The Swedish Protection System in a European Context International EMN Conference CEAS, a judicial reality or actual practice? The Hague, 24 April 2013 Bernd Parusel Swedish Migration Board National EMN contact point

Harmonised and non-harmonised protection statuses in Sweden (1) The granting of protection in Sweden is fully harmonised in accordance with the EU “Qualification Directive”, but there are also complementary national bases for protection The granting of refugee status in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the granting of subsidiary protection are harmonised forms of protection in Sweden As a complement to the granting of subsidiary protection in accordance with the “Qualification Directive”, there are also national forms of subsidiary/humanitarian protection covering grounds of other severe conflicts and environmental disasters In 2012, 95.5 % of all residence permits granted for subsidiary protection were granted on grounds covered by the Qualification Directive. 4.5 % were granted on the basis of complementary national provisions

Harmonised and non-harmonised protection statuses in Sweden (2) In exceptional cases, a residence permit can also be granted on grounds of exceptionally distressing circumstances (non-harmonised) Resettlement, which can be seen as a complement to the asylum system, is undertaken on the basis of national practice, in cooperation with the UNHCR

Harmonised and non-harmonised protection statuses in Sweden (3) European National (Harmonised) (Non-harmonised) Refugee protection (Geneva Convention) Subsidiary protection Exceptionally distressing circumstances Resettlement

Overview: Positive decisions in Sweden Table 1: Positive decisions on asylum applications and resettlement, % for different grounds for protection Geneva Con-vention Subsidiary protection Exceptionally distressing circumstances Resettle-ment and other grounds Total % positive decisions of all decisions Main countries of origin 2006 3.8 % 14.9 % 14.6 % 66.7 % 100 % 42.1 % Iraq, Serbia Montenegro, Russia 2009 16.2 % 54.7 % 8.9 % 20.2 % 27.3 % Somalia, Iraq, Kosovo 2011 22.6 % 48.3 % 10.6 % 18.5 % 29.9 % Afghanistan, Somalia, Serbia 2012 26.5 % 52.2 % 7.6 % 13.6 % 34.4 % Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan Source: Swedish Migration Board Note: In 2006, many positive decisions were granted on the basis of a temporary law which equaled to a regularization. Numbers for 2006 are therefore not fully comparable.

Towards an approximation of asylum decision-making in the EU? (1) Table 2: % of Geneva convention status among all positive decisions taken in EU Member States (all countries of origin) Min. EU Max. EU 2008 0.0 % 98.3 % 2011 4.3 % 93.3 % 2012 2.4 % 87.5 % Sweden 21.6 % 26.5% 30.2% Source: Eurostat - First instance decisions, annual aggregated data (rounded), update 2013-03-15 Note: Only EU Member States with more than 100 decisions were considered for this Table. (Shares for Sweden according to Eurostat are higher than according to national statistics of the Swedish Migration Board since, among other reasons, resettlement is not included in the total number of positive decisions at Eurostat.) Only looked at EU MS with higher numbers of decisions than 100.

Towards an approximation of asylum decision-making in the EU? (2) Table 3: % of Geneva Convention status among all positive decisions taken in EU Member States in relation to applicants from Afghanistan Min. EU Max. EU 2008 3.0 % 92.3 % 2011 3.7 % 54.1 % 2012 11.8 % 58.6 % Sweden 12.5 % 14.7 % 30.6 % Only looked at EU MS with higher numbers of decisions than 100. Source: Eurostat - First instance decisions, annual aggregated data (rounded), update 2013-03-15 Note: Only EU Member States with more than 100 decisions were considered for this Table

On the other hand: Differing trends in EU Member States 2011 - 2012 New asylum applications in 2012, compared to 2011 Increase in 10 Member States, including Sweden Stable levels (+/- 5% or less) in 3 Member States Decrease in 6 Member States Virtually no new asylum applicants or very small numbers (less or much less than 1 000 per year) in 7 Member States More than 10 000 new asylum applicants per year in at least 5 Member States (Germany: 64 540, France: 54 280, Sweden: 43 930 in 2012) Source: Eurostat, New asylum applicants, annual data (rounded), update 2013-03-15 Please note that there were no or incomplete Eurostat data for 6 Member States (IT, LT, HU, NL, AT, PT) at the time of making this analysis

Current situation New asylum applications in Sweden and selected EU Member States January 2012 - February 2013, monthly data Source: Eurostat, New asylum applicants, Monthly data (rounded), update 2013-03-15, complementary national statistics for Germany and Finland.

Thank you for your attention! Bernd Parusel Swedish Migration Board National EMN contact point emn@migrationsverket.se www.emnsweden.se