What happened
On October 5, the government notified the Swedish Migration Agency about the allocation of places for this year's quota refugees, after nearly ten months of preparation. The delay means that the Swedish Migration Agency estimates Sweden will only have time to receive 350 people instead of the target of 900. The agency would have needed an answer by mid-September at the latest to keep to the schedule and has been forced to cancel planned trips to refugee camps four times. The Ministry of Justice's decision means, among other things, that 100 more refugees are to be brought from Uganda and Rwanda than what the Swedish Migration Agency initially proposed.
Our analysis
The Ministry of Justice and former Minister for Migration Johan Forssell (M) have let a decision concerning 900 people drag on for nearly ten months, while other restrictions in the area of migration have been implemented at a rapid pace. The price of the delay is not paid at the ministry, but in the refugee camps: 550 fewer Congolese and Sudanese women and children receive the protection in Sweden that the Riksdag had already decided on. The Ministry of Justice's adjustment – moving 100 places to Rwanda and Uganda – served as a reason for ten months of waiting, but the result was instead that significantly fewer from the same countries can now be received. The Swedish Migration Agency is now beginning trips to bring in the remaining 350 people, but the government has not yet provided any explanation as to why the processing was allowed to collapse.
Explained
A quota refugee is a displaced person who has been selected by the UN refugee agency UNHCR to receive permanent protection and travel directly to a safe host country.