Response to interpellation 2022/23:393 on sanctions against pushbacks
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M emphasizes that it is the Commission's responsibility to investigate and take measures against pushbacks 1 2. M argues that the situation in the Mediterranean requires better coordination and that the solution is to stop the boats through cooperation with partner countries 2 3. M believes that Sweden is at the top in the EU regarding quota refugee reception and wants more countries to take responsibility 3. M believes that previous governments have not taken full responsibility for integration 4. M wants to reform the policy to ensure that those who have come here get an opportunity to enter society through a stricter migration policy 4. M wants to combat the root causes of flight by reforming climate policy 4. MP argues that the government must take responsibility for human rights as pushbacks mean that people are deprived of the right to asylum 5. MP advocates for legal and safe routes for asylum seekers 6. MP demands that the government restores aid, the quota refugees, and the climate policy 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Annika Hirvonen has asked me if I intend to work towards the appointment of an independent review of Greek pushbacks and that allegations of pushbacks from other EU countries shall also be thoroughly investigated by independent inquiries. Furthermore, Annika Hirvonen has asked me if I intend to work towards powerful EU sanctions against Greece and other countries that carry out illegal pushbacks.
Let me initially emphasize that the migration situation in the Mediterranean is both complex and deeply tragic. Reports regularly emerge of smuggling networks that place people in unseaworthy boats with false promises of being able to live their lives in the EU. This must be stopped.
The phenomenon of pushbacks and the danger to migrants' lives that such actions entail is equally serious. Assisting persons encountered in distress at sea is an obligation under international law. From the law of the sea follows that all vessels, their flag states, and the relevant coastal states have an obligation to take measures so that those in distress encountered at sea can be brought to a safe place. The rules must be applied in accordance with international law, including the protection against refoulement.
The member states' sea rescue operations also form part of the EU's integrated border management. In the application of these rules, the member states shall act in accordance with international law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Sweden participates in a number of different forms of forums, committees, working groups and EU agencies. In these collaborations, Sweden always emphasizes the importance of regulatory compliance and respect for human rights. Sweden also actively participates in the Commission's contact group for maritime search and rescue, whose work aims to achieve better cooperation regarding maritime search and rescue between all relevant actors in the Mediterranean.
But it is primarily the Commission's responsibility to ensure that our common legislation and international law are complied with. I expect the Commission to investigate and take the measures required in cases involving allegations of pushbacks.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Madam Speaker! Earlier this year, a video was highlighted where Greek coast guard is seen acting together with and in consultation with masked persons. First, these masked persons meet migrants, drive them in a car to the beach and place them on inflatable rafts. The rafts are then driven out to sea from the Greek coast. Subsequently, the migrants are loaded onto boats that are transported to Turkey. These migrants testify to journalists at the New York Times about how they traveled to Greece to seek asylum but, instead of being given the opportunity to this basic human right, were pushed back, placed on boats and transported to Turkey. This is, as far as I know, the first time that Greek authorities, in this case the coast guard, are seen acting in such pushbacks. But we have heard testimonies for a longer period.
Pushbacks mean, in practice, that people fleeing are deprived of the human right to seek asylum. The ultimate consequence that pushbacks can have is that people's lives are spilled. People who have grounds for protection and should be granted asylum risk being sent to death, to persecution, or to torture. The manner in which these pushbacks have been carried out is in itself also a danger to life and health. Migrants, people, are placed on rickety boats and sent out into the Mediterranean.
We have heard testimony about pushbacks even from other countries. I am in contact with a Swedish doctor who has regularly visited the border between Poland and Belarus. Smugglers have first transported people fleeing to the Polish border via Belarus. When the people have then made their way into Poland through the forests there, Polish authorities have pushed the people back towards Belarus. The doctor I have been in contact with testifies that during the winter time, this has led to young, healthy men freezing to death in these forests.
I think it is important that from the side of the Swedish government, one does not just wait for the commission to act in light of these serious violations. The Swedish government must, through the Council of Ministers, take responsibility to ensure that the fundamental human rights to life and asylum are respected.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me first underline once again that the government takes allegations of pushbacks most seriously. Assisting persons encountered in distress at sea is an obligation under international law. But it is the Commission that is responsible for ensuring that our common legislation and international law are complied with. I have full confidence that the Commission will take the measures required in cases involving allegations of pushbacks.
