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Brussels, 14 February 2014 MISSION REPORT Of EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2009 - 2014 Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Brussels, 14 February 2014 MISSION REPORT of the LIBE delegation on The Swedish judicial System and the Swedish Asylum Procedures with a special focus on unaccompanied minors Sweden, from 2 to 3 May 2013 The LIBE Delegation to Sweden from 2 to 3 May 2013 was led by Nathalie GRIESBECK (ALDE) - Head of delegation and was composed of: Members Mrs Anna HEDH (S&D - SV) Mr Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR - UK) Mr Kyriacos TRIANTAPHYLLIDES (GUE - CY) Mrs Anna Maria CORAZZA BILDT (EPP - SV) Mrs Cecilia WIKSTRÖM (ALDE - SV) (accompanying member) Political Groups Staff Mr Andris PETERSONS, EPP Mr Shane MURPHY, S&D Mrs Valérie GLATIGNY, ALDE Mrs Caroline Frances HEALY, ECR Interpreters (SV-EN-FR) Mrs Nayrouz HAMZAOUI (Team Leader) Mr Gerd MATTSSON Mrs Anna HERBERT DE LA PORTBARRE Mr Daniel PASHLEY DG IPOL Staff Patricia VAN DE PEER, Administrator Maria LAZAROVA, Committee Assistant DG COMMUNICATION Staff (EP office in Stockholm) Therese DOMISCH - Media Service DV\942130EN.doc PE514.810v01-00 EN EN Thursday, 2 May 2013 Official lunch hosted by the Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Mr Tobias Billström, in Solna, in presence of Ms Minna Ljunggren, State Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr Andreas Ollinen, Political Advisor, Ministry of Justice, Mr Anders Danielsson, Director- General, Swedish Migration Board, Mr Ola Henrikson, Director-General for Asylum and Migration Policy, Ministry of Justice, Mr Matthias Wahlstedt, Director, Division for Migration and Asylum Policy, Ministry of Justice, Mr Mikael Tollerz, Director, Division for EU Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Ms Åsa Webber, Minister Counsellor, Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU. It was highlighted by the Minister that for Sweden the highest standards in relation to unaccompanied minors are applied, and that after the age of 18, additional assistance is still granted upon the age of 21. The cooperation between state authorities and the municipalities pending the application for international protection, until 2 years afterwards is of key importance for successful integration. In Sweden unaccompanied minors from 70 third countries are represented. Questions were raised on refugees coming from Syria, as Sweden and Germany host large numbers of them. Reasons for this high influx are linked to the already rather big communities of Syrians present in Sweden and the swift processing of applications for international protection in the Swedish system. Most of the Syrian applicants arrive with the assistance of smugglers and 67% are men without accompanying family. Sweden organises where possible that family members can join them later. The Minister raised his concern on the high numbers of unaccompanied minors that leave the reception centres, often without the authorities not knowing where they have headed to. He stressed the need to find the right balance between the need for giving freedom to the young applicants and the need to protect them from falling in the hands of criminal organisations outside of the reception centres. Reference was made as well to a return project for unaccompanied minors to Afghanistan that is organised in cooperation with several other EU-Member States. Age-assessment was a point of exchange as well, and the Swedish approach is based on three complementary age-assessment-tools, which are the interview, the external aspects and behaviour of the minor and the medical visit. The benefit of the doubt is always applicable in the age-assessment procedure. At 14:30: Reception at the Swedish Migration Board A presentation by the application unit for asylum seekers, the asylum examination unit and a presentation on the different tasks with a special focus on unaccompanied children applying for asylum were part of the programme, in the presence of Ms Veronika Lindstrand Kant, Head of department, Division for Asylum Examination, Ms Miriam Markiewicz Söderström, Specialist, Division for Asylum Examination, Mr Homan Sayah, Specialist, Division for PE514.810v01-00 2/8 DV\942130EN.doc EN Asylum Examination, Ms Åsa Nyblom, Senior legal advisor, Division for Legal Control, Ms Marguerite Sjöström, Case officer, Division for Managed Migration and Citizenship, Mr Kjell-Terje Torvik, Specialist, Division for Reception, Mr Ingrid Klementsson, Specialist, Division for Administrative Procedure, Ms Katarina Frunge, Team Leader, Division for Asylum Procedure, Mr Ola Henrikson, Director-General for Asylum and Migration Policy, Ministry of Justice, Mr Matthias Wahlstedt, Director, Division for Migration and Asylum Policy, Ministry of Justice, Ms Helena Garme, Deputy Director, Division for EU Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Ms Åsa Webber, Minister