Question regarding referral of motion to committee
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned a motion regarding whether a stop law for teenage deportations should be triggered as an event of greater importance. MP argued that the situation in the Middle East is acute and that lives are at stake, which requires a rapid legislative change to stop deportations even for those who have already received a decision 1. V considered that the current deportation policy causes horrific family separations and demanded that the government immediately stop all teenage deportations as well as bring home those who have already been deported to conflict zones 2. The Speaker, however, argued that the motion lacked a clear connection to the event in the Middle East and suggested that it should be tabled 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN
Annika Hirvonen, together with several others from Miljöpartiet and Vänsterpartiet, has submitted a motion invoking Chapter 9, Section 15 of the Parliamentary Procedure. According to this provision, motions on the occasion of an event of greater importance may be submitted jointly by at least ten members, if the event could not be foreseen or considered during the general motion period or any other motion period specified in Chapter 9 of the Parliamentary Procedure. The motion was tabled at the meeting on March 9.
The motion contains a request that the Riksdag should support what is set forth in the motion regarding the prompt development of a moratorium, a stop law, for the deportation of teenagers. The proposers refer to "the very dangerous situation prevailing in the Middle East."
On February 28, the USA and Israel launched air attacks against Iran. Several countries around the Persian Gulf are affected. The ongoing conflict can in itself be seen as a special event.
A prerequisite for a motion to be raised according to Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules is that it has a clear connection to the event. The proposers have not further justified the connection to the specific event but have described the situation prevailing for the teenagers who risk being deported. The situation in the Middle East has rather been emphasized as an additional reason why the proposers believe that deportations of teenagers should be stopped. Against this background, it cannot be considered that there is any direct connection between the motion and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The Speaker's assessment is therefore that the motion cannot be raised with the support of Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules. According to Chapter 11, Section 7 of the parliamentary rules, there are therefore obstacles to referring the motion to a committee. The Speaker therefore proposes that the Chamber lays the motion to the records.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Madam Speaker! When we wrote this motion proposal on Thursday, the situation was as follows:
In Iran were and still are, among others, the two sisters Darya and Donya, two young women who were deported from Sweden – from their parents, their little sisters, their friends and their future. The sisters studied in the nursing program and dreamed of becoming nurses. But because they had not managed to obtain permanent residence permits before they reached adulthood, the rules that exist today in the Aliens Act mean that they are not counted as part of their nuclear family. They were torn from everything they had in Sweden shortly before all deportations to Iran were stopped.
Now their friends have sporadically, as the coverage is poor, received messages from them: Do not forget us – we will die. The despair that this incredible fate evokes is difficult to describe in words.
Madam Speaker! Even though we were informed on Friday that the government intends to introduce a legislative change to stop the deportation of teenagers, and even though the Swedish Migration Agency has stated that no further rejection decisions should be made, there are still a number of teenagers whose clocks have not been stopped and whose deportations continue to be executed. In a few weeks, additional youths will pack up their entire lives and leave Sweden, in several cases for countries in the Middle East – for even though the Swedish Migration Agency has temporarily stopped the execution of all deportations to Iran, they have not stopped deportations to all countries in the Middle East.
Madam Speaker! None of us can predict how this war will develop. The course of events so far has been highly unpredictable. Even though it is judged today that, for example, Egypt is a safe place, where it has been decided that 18-year-old Jomana shall be deported, none of us can actually in good conscience look her in the eye and say: It is safe for you to go there. The risk is that the reality could change shortly thereafter, just as it did for Darya and Donya. I speak for most in this chamber when I say that we do not want this on our conscience.
Now that all parties have agreed to stand behind a stop to teenage deportations, we need to ensure that also those who have received their decisions from Migrationsverket can stay in Sweden, and for that, a rapid legislative change is required. The government has not presented any such proposal yet. We have not received any timetable; we do not know when the government's proposal will arrive. We have also not heard what it looks like. Much, therefore, speaks for the fact that it is not finished – that the direction is not fully negotiated between the Tidö parties.
We submitted a proposal for a moratorium, a temporary stop law, through a committee initiative, which would not only cover those who have not received a decision from Migrationsverket but also those who have received a rejection from Migrationsverket and those who have appealed as far as possible and now only have weeks left. The proposal was rejected in the committee last week, on Tuesday, but on Thursday, both Jimmie Åkesson and Simona Mohamsson announced that they are also in favor of a stop law.