Parallel to compliance with rules, the practical cooperation and coordination between the Member States needs to be significantly intensified, especially considering the search and rescue operations that have developed over recent years and which also involve private actors. This is a massive task. It involves a diversity of actors, both governmental and non-governmental, who lack mutual coordination. The situation in the Mediterranean is also legally and practically complex. Several areas of law, including the law of the sea, international refugee law, human rights, and the EU's fundamental rights, interact with national and international practice.
The situation in the Mediterranean, which Annika Hirvonen dwelt much upon, is tragic from a human perspective. We regularly receive reports of smuggling networks that place people in unseaworthy boats with false promises of being able to live their lives in the EU. The accidents follow one after another. I am thinking in particular of the terrible tragedy that occurred in June, when it is believed that 600 people lost their lives off the coast of Greece. The situation is not an answer to a long-term sustainable migration policy. It is closely linked with law enforcement efforts against the smuggling of migrants, which must be stopped.
The Government supports the Commission's ongoing work to increase coordination and cooperation between all actors active in the Mediterranean. The Government also supports the Commission's work to combat smuggling networks as well as the work carried out, for example, through Europol to bring those responsible to justice.
The long-term solution is to, in close cooperation with partner countries, ensure that the boats across the Mediterranean are stopped. It is only in this way that we can save lives. The agreement that the EU recently entered into with Tunisia constitutes an example of how this could be done. It involves a comprehensive cooperation across several policy areas with the common interest of managing migration and the root causes in a systematic way - of course in accordance with international law.
Annika Hirvonen also mentioned the situation at the Polish border. It is a very complex situation where people are used in hybrid warfare. Here, it is important on one hand that human rights and the right to seek asylum are respected, and on the other hand, that the EU responds powerfully to such attempts at instrumentalization. Very important work is ongoing at the EU level with the instrumentalization regulation, and I think it is important that one lands correctly in this balance.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Madam Speaker! The Minister speaks of it being an obligation under international law to rescue ships in distress. There are serious reasons to believe that the Greek coast guard authorities did not do everything in their power to avoid the terrible accident earlier this summer where hundreds of people are believed to have drowned.
The Commission has demanded that Greek authorities conduct independent investigations into the obvious suspicions that Greek authorities have engaged in illegal pushbacks. But Greek authorities are involved in repeated violations of international law, fundamental rights in the EU Charter, and human rights. In that case, it is not reasonable to believe that the request to Greek authorities to conduct an independent investigation would be sufficient.
Madam Speaker! It is an obligation under international law to rescue ships in distress, and there are many voluntary organizations working to save lives in the Mediterranean. But we simultaneously see how certain EU member states, not least Italy, are trying to prevent rescue operations using various methods. This summer in Almedalen, I met Médecins Sans Frontières, who described how their boat is stuck in Italy because the Italian authorities are trying to prevent rescue operations in the Mediterranean. In parallel, we witness how negotiations are ongoing within the Council on various ways to build higher walls and make it harder for people to seek asylum. These measures will, I fear, lead to the human smugglers being able to charge even more for their activities.
I mean that the policy that the EU and Sweden's governments are now pursuing does not solve the problem of people risking their lives on flimsy boats across the Mediterranean. What is completely missing are solutions that involve legal and safe routes for people to seek asylum.
Safe and legal routes can look many different ways. But what it is about is that a person should be able to apply for refugee status, for example because one is an LGBTQ+ refugee from Uganda, without first having to risk their life during transport to Europe. The quota refugee system is such a system, where the government has cut back significantly. But one should also evaluate other possibilities - establish some form of visa to seek asylum and ensure that people can utilize the safe boat and air routes that do exist.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! The situation in the Mediterranean is, as Annika Hirvonen also points out, truly complicated. It is, as I said, both state and non-state actors who are acting in different ways in the Mediterranean.
