadid and her son, who still lives in Syria with his six children.

“I haven’t seen my grandchildren for more than six years,” she said. “I’d rather die alone in Denmark than go back to Syria and put my son’s family at risk.”

Miri’s situation could not be more different. On receiving his Swedish citizenship in July 2017 after five years in the country, he flew to Beirut to marry Nour and then brought her home with him to Stockholm.

Although Sweden suffers from a shortage of affordable housing, the couple have been fortunate. A widower rented them the ground floor of his home in an affluent Stockholm suburb.

“Having him in our lives is a blessing,” Nour told Arab News. “I can always ask him for help and he is something of a father figure for us.”




Nawal Abdo Hadid's home in Sweden. (Supplied)

Nour, who studied English literature in Damascus and who loves the poet Lord Byron, has already begun to discover Swedish authors.

“Everything I don’t remember,” by the celebrated writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri, himself the son of a Tunisian immigrant, has left a distinct impression. “He understands what moving between countries does to the soul,” Nour said.

Miri, who now uses his Swedish nickname “Abbe,” speaks flawless Swedish. Nour’s Swedish has a barely detectable Arabic accent although she struggles at times to find the right words.

Every year, on June 6, Miri hosts a Swedish National Day party for their friends. Native Swedes do not usually bother with the holiday, so the gatherings are something of a novelty.

“My Swedish friends don’t even call it National Day any longer,” he said. “They call it Abbe’s Day instead.”

Miri’s journey will be difficult for future asylum-seekers to mimic. On June 23, the Swedish parliament approved a new immigration bill that makes temporary residency permits the norm, just like the Danish system.

“We need an entirely new political (framework) in order for people to be included in society and to settle in,” Maria Malmer Stenergard, an immigration policy spokesperson for the conservative Moderate Party, recently told national radio.

“We have to start by decreasing immigration.”

Still, hope springs eternal. On the windowsill of Miri and Nour’s home sits a pile of books on pregnancy and parenthood. They arrived as a gift from a Swedish neighbor when she learned the couple were expecting their first child.

____________________

This is the first of a two-part series. Next: What Afghan asylum-seekers can expect.


UN denounces army attacks in Myanmar despite post-quake truce

Updated 58 min 43 sec ago
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UN denounces army attacks in Myanmar despite post-quake truce

  • Following reports of sporadic clashes even after the March 28 quake that so far is known to have killed at least 3,645 people
  • The military air strikes on Pazi Gyi village on April 11 2023 killed at least 155 people, including many children

GENEVA: The United Nations rights office decried Friday attacks by Myanmar’s military despite a ceasefire declared following last month’s devastating earthquake, which killed more than 3,600 people.
“At a moment when the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones, the military is instead launching attacks,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.
UN rights chief Volker Turk, she said, “calls on the military to remove any and all obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to cease military operations.”
A multi-sided conflict has engulfed Myanmar since 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing’s military wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Following reports of sporadic clashes even after the March 28 quake that so far is known to have killed at least 3,645 people, the junta joined its opponents last week in calling a temporary halt to hostilities for relief to be delivered.
But Shamdasani highlighted that since the earthquake, “military forces have reportedly carried out over 120 attacks.”
“More than half of them (were) after their declared ceasefire was due to have gone into effect on 2 April,” she said.
The UN rights office had determined that most of these involved aerial and artillery strikes, she said, “including in areas impacted by the earthquake.”
“Numerous strikes have been reported in populated areas, many of them appearing to amount to indiscriminate attacks and to breach the principle of proportionality in international humanitarian law.”
Shamdasani pointed out that areas at the epicenter of the quake in Sagaing, particularly those controlled by opponents of the military, “have had to rely on local community responses for search and rescue, and to meet basic needs.”
“Clearly these valiant efforts need to be further supported,” she said, calling for “common efforts to assist those in greatest need.”
“In this spirit we call on the military to announce a full amnesty for detainees it has incarcerated since February 2021, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint.”
The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) also decried the attacks.
“Even as rescue workers searched for survivors during the devastating earthquake last month, the military continued its air attacks in Mandalay, Sagaing and other regions, killing and injuring civilians,” it said in a statement.
Nicholas Koumjian, head of the investigative team, slammed “the systematic and escalating use of air strikes by the Myanmar military across the country,” which “caused widespread death, destruction and displacement, and has terrorized communities.”
He said Friday marked the two-year anniversary of military strikes in the now quake-hit Sagaing region, which constituted the deadliest single attack in Myanmar since the coup.
The military air strikes on Pazi Gyi village on April 11 2023 killed at least 155 people, including many children.
“Aerial bombardments, including the use of drones and alleged use of chemical weapons, are a grim hallmark of the Myanmar conflict and have increased in frequency since the Pazi Gyi attack,” the IIMM statement said.


