No turning back SWEDEN seems idyllic to Munire, a 19-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker, and her two sisters. The three orphans traveled on their own from Iran, where they were living illegally and had no access to education. Now they live with a foster family and go to school while they wait to hear whether or not they can stay. But the respite may be short-lived. Unlike their brother, who has been a Swedish resident for several years, they could find themselves sent back to a country that, although their birthplace, is no longer their home.
The refugee crisis has created rifts in Europe between countries which have welcomed refugees, such as Germany and Sweden, and those which have not, such as Poland and Hungary. It has also exposed tensions in Europe’s asylum system as a whole. A well-designed and relatively effective process has, under the pressure of numbers, started to crumble. Afghans, the second-biggest group of migrants to Europe last year at nearly 200,000, are the most likely to lose out.
Asylum claims from Syrians, Eritreans and Iraqis are accepted at high rates across the European Union, at 97%,…