We believe that this issue is so acute and so important that it should therefore be examined by the Chamber. It is clear that one could discuss that we could have developed our justification in the motion linked to the specific criteria of the parliamentary order. We were in a great hurry when we wrote this, but I still want to assert that the connection is clear. Had the situation not been as unpredictable and acute as it currently is in the Middle East, where more of these youths are expected to be deported when the decisions are executed, one might perhaps have reflected that there is time. But that is not the case, instead, lives are at stake.
I also want to remind you that when deportations have been carried out, there are sometimes obstacles for these young people to come home to Sweden again. We see this in the cases of Darya and Donya. They have applied for study permits to continue their studies as nurses but have been rejected because the courts consider that this is not their primary reason for wanting to come to Sweden.
We can all understand that for those young people who have not only left their studies but also their mother, their younger siblings, their friends – everything – there will be other strong reasons to want to return to Sweden. If we do not stop more teenage deportations now, then more young people risk ending up in a situation where they are deported to countries where there is a danger of war but also where it is difficult to obtain permission to return.
I would like to move that this motion be referred to the Committee on Social Insurance for preparation, so that the Chamber can take a position on it. If the government presents a faster solution – which has been spoken about, but we have not yet heard anything concrete about the timeline or the content – we are of course all very positive about that. But as long as there is no such solution, the future and lives of these young people are at stake.
Tony Haddou (V)
Madam Speaker! I was at Donya and Darya's family's home on Sunday. It is a family that has had their two daughters taken away from them. They have been deported to Iran, to one of the world's wars right now. The family sits at home with a lump in their stomachs every day and feels terribly bad.
Even before the war broke out in Iran, one could wonder why Sweden should at all deport teenage girls there. I have heard the entire chamber talk about what kind of regime it is in Iran. I agree. The whole world is talking about what kind of regime it is in Iran. I know what kind of regime it has been in Iran. But to Iran, one still sends girls who have rooted themselves in Sweden and have their entire lives in Sweden. They have their families in Sweden. Nevertheless, we are deporting girls and women to Iran. I think it is a terrible deportation policy that Sweden must cease. So that was the case already before the war broke out.
Madam Speaker! Donya, Darya and their family are not alone. In recent months in Sweden, we have had a debate about the deportation of teenagers. It is about teenagers who are torn from their parents and deported, most often to countries they have no connection to. They have spent the majority of their lives in Sweden. They have their families in Sweden. They have their friends in Sweden. They have their entire connection and language in Sweden.
What has happened over time is that, in several stages, the migration legislation in Sweden has been tightened. Now, it has resulted in a situation where we see appalling family separations. Children who turn 18 receive a deportation decision as an 18th birthday present. We cannot continue with that system.
But now the question is urgent. We need a stop law. We have been working for a whole month and submitted proposals, pressured the government and tried to ensure that the deportations of teenagers are stopped. Last Friday of last week, a message came from the government that they want to pause the deportations of teenagers. It is Migrationsverket that pauses the deportations.
However, there are very many young people who have already received deportation decisions. A stop law could have also stopped these deportation decisions. That is also what we want to do.
The question is so important that we consider it must be referred to the committee. But we need to examine the question in the chamber. We have not done so yet. For that reason, we are up and speaking here in the chamber today.
We believe that the government must immediately stop all teenage deportations, even for those who have already received deportation decisions. The government must furthermore, I believe, take its responsibility and bring home Donya and Darya and identify how many are affected by similar situations and life-threatening situations and prioritize these. That is the least the government can do.
We thus have a government that promised order and clarity in migration policy. I believe that all of Sweden has seen in recent times what a mess it has become. So we cannot continue in the migration legislation; it is to play with people's lives.
For example, these two girls are now in Iran, after Sweden deported them there this autumn. We cannot have a situation where more risk being deported. People are also deported to conflict zones, in cases where the Migration Agency has not paused the deportations. We must have a stop law when it comes to the deportations of teenagers.
Make sure to vote on this! Let our proposal be referred to the committee, and let the Riksdag examine the issue in the chamber!
TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN
Annika Hirvonen and Tony Haddou have requested that the question of whether the motion should be admitted be examined by the Chamber. The Chamber must then decide whether the motion shall be added to the records or whether the question shall be referred to the Committee on the Constitution for examination. The decision on whether the motion on the incident shall be added to the records or whether the question shall be referred to the Committee on the Constitution for a ruling will be made in connection with the vote later today at 16.00.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.