Ousted South Korean President Yoon embraces supporters after leaving presidential residence

Updated 11 April 2025
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Ousted South Korean President Yoon embraces supporters after leaving presidential residence

  • Constitutional Court removed him from office over his ill-fated imposition of martial law in December
  • Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, returned to their private apartment in affluent southern Seoul

SEOUL: Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol left the presidential residence in Seoul on Friday for his private home, a week after the Constitutional Court removed him from office over his ill-fated imposition of martial law in December.
In recent days, moving trucks were seen driving in and out of the walled presidential compound in the Hannam-dong district, the site of a massive law enforcement operation in January that led to Yoon’s detainment. Yoon, who is facing a criminal trial on rebellion charges, was released from custody in March after a Seoul court canceled his arrest.
Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, along with their 11 dogs and cats, returned to their private apartment in affluent southern Seoul. As his black van arrived at the gate of the presidential compound, Yoon stepped out, smiling and waving to his supporters, shaking hands and embracing dozens of them, before getting back into the vehicle and leaving the site.
Arriving at the apartment complex where his private residence is located, Yoon stepped out of the van again and walked slowly through a crowd of supporters, shaking their hands as they chanted his name, as his wife closely followed.
Dozens of both supporters and critics of Yoon rallied in nearby streets amid a heavy police presence, holding signs that ran from “Your excellency Yoon, we will carry on with your spirit” to “Give Yoon Suk Yeol the death penalty!”
In a separate public message, Yoon expressed gratitude to his supporters who had protested for months calling for his reinstatement, and stressed that he will “continue to do my utmost” to build the “free and prosperous Republic of Korea that we have dreamed of together,” invoking South Korea’s formal name.
Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won the 2022 election, declared martial law on late-night television on Dec. 3, vowing to eradicate “anti-state” liberals whom he accused of abusing their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. Yoon also declared a suspension of legislative activities and sent hundreds of troops to surround the National Assembly, but lawmakers still managed to form a quorum and voted to lift martial law just hours after it was imposed.
Yoon’s powers were suspended after the Assembly impeached him on Dec. 14. The Constitutional Court upheld impeachment and formally removed him from office last week, triggering a presidential election the government set for June 3.
Despite his self-inflicted downfall, it’s unlikely that Yoon will fade into the background, experts say. With the country entering election mode, he may try to rally his supporters while seeking to tighten his grip on the conservative People Power Party, whose leadership is stacked with loyalists.
Facing a separate criminal trial on rebellion charges, which are punishable by death or life in prison, Yoon would strongly prefer a conservative president who could pardon him if convicted and is likely to push to ensure the party’s primaries are won by a candidate he supports, experts say.


China hits back at Trump tariff hike, turmoil rings recession alarm

Updated 11 April 2025
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China hits back at Trump tariff hike, turmoil rings recession alarm

  • Donald Trump has now imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods of 145 percent since taking office
  • Beijing indicated that this would be the last time it matched the US tariff hike

