Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks has criticised Sweden for not taking in enough migrants, saying that more chain migration — or ‘family reunification’ — would “help integration”.
Muiznieks argued that Sweden should allow in more migrants, claiming that the emergency of the 2015 migrant crisis, which saw Sweden take in more migrants per capita than any other western European country, was over, Aftonbladet reports.
“Sweden has been quite generous to refugees and asylum seekers, but this emergency situation introduced years ago is no longer needed and you can return to your traditional, better policy on refugees and asylum seekers,” Muiznieks said.
The Latvian-American said that chain migration was an especially good way to bring in new migrants, saying: “You should not limit the rights to family reunification.”
He added: “Limiting their rights simply prevents integration into Swedish society. Another aspect is that family reunification is an important way to get there safely and legally. If we want to stop chaotic reception, we should increase the opportunity to get here safely.”
Muiznieks based his views on a visit to Sweden last October as part of a report by the Council of Europe into the situation of asylum seekers and refugees with disabilities.
While Sweden slowed the massive flow of migrants in late 2015, the Swedish population has continued to grow due as deportations of failed asylum seekers, especially to Afghanistan, have run into opposition from left-wing activists and others.
Later this year Swedes will go to the polls to vote for the next government and the issue of migration has been one of the top issues for the various parties.
The anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats have made it clear that they want to see a massive reduction of migration with leader Jimmie Åkesson saying that he wanted to see more focus be given toward the deportation of failed asylum seekers.
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