Nya siffror om antalet asylsökande första halvåret 2011

UNHCR har kommit ut med sin halvårsrapport om antalet asylsökande första halvåret 2011. Under 2010 sökte 31900 personer asyl i Sverige, vilket var 12,4 procent av de 258000 som sökte asyl i EU-27. Det första halvåret 2011 har 12597 personer sökt asyl i Sverige, vilket var 10,2 procent av de 123412 som sökte asyl i EU-27. Siffrorna visar att Sveriges relativa andel av de asylsökande till EU minskar något. Samtidigt är överrepresentationen mycket stor. Det var, i förhållande till folkmängd, under det första halvåret 2011 fem gånger så många som sökte asyl i Sverige än genomsnittet i EU. Från pressmeddelandet:

The Nordic region was the only part of Europe to see a fall in asylum applications. The number of asylum applications dropped by 39 per cent in Finland, by 23 per cent in Denmark and by 10 per cent in Sweden. Norway saw a slight increase, however, of four per cent. In Iceland, numbers remained low, but saw an increase of 88 per cent in first half of 2011 compared to the same period last year - from 17 to 32 applications.

In Sweden and Norway, the number one country of origin was Somalia. In Denmark, the largest number of applications came from Afghans, and in Finland from Iraqis. There was a considerable drop in applications from Somalia in Sweden (53 percent), while there was a doubling in Norway. There was a drop in Afghan applications in Denmark, but an increase in Sweden. So overall, a mixed Nordic picture.

Samtidigt får Sverige beröm av UNHCR för hur landet hanterar asylansökningar.

In the Swedish quality project, which took place during the past two years, UNHCR analysed 200 decisions taken by the Migration Board and observed 56 interviews conducted at 11 units throughout the country. UNHCR also interviewed a number of decision-makers, other Migration Board staff and lawyers to find out how they think the decision-making can be improved. UNHCR looked at a number of factors that affect the quality of the decision-making, including the registration of applications, the legal advice, how the applicants are interviewed, the quality of interpretation, the legal argumentation and the evaluation of evidence. UNHCR did not look at particular decisions to see if they were correctly or incorrectly assessed.

UNHCR found that the Swedish Migration Board has high standards in its status determination procedures, and that all procedural safeguards are in place, well above international and European standards, when one considers for instance access to legal advice, oral hearings, and motivation of decisions.