BEIJING/WARSAW/WASHINGTON: Beijing on Friday increased its tariffs on US imports to 125 percent, hitting back against US President Donald Trump’s decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to 145 percent and raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to up-end global supply chains.
China’s retaliation intensified the economic turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariffs, with markets tumbling further and foreign leaders puzzling how to respond to the biggest disruption to the world trade order in decades.
The brief reprieve for battered stocks seen after Trump decided to pause duties for dozens of countries for 90 days quickly dissipated, as attention returned to the escalating trade conflict between the US and China that has fueled global recession fears.
Global stocks fell, the dollar slid and a sell-off in US government bonds picked up pace on Friday, reigniting fears of fragility in the world’s biggest bond market. Gold, a safe haven for investors in times of crisis, scaled a record high.
“Recession risk is much, much higher now than it was a couple weeks ago,” said Adam Hetts, global head of multi-asset at Janus Henderson.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shrugged off the renewed market turmoil on Thursday and said striking deals with other countries would bring certainty.
The US and Vietnam have agreed to begin formal trade talks, the White House said. The Southeast Asian manufacturing hub is prepared to crack down on Chinese goods being shipped to the United States via its territory in the hope of avoiding tariffs, Reuters exclusively reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, meanwhile, has set up a trade task force that hopes to visit Washington next week.
Trade war with China
As Trump suddenly paused his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on other countries hours after they came into effect earlier this week, he ratcheted up duties on Chinese imports as punishment for Beijing’s initial move to retaliate.
He has now imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods of 145 percent since taking office.
China hit back with new tariffs on Friday, although Beijing indicated that this would be the last time it matched the US, should Trump take his duties any higher.
“Even if the US continues to impose even higher tariffs, it would no longer have any economic significance and would go down as a joke in the history of world economics,” the finance ministry statement added.
“If the US continues to play a numbers game with tariffs, China will not respond,” it added, however, leaving the door open for Beijing to turn to other types of retaliation, and reiterating that China would fight the US to the end.
Trump had told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he thought the United States could make a deal with China and said he respected Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“In a true sense he’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time, and I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he said.
Xi, in his first public remarks on Trump’s tariffs, told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a meeting in Beijing on Friday that China and the European Union should “jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying,” in a clear swipe at Trump’s tariff policies.
“There are no winners in a trade war,” the Chinese leader told his guest, adding that by acting together, the world’s second-largest economy and the 27-strong European trade bloc could defend their interests and help uphold “the global rules-based order,” China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.


Taliban publicly execute a third person for murder: Afghan Supreme Court

Updated 11 April 2025
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Taliban publicly execute a third person for murder: Afghan Supreme Court

  • Afghanistan’s Supreme Court said Taliban authorities executed three convicted murderers on Friday, bringing to nine the number of men publicly put to death since their return to power

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Supreme Court said Taliban authorities executed three convicted murderers on Friday, bringing to nine the number of men publicly put to death since their return to power, according to an AFP tally.
Two men were executed in front of spectators in Qala I Naw, the center of Badghis province, while a third was killed in Zaranj in Nimroz province, the Supreme Court said in a statement.


Court to rule on Danish arms sales to Israel case

Updated 11 April 2025
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Court to rule on Danish arms sales to Israel case

  • Danish media outlets Danwatch and Information revealed in 2023 that Israel’s F-35s were equipped with parts made by the Danish group Terma

COPENHAGEN: A Copenhagen court is to rule Friday whether a lawsuit filed by four humanitarian organizations accusing Denmark of violating international law by exporting weapons to Israel is admissible in court.
The Palestinian human rights association Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Action Aid Denmark filed the lawsuit against the Danish foreign ministry and national police last year.
They said in a statement there was a risk that “Danish military materiel was being used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza.”
The associations targeted the foreign ministry in their lawsuit since it “determines whether there is a risk that weapons and weapons components could be used to violate human rights” and the police because it was the authority responsible for issuing export licenses.
Denmark’s Eastern High Court is expected to announce its decision around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).
“We are the biggest human rights organization in the world and our mandate is clearly to protect human rights,” the secretary general of the Danish branch of Amnesty International, Vibe Klarup, said in a statement.
Danish media outlets Danwatch and Information revealed in 2023 that Israel’s F-35s were equipped with parts made by the Danish group Terma.
“Amnesty International has been working for several years to rally support for the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to ensure that states’ arms trading is not used to commit human rights violations,” said Klarup.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen argued in October that Denmark’s participation in the F-35 program was “crucial for our security and our relations with our main allies.”
Last year, Amnesty International accused Israel of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
The Danish lawsuit was filed in March 2024, on the heels of a similar suit filed in the Netherlands by a coalition of humanitarian organizations.
A Dutch court in December rejected demands by pro-Palestinian groups for a total ban on exporting goods that can be used for military means to Israel.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the overall death toll has reached 50,846 since the war with Israel began on October 7, 2023, a figure the UN has deemed reliable.
Hamas’ unprecedented assault on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.