Sweden launches ‘information campaign’ to reduce migrant flow | News
On Tuesday, Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and far-right Sweden Democrats leader in the Riksdag Henrik Vinge announced that the Swedish government will launch an “information campaign” to discourage refugees from coming to the country.
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“The main goal is to inform about Swedish migration policy so that fewer people come here. This involves, among other things, distributing an information package to foreign authorities and other authorities with contact points abroad. Targeted information must also go to foreign newsrooms and news agencies,” says Malmer Stenergard.
– If refugees who would be forced to return receive information about which regulations apply here, we reduce the risk of suffering for these people and focus to a greater degree on those who have genuine reasons to receive protection, she pointed out.
Malmer Stenergard also mentioned that 76 percent of the refugees who came to the Nordics in 2019 ended up in Sweden and that this number must decrease significantly.
That year, Sweden received just under 22,000 asylum applications, according to statistics from the Swedish Migration Agency. In 2020 and 2021, the corresponding figures were 13,000 and 11,400.
“Sweden must not have a more generous view of asylum than what EU legislation and other legally binding treaties require,” said Malmer Stenergard.
The Swedish Migration Agency will reduce the number of quota refugees – people who have fled their home countries and have been selected by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to be resettled in a third country – from 5,000 to 900.
Ahead of last September’s election, the bloc that eventually won campaigned for tighter immigration rules. They are supported by the far-right Sweden Democrats, who have campaigned against immigration.