Counsellor, Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU. From the total number of applications for international protection, roughly 20% are Dublin- cases. The average time for the procedure is 117 days, and 70% of the decisions are taken within 4 months. Within the Unit, each case is assigned to a team which is composed of 8 team members. Each case is 'a case of the team'. The rate of the changes at appeal stage made to initial decisions is raking from 7 to 10%. Often these changes are due to new circumstances added to the file. Country of origin information is most relevant in the decision-making. Sweden though has no list of safe countries of origin. The appointment of a lawyer is a rule, except when the case is clearly founded or manifestly unfounded. For minors, a special team in the asylum unit is established. Minors have a lawyer and a guardian. The guardian is appointed by the local authority and receives a remuneration. Reception of minors is the responsibility of the municipality. Financing and processing of the asylum claim is the responsibility of the migration board. Municipalities are obliged to take in a certain number of unaccompanied minors. The recent high influxes however have made this agreement more sensitive to implement by times. Return policy on a voluntary basis is governed by good dialogue between the different actors and again complete country of origin information is key. Out of the 1200 voluntary returnees in 2012, 164 were minors. At the Municipality of Solna, the delegation was welcomed by the Deputy Mayor. A social worker with experience in the field of unaccompanied minors informed the delegation on the functioning of the system created in 2006, according to which unaccompanied minors at their arrival stay for a maximum of six months in a one of the four assigned cities over Sweden, from where they are further sent out to group homes or foster homes, according to their age. DV\942130EN.doc 3/8 PE514.810v01-00 EN In the evening, the Members were hosted for dinner by the Minister for Justice, Ms Beatrice Ask, in the presence of Mr Martin Valfridsson, State Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Ms Karin Sedvall, political advisor, Ministry of Justice, Ms Anna-Carin Svensson, Director-General for International Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Mr Mikael Tollerz, Director, Division for EU Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Ms Åsa Webber, Minister Counsellor, Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU. Topics, such as mutual recognition, need for close cooperation among Member States in criminal investigations are highly relevant to the Minister. The European investigation order is considered as an important added value for the EU-citizens. As a generally remark reference is made to the need for transparency in trans-border cooperation, which is an important value within the Swedish constitutional order. The Members of the delegation addressed issues such as police cooperation, victims' rights, cross border crime, in particular trafficking in human beings and the importance of good implementation of this EU legislation, the need to accurately tackle cybercrime and the urgent necessity to protect children on the internet. Friday, 3 May 2013 Visit to the International Public Prosecution Office, in the presence of Lars Werkström, Director General for Legal Affairs, Ms Sara Lindqvist, Senior Public Prosecutor, Ms Marie Lind Thomsen, Senior Public Prosecutor, Ms Anna-Carin Svensson, Director-General for International Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ms Marie Skåninger, Director, Division for Criminal Cases and International Judicial Cooperation, Ministry of Justice, Ms Sonja Ahlgren, Deputy Director, Division for Criminal Cases and International Judicial Cooperation, Ministry of Justice, Mr Tomas Färndahl, Deputy Director, Division for Police Issues, Ministry of Justice and Ms Åsa Webber, Minister Counsellor, Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU. The presentations take the delegation participants through a series of specific and detailed transnational criminal cases (trafficking for sexual exploitation, asset recovery, war crimes). The use of joint investigation teams (JITS) is discussed, and problems such as the need of translation of all documents at the request of defence lawyers is indicated as a problematic issue for cost efficiency reasons. The authorities highlight the importance of sufficient funding for EUROJUST in order, inter alia, to sponsor travelling of the JIT-Members to the regular common JIT-meetings. These meetings are very important for a smooth functioning of the cooperation. The European arrest warrant is confirmed to be an efficient tool according to the speakers, keeping in mind that the proportionality test is respected while using it. The European investigation order and the European protection order are assessed
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