Why Afghan refugees might face hurdles in seeking asylum in Scandinavia 

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An Afghan family heads to freedom as part of a major airlift at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August, 2021. (AFP)
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Refugees from Afghanistan arrive in small boats on the shores of Lesbos near Skala Skamnias, Greece on June 2, 2015.(AFP file photo)
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Housing shortages and rising crime levels have led to a hardening of attitudes in Scandinavian countries, including Sweden. (AFP)
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Updated 19 October 2021
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Why Afghan refugees might face hurdles in seeking asylum in Scandinavia 

  • Anticipated influx coincides with hardening attitudes toward asylum-seekers in Sweden, Denmark and Norway
  • Housing shortages, street crime and poor integration blamed for Scandinavian coolness toward refugee admissions

COPENHAGEN, Denmark: As Europe braces for a steady influx of Afghan refugees fleeing the return of the Taliban and economic chaos, a recent shift in political rhetoric suggests that Scandinavian countries are less willing to help asylum-seekers now than they were in 2015, when they offered sanctuary to tens of thousands of displaced Syrians.

More than 123,000 Afghan civilians were evacuated from Kabul airport by US forces and their coalition partners between August 15, when the Taliban seized the capital, and August 31, when the last foreign troops left strife-torn Afghanistan.

Many of those who fled were taken to emergency processing centers in Spain, Germany, Qatar and Uzbekistan. The UN has warned that up to half a million Afghans could flee their country by the end of the year, with many looking to Europe as a potential sanctuary.




Afghans desperately try to board a departing US military cargo plane at Kabul Airpoirt in September when the Taliban sized control of the country. (AFP file photo)

However, opinions in the once welcoming Scandinavian states of northern Europe appear to have changed over the past six years, with the people there increasingly reluctant to open the doors to asylum-seekers.

“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 newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Aug. 18, three days after the Taliban seized Kabul.

Indeed, as the situation in Afghanistan again brings the issue of European asylum policy to the fore, attitudes across Scandinavia appear to be hardening.

“Denmark first went down the nationalist-populist road, followed by Norway,” Swedish socialist MP Ali Esbati, who long predicted Sweden would follow suit, told Arab News.

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

Even before the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan, more than 550,000 people in the country were forced to flee their homes this year due to fighting, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. In addition to the deteriorating security situation, Afghans have also been contending with a severe drought and food shortages, leading to huge levels of internal displacement.

In 2020 almost 1.5 million Afghans fled to Pakistan and about 780,000 to Iran, according to UNHCR. Germany was third on the list of destinations, with 180,000 Afghans heading there, while Turkey took in 130,000.

Following the fall of Kabul, by early last month about 125,000 Afghans had applied for asylum in Turkey, 33,000 in Germany and 20,000 in Greece.

French authorities have indicated they will accept some refugees but have not specified how many. German authorities also did not specify a number but Chancellor Angela Merkel said 40,000 people still in Afghanistan might have the right to seek asylum in Germany.


Read the first part of the report: No country for asylum-seekers 


The UK said it will take in 5,000 Afghans this year as part of a scheme to resettle 20,000 over the next few years. Austria, Poland and Switzerland said they will not accept any Afghan refugees and have been actively bolstering border security to prevent attempts to enter the countries illegally.

As for Scandinavia, the picture is unclear. Having earned praise for accepting thousands of Syrians at the height of the European refugee crisis in 2015-16, authorities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark appear less willing to bear the burden this time. In fact, the governments of the three nations have not guaranteed even those Syrians already granted asylum the right to remain.




Housing shortages and rising crime levels have led to a hardening of attitudes in Scandinavian countries, including Sweden. (AFP)

This increasingly unwelcoming attitude appears to have developed for a number of reasons, including a shortage of housing and a feeling of embitterment toward other EU member states who have failed to accept their share of responsibility for refugees.

A rise in crime is also a factor. In Sweden, for example, first- and second-generation migrants are overrepresented in crime statistics. While the Swedish National Council on Crime Prevention has repeatedly cautioned that there is a difference between correlation and causation, immigration and crime are nevertheless now inextricably linked in the minds of many voters.

The same is true in Denmark. In Copenhagen, social media influencer and political hopeful Hussain Ali said it is time to break with the cultural trait of “berøringsfrygt,” which translates as a “fear of touching” sensitive topics.




Fans greet and fist-bump Hussain Ali (left), with Copenhagen City Hall in the background. (Supplied)

Ali, a Dane of Iraqi heritage, is running for a seat in the city assembly on a conservative ticket. His impassioned social media posts railing against the failures of integration regularly attract thousands of likes. He recently suggested that all non-citizens convicted of crimes should be deported.

