Published : 24-05-2022
The Swedish migration authorities have denied Palestinian-Syrian refugees coming from Gulf countries the right to asylum, leaving them face-to-face with an ambivalent fate.
Palestinian refugees from Syria who wish to return to a Gulf country are systematically denied this right, especially if they leave the country for more than three months.
Without giving any logical explanations, growing numbers of Palestinians who committed no offences have been denied their right to obtain new resident permits in Sweden or renew old ones that are close to expiring.
These unjustifiable practices violate international law by targeting Palestinian asylum seekers in particular, while the Immigration Department handles asylum applications from other nationalities without similar restrictions.
The Swedish authorities should cease such discriminatory measures against Palestinian asylum seekers in the country, grant them their rights under relevant domestic, European and international laws and treat them equally just like the rest of their peers from other nationalities.
The Swedish authorities' continuation of such discriminatory actions against Palestinian asylum seekers will put the lives of asylum seekers in danger, be it by depriving them of their basic rights, or returning them to unsafe areas from which they have fled.
Swedish authorities should respect their contractual legal obligations, regularize the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers, enable them to integrate into society, and enjoy all basic rights guaranteed to them by international law, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Refugee Convention and the International Covenants on Civil Rights, and other political, economic and social agreements.
AGPS also calls on the United Nations and the European Union to act quickly and seriously to put pressure on the Swedish authorities to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees in its territory have access to all their rights guaranteed according to international law, and to ensure the provision of basic services to them without discrimination on the basis of nationality, and to find specific mechanisms to force Swedish authorities to implement those decisions and not to repeat such practices against refugees and asylum seekers in the future.
The Swedish migration authorities have denied Palestinian-Syrian refugees coming from Gulf countries the right to asylum, leaving them face-to-face with an ambivalent fate.
Palestinian refugees from Syria who wish to return to a Gulf country are systematically denied this right, especially if they leave the country for more than three months.
Without giving any logical explanations, growing numbers of Palestinians who committed no offences have been denied their right to obtain new resident permits in Sweden or renew old ones that are close to expiring.
These unjustifiable practices violate international law by targeting Palestinian asylum seekers in particular, while the Immigration Department handles asylum applications from other nationalities without similar restrictions.
The Swedish authorities should cease such discriminatory measures against Palestinian asylum seekers in the country, grant them their rights under relevant domestic, European and international laws and treat them equally just like the rest of their peers from other nationalities.
The Swedish authorities' continuation of such discriminatory actions against Palestinian asylum seekers will put the lives of asylum seekers in danger, be it by depriving them of their basic rights, or returning them to unsafe areas from which they have fled.
Swedish authorities should respect their contractual legal obligations, regularize the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers, enable them to integrate into society, and enjoy all basic rights guaranteed to them by international law, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Refugee Convention and the International Covenants on Civil Rights, and other political, economic and social agreements.
AGPS also calls on the United Nations and the European Union to act quickly and seriously to put pressure on the Swedish authorities to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees in its territory have access to all their rights guaranteed according to international law, and to ensure the provision of basic services to them without discrimination on the basis of nationality, and to find specific mechanisms to force Swedish authorities to implement those decisions and not to repeat such practices against refugees and asylum seekers in the future.
