Sweden: Asylum seekers being sent to other EU countries

Sweden has begun sending back increasing numbers of asylum seekers to other EU member states in accordance with the so-called Dublin Regulation.

The regulation states that EU countries are obliged to assess which member state is responsible for examining an asylum application.

During the first ten months of the year, some 3, 581 of Sweden's 30,000 asylum seekers were sent back to the 25 member states responsible for their applications.

This represented a 35 percent increase on last year's figures, when 3,176 out of a total of 24,000 asylum seekers were sent to other countries, Sydsvenskan reports.

Greece was the main recipient of asylum seekers from Sweden. So far this year the Migration Board has requested Greek authorities to accept 733 people from Sweden, most of whom are Iraqi asylum seekers.

Source: The Local (English)