“There are so many young people who live in a bubble of resentment toward Denmark because they feel alienated,” he told Arab News. “They are stuck between Danish culture and the culture of their parents’ home countries.

“I tell them that if they brought their anti-social attitude back to Syria, for example, they would not last more than a minute without being punished. In the Middle East, you respect your elders — that’s part of their heritage that their parents should be teaching them.

“They are also creating damaging stereotypes and prejudice. Many of my friends are judged based on their skin color. People make assumptions about me at first sight.”

INNUMBERS

123,000 - Afghan civilians evacuated from Kabul airport, August 15-31.

1,200 - Afghans deported from the EU in the first half of 2021.

While some might consider Ali a firebrand or an upstart, his message has clearly struck a chord with many. When he walks around Copenhagen he is regularly fist-bumped by young supporters. But not all of the attention he receives is positive.

As he sat outside a kebab shop during our interview, a young man who appeared to have an immigrant background shouted at him: “You’ve sold your soul.” Ali tensed up but remained seated.

“That guy is probably just frustrated and stuck in a situation where he doesn’t have an outlet for his creativity and ambition, despite all the opportunities in Denmark,” he said later.




Syrian refugees react to Denmark's decision to repatriate, initiating a sit-in in front of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. (AFP File/Getty Images)

Although the hardening of attitudes in Sweden and Norway has been less marked than it has been in Denmark, the mood is clearly swinging in a similar direction.

“The trajectory is quite typical, really,” said Esbati, the Swedish MP. “First a nationalist-populist party starts banging its one-issue drums on migration.

“Then it gets some sort of breakthrough in the media and in elections, followed by the conservative parties moving toward the (nationalist-populist) position. And finally the social-democrats and other left-leaning parties shift over time in the same direction.”

On June 23, the Swedish parliament approved a new immigration bill that makes temporary residency permits the norm, just like the Danish system.




Danish flags wave in the spire of the Danish Parliament building in Copenhagen. Denmark has gone down the nationalist-populist road, rejecting asylum seekers from Afghanistan. (AFP file photo)

“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, said during a recent appearance on national radio. “We have to start by decreasing immigration.”

As European states wrestle with their collective conscience about how best to balance their duty to protect vulnerable civilians with a desire to preserve their national identities, the growing appeal of the populist right in Scandinavia and elsewhere can only reduce the options available to Afghans who are too frightened to return home.

The stories of Syrians with firsthand experience of the welcome mat being pulled out form under them do not inspire confidence.

Hamdi and Sama Al-Samman were threatened by the Syrian regime at the end of 2011 for giving food, clothes and blankets to internally displaced families in their native Damascus.

“I knew we’d get in trouble,” Sama said. “But I couldn’t avoid helping those families.”




Hamdi Al-Samman arrived in Denmark in October 2014 after fleeing the Syrian regime. (Supplied)

She added that she began sleeping in her clothes in case the family had to flee in the middle of the night. When the situation became untenable in January 2013, the couple took their three children to Egypt.

From there, Hamid, an electrician by trade, headed to Europe, arriving in Denmark in October 2014.

“We chose Denmark because it would take just one year for the children and me to join him,” Sama said. “In Sweden, the family reunification process would take longer.”

Hamdi found work easily and, since joining him, Sama has been studying Danish so she can work in the preschool education system. Their daughter, Noor, who is in her final year of high school, wants to become an architect.

“Denmark has an amazing emphasis on education,” said Sama. “Our children have opportunities here that they would never have in Syria. Our daughter has opportunities because of gender equality.”

The family’s relief was short-lived, however. In January this year, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, said her goal is to reduce the number of asylum-seekers to zero. A few months later, the Al-Sammans were informed that their temporary residency permits will not be renewed. They are appealing against the decision.


Kite-making picks up in India’s Gujarat as harvest festival nears

Updated 6 sec ago
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Kite-making picks up in India’s Gujarat as harvest festival nears

  • People in Gujarat celebrate Uttarayan, a Hindu festival, in mid-January that marks the end of winter by flying kites
  • At least 18 people died from injuries related to kite flying across Gujarat during this year’s Uttarayan festival

AHMEDABAD: Huddled over piles of colorful paper, Mohammad Yunus is one among thousands of workers in India’s western state of Gujarat who make kites by hand that are used during a major harvest festival.

People in Gujarat celebrate Uttarayan, a Hindu festival in mid-January that celebrates the end of winter by flying kites held by glass-coated or plastic strings.

“The kite may seem like a small item but it takes a long time to make it. Many people are involved in it and their livelihoods depend on it,” Yunus, a Muslim who comes to Gujarat from neighboring Rajasthan state to make kites during the peak season, told Reuters.