In connection with the Commission's 2020 presentation of the proposal for the Migration and Asylum Pact, a recommendation was also made urging Member States to cooperate with one another regarding maritime search and rescue operations. It aims to reduce the number of deaths at sea, maintain navigational safety, and ensure effective migration management. Through this recommendation, the Commission also established a European contact group to monitor the implementation of it and report back to the Commission once a year.
Sweden naturally participates in the contact group's work. So far, it has focused on improved information sharing regarding maritime rescue, search and rescue, in the Mediterranean, a better cooperation framework for search and rescue, increased knowledge regarding cooperation around existing laws and regulations for private vessels involved in maritime rescue and, finally, cooperation with the International Maritime Organization IMO regarding the interpretation of certain maritime law concepts. The work has resulted in a number of concrete proposals aimed at improved situation reporting, better knowledge of member states' legislation regarding private vessels involved in search and rescue and concrete steps towards a common cooperation framework for maritime rescue at the EU level.
Another very important aspect is support to third countries to strengthen their sea rescue capacity through, for example, better cooperation between crisis coordination centers. Work is ongoing to strengthen such centers in several countries in North Africa through support for training and technical equipment. There is also a clear link here to operations against smuggling and law enforcement activities.
I feel the same frustration as Annika Hirvonen that the current asylum system does not work and that, in practice, it is those who can afford to pay refugee smugglers who get the opportunity to actually apply for asylum. I believe that we need a larger discussion on how we best help the most people forward. Often it is those with the greatest needs who get stuck in refugee camps.
Even though the government, just as Annika Hirvonen points out, has now reduced the number of quota refugees, we are still at the absolute top in the EU in relation to the number of citizens. I would really like and wish that more countries took a greater responsibility for the reception of quota refugees, because it means that those who have the absolute greatest need for protection are prioritized and that they come here in a safe way, often with their family.
At the same time, the need in the world is enormous, and we must not forget to work very strategically and actively to counter the root causes of why people are forced to flee or choose to migrate, more or less voluntarily. There, I believe that the EU can do significantly more together, and this external dimension was also something that the government focused much on during the presidency. I hope that this is a task that the upcoming presidency also takes forward.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Madam Speaker! If the Minister seriously wants to help more of the world's most vulnerable refugees, I have three recommendations. One - restore the aid, which the government has slaughtered. Two - restore the number of quota refugees. Three - restore Sweden's climate policy.
Without a policy to prevent climate change, the number of people who can no longer survive in the places they live today will increase significantly. We already see how millions of people are driven into flight as a result of war, conflicts, and other effects in the wake of climate change. At the same time, Maria Malmer Stenergård's government is slaughtering Sweden's climate policy.
We see how poverty in the world is increasing; we see famine. At the same time, the government is cutting development aid, which is intended to ensure that countries can develop so that people can survive and to develop democracy so that fewer shall be subjected to persecution and oppression. This is also something that the government is cutting back on.
And the government cuts the number of quota refugees from 5,000 to 900. There are many beautiful words about helping those who are most vulnerable, but it is a concrete policy that instead increases refugees' vulnerability, in the world, in Europe, and in Sweden.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Annika Hirvonen and I have very different views on how Swedish migration policy should develop, and I truly welcome the debate. I am convinced that if Sweden is to be able to continue to be a country that welcomes people fleeing and is willing to help, Swedes must also feel that immigration actually works.
Historically, many governments have not taken full responsibility for those who have crossed Sweden's borders. They have settled for having high immigration without a high degree of integration.
Now we are shifting the policy and ensuring that all those who have come here in recent decades also get an opportunity to actually enter society for real. Not least their children, we refuse to lose. This also presupposes a stricter migration policy.
But at the same time, we have the energy to look ahead and be part of the fight together with not least the EU to combat the root causes of why people are forced to flee. I am, just like Annika Hirvonen, incredibly concerned about the climate changes we see and how they drive large numbers of people into flight. That is why it is so incredibly important that we also overhaul the climate policy and ensure that every krona is used in the absolute best way, as well as increase international climate investments. When people are now talking about budget cuts, I just want to point out that the current environment and climate budget is still higher than it was when Miljöpartiet sat in government.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.