A small group of Eritreans have left Italy for Sweden, the first contingent of asylum-seekers to be relocated under a European Union scheme to ease the burden of the migration crisis on frontline countries.
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At the start of this month, the number of asylum seekers topped the current forecast from the Migration Agency of 74,000 people this year.
“The standard (of housing) is dropping”.
The government has ordered the Swedish Migration Agency to set up tents to provide temporary accommodation and has tasked local authorities with drawing up an inventory of all premises in the country that can be used as shelters.
The tents will be heated, Migration Minister Morgan Johansson stressed, as nighttime temperatures are now dropping to zero degrees Celsius in most parts of the country. More than 81,000 sought asylum there in 2014, although only 36,000 were granted it.
Meanwhile, Britain is urging the European Union to speed the deportation of people who do not qualify for asylum.
Officials in Main-Taunus county west of the German city of Frankfurt said they declared an emergency ahead of the arrival of a few 1,000 refugees Monday to make it easier for authorities to cope with the influx, for example by suspending certain building regulations.
Guterres’ plea came as the Refugee Commission hailed the launch of the EU’s scheme to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers within the Union.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who was on hand to bid the Eritreans farewell, has said the transfer is proof that Europe has finally changed its migration policy.
Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn, who traveled to Italy and Greece with Avramopoulos, said it was extremely important to strengthen Europe’s external borders.
A source at the airport said the flight to Sweden was expected to take around six hours.
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Yet, the Eastern European countries have called for more worldwide action: In one of the first steps the United Nations Security Council authorized the European Union and individual countries to seize migrant-smuggling vessels already on the high seas off Libya. Most have rapidly headed north towards Germany. “We must know who crosses the country’s border and why and the border should be continually controlled so that no illegal border crossings disturbs order”. Guterres said caring for 60 million refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people around the world is a daunting prospect.