Kite enthusiasts fly kites during the eight-day-long International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, India, on January 7, 2024. (REUTERS)

More than 130,000 people are involved in kite-making throughout Gujarat, according to government estimates, many of whom work from homes to make kites that cost as little as five rupees (6 US cents).

At the start of the two-day festival, people rent roofs and terraces from those who have access to them, and gather there to fly colorful kites that criss-cross each other in the sky.

Gujarat is a hub of the kite industry in the country, boasting a market worth 6.50 billion Indian rupees ($76.58 million), and the state accounts for about 65 percent of the total number of kites made in India.

A woman makes kites inside her house in Ahmedabad, India, on October 10, 2024. (REUTERS)

While the kite flying season in the state is limited to almost just 2 or 3 days in January, the industry runs year-round providing employment to about 130,000 people in the state, according to government figures.

But these paper birds are also harmful and can be fatal, especially kites that have plastic strings, which can cause serious cuts to birds in the sky, killing and injuring thousands of them during the festival.

At least 18 people died from kite related injures across Gujarat during this year’s Uttarayan festival, including being cut by a string and getting electrocuted while trying to extricate a kite from an electric pole, local media reported.

A worker applies colour to strings which will be used to fly kites, at a roadside kite market in Ahmedabad, India, on December 31, 2023. (REUTERS)

 


Five suspected militants killed in Indian-administered Kashmir

Updated 52 min 11 sec ago
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Five suspected militants killed in Indian-administered Kashmir

  • The disputed region is home to a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and militants have been killed
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government canceled the territory’s partial autonomy in 2019, bringing the region under its direct rule

SRINAGAR: Security forces in India-administered Kashmir on Thursday killed at least five suspected militants in ongoing clashes, the army said, the latest outbreak of violence in the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their partition at the chaotic end of British rule in 1947, and both countries claim the territory in full.

“Five terrorists have been neutralized by the security forces in the ongoing operation,” the Indian army’s Chinar Corps said, adding that two soldiers had been wounded in the firefight.

Half a million Indian troops are deployed in the far northern region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and militants have been killed, including at least 120 this year.

Separatist groups demand either independence or the region’s merger with Pakistan.

New Delhi regularly blames Pakistan for arming militants and helping them launch attacks, an allegation Islamabad denies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government canceled the territory’s partial autonomy in 2019, bringing the region under its direct rule.

The territory of about 12 million people has since been ruled by a New Delhi-appointed governor who oversees a local government that voters elected in October in opposition to Modi.


5 suspected militants killed in Kashmir fighting, Indian military says

Updated 30 min 45 sec ago
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5 suspected militants killed in Kashmir fighting, Indian military says

  • India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety
  • Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989

SRINAGAR, India: Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed five suspected militants in a gunbattle on Thursday, the Indian military said.
Soldiers and police launched a joint operation after receiving a tip that rebels were hiding in a village in southern Kulgam district, the military said in a statement. The militants opened “indiscriminate and heavy volumes of fire” at the raiding troops, leading to a gunbattle, it said.
Five militants were killed in the fighting, the statement said, adding that two soldiers were also injured. Troops continued to search the area. There was no independent confirmation of the battle.
India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.


Wife of jailed former Malaysian PM Najib Razak acquitted in latest graft case

Updated 19 December 2024
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Wife of jailed former Malaysian PM Najib Razak acquitted in latest graft case

  • Rosmah Mansor faced 12 charges of money laundering and five charges of failing to declare her income
  • Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years in jail on separate graft charges in September 2022 but has appealed

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court threw out more than a dozen money laundering and tax evasion charges on Thursday lodged against the wife of jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
Rosmah Mansor, 73, faced 12 charges of money laundering involving 7.1 million ringgit ($1.6 million) and five charges of failing to declare her income between December 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017.
High Court judge K. Muniandy struck out all 17 charges, saying they lacked “probity, propriety and legality” and ordered a “discharge amounting to an acquittal,” according to a copy of the decision seen by AFP.
The Attorney-General’s office said it would appeal against the decision, Malaysian media reported.
Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years in jail on separate graft charges in September 2022 but has appealed against that conviction and remains free on bail.
She was charged in that case with seeking and receiving bribes for helping a company secure a solar power project for rural schools in the Malaysian section of Borneo island during her husband’s rule.
Rosmah has long been criticized by Malaysians for her reported vast collection of designer handbags, clothing and jewelry, acquired on overseas shopping trips.
Her collection of luxury items came under the spotlight after police raids on their family home in 2018 following her husband’s election defeat.
It drew unflattering comparisons with former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos and contributed to accusations that the ousted ruling establishment had lost touch with economically struggling and middle-class Malaysians.
Najib is serving a six-year jail term for corruption related to a massive financial scandal at sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
He has filed an appeal to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest and a hearing has been fixed for January 6.
The 1MDB scandal, allegedly involving billions of dollars siphoned from the now-defunct state company, sparked investigations in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.


France’s Macron in cyclone-hit Mayotte to assess devastation

Updated 19 December 2024
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France’s Macron in cyclone-hit Mayotte to assess devastation

  • Officials have warned that the death toll from the most destructive cyclone in living memory could reach hundreds, possibly thousands
  • Emmanuel Macron is expected to land in Mayotte around Monday morning, and will be traveling with ‘a very small delegation’

MAMOUDZOU: French President Emmanuel Macron is set to arrive in Mayotte Thursday to assess the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido on the Indian Ocean archipelago, as rescuers race to search for survivors and supply desperately needed aid.
His visit to the French overseas territory comes after Paris declared “exceptional natural disaster” measures for Mayotte late Wednesday night to enable swifter and “more effective management of the crisis.”
Officials have warned that the death toll from the most destructive cyclone in living memory could reach hundreds – possibly thousands – as rescuers race to clear debris and comb through flattened shantytowns to search for survivors.
“The tragedy of Mayotte is probably the worst natural disaster in the past several centuries of French history,” Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said.
Macron is expected to land in Mayotte around 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), and will be traveling with “a very small delegation” to minimize the use of law enforcement resources needed elsewhere on the archipelago.
He will spend part of the day there, and will come with “four tons of food and health aid, as well as rescue workers,” the French president said in a post on social media platform X early Thursday.
After an “aerial reconnaissance of the disaster area,” Macron will go to the Mamoudzou hospital center, according to an itinerary released Wednesday, to “meet with the health care staff and the patients being treated.”
He will also visit a neighborhood razed by the storm, meet with Mayotte officials, and is expected to outline a reconstruction plan.
A preliminary toll from France’s interior ministry shows that 31 people have been confirmed killed, 45 seriously hurt, and 1,373 suffering lighter injuries.
But officials say the toll could rise exponentially.
Located near Madagascar off the coast of southeastern Africa, Mayotte is France’s poorest region.
Besides declaring “exceptional natural disaster measures,” authorities have also imposed a nightly curfew to prevent looting.
Cyclone Chido – which hit Mayotte on Saturday – was the latest in a string of storms worldwide fueled by climate change, according to meteorologists.
Experts say seasonal storms are being super-charged by warmer Indian Ocean waters, fueling faster, more destructive winds.
An estimated one-third of Mayotte’s population lives in shantytowns whose flimsy, sheet metal-roofed homes offered scant protection from the storm.
At Mamoudzou hospital center, windows were blown out and doors ripped off from hinges, but most of the medics had taken to sleeping at their battered workplace on Wednesday as Chido had swept their homes away.
“It’s chaos,” said medical and administrative assistant Anrifia Ali Hamadi.
“The roof is collapsing. We’re not very safe. Even I don’t feel safe here.”
But staff soldiered on despite the hospital being out of action, with electricians racing to restore a maternity ward – France’s largest with around 10,000 births a year – to their proper state.
“The Mamoudzou hospital suffered major damage... Everything is still functioning, but in a degraded state,” said the hospital’s director Jean-Mathieu Defour.
In the small commune of Pamandzi, sheet metal and destroyed wooden structures were strewn as far as the eye could see.
“It was like a steamroller that crushed everything,” said Nasrine, a Mayotte teacher who declined to give her full name.
With health services in tatters, and power and mobile phone services knocked out, French Overseas Minister Francois-Noel Buffet on Wednesday night declared “exceptional natural disaster” measures for Mayotte.
Under a new emergency system for overseas territories, the measures will hold for a month, and can be renewed every two months after that.
It will “enable the local and national authorities to react more quickly while streamlining certain administrative procedures,” Buffet said.
Much of Mayotte’s population is Muslim, whose religious tradition dictates that bodies be buried rapidly, meaning some may never be identified.
Assessing the toll is further complicated by irregular immigration to Mayotte, especially from the Comoros islands to the north, meaning much of the population is unregistered.
Mayotte officially has 320,000 inhabitants, but authorities estimate the actual figure is 100,000 to 200,000 higher when taking into account undocumented migrants.
French military planes have been shuttling between Mayotte and the island of La Reunion – another French overseas territory to the east that was spared by the cyclone.
A “civilian maritime bridge” was launched between both island groups, said Patrice Latron, the prefect in La Reunion.
As of Wednesday, more than 100 tons of food was to be distributed.
“We’re moving to a phase of massive support for Mayotte,” he said, adding that around 200 shipping containers with supplies and water would arrive by Sunday.