http://www.diva-portal.org Postprint This is the accepted version of a chapter published in The migration crises? Criminalization, security and survival.. Citation for the original published chapter : Asztalos Morell, I., Darvishpour, M. (2018) The securitization of asylum seeking in Sweden after 2015 in light of experiences of asylum-seeking girls with roots in Afghanistan In: Dina Siegel, Veronika Nagy (ed.), The migration crises? Criminalization, security and survival. (pp. 363-388-). Uppsala: The HAgue:Eleven N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published chapter. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-41350
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http://www.diva-portal.org
Postprint
This is the accepted version of a chapter published in The migration crises? Criminalization,security and survival..
Citation for the original published chapter :
Asztalos Morell, I., Darvishpour, M. (2018)The securitization of asylum seeking in Sweden after 2015 in light of experiences ofasylum-seeking girls with roots in AfghanistanIn: Dina Siegel, Veronika Nagy (ed.), The migration crises? Criminalization, securityand survival. (pp. 363-388-). Uppsala: The HAgue:Eleven
N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published chapter.
Permanent link to this version:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-41350
Accepted for publication in:
Siegel, D. & Nagy, V. (eds), Was there a refugee crisis in 2015? – Critical voices on the
recent migration discourse, The Hague, Eleven, (2018)
The securitization of asylum-seeking in Sweden after 2015 in light of experiences of
asylum-seeking adolescent girls with roots in Afghanistan1
Ildikó Asztalos Morell and Mehrdad Darvishpour
Introduction
A gender perspective contributes to the critical studies of “securitization”2. The migration
vogue of 2015 was constructed as a crisis, since it challenged the established systems of
border control and surveillance over refugees. The vogue provoked tightening regimes
throughout Europe, including those most liberal regimes. Securitized passage through borders
and asylum regulation severed the conditions for reaching the most desired countries of the
European “North”, which was seen as having contributed to the gendering of migration
through the higher proportion of men from seven years of age to pensioners among those
seeking asylum.3 Boys between the ages of 13-17 years dominated among UACS. The
proportion of girls has declined from 17% 2013 to 13% in 20154, a phenomenon that is
related to girls gendered vulnerabilities in sending countries, as well as through transit and the
asylum process.5 Feminist research has called attention to the under-researched issue of the
adverse impact of securitization on the migration on female asylum seekers.6 Nonetheless,
still more among the under-researched are asylum-seeking adolescent girls.
As a response to the great refugee vogue, also referred to as a “refugee crisis”, even countries
with relatively generous refugee policies, such Sweden, which granted the largest proportion
of residency to asylum-seekers in relation to its population,7 have reversed their regulations to
the “European minimum standard”. This meant even increased surveillance of applications by
UASC.
There is solid trans-European research evidence indicating that women and girls experience
specific forms of vulnerabilities throughout the asylum process, including reasons of flight,
transit, claim-making and detention and resources for reception.8 Even Scandinavian research
highlights gender-specific vulnerabilities for UASC girls as motivating their flight.9 Less
explored are gender-specific conditions of reception.10 These indications support the interest
1 The research overview on Swedish research on gender and asylum-seeking children relies on an article written
by Mehrdad Darvishpour and Elinor Brunnberg (2016). See, E. Brunnberg & M.Darvishpour, ’Etnicitet, kultur
och genus: Om ensamkommande barn och mötet med den svenska skolan’ in P.Lahdenperä & E.Sundgren (Ed.)
Skolans möte med nyanlända, Liber, 2016, pp.111-132.The empirical material is based on the research project
“New-comer children’s and youth’s inclusion and gender equality development” led by associate professor
Mehrdad Darvishpour and has been financed by ”Samhällskontraktet” (Societal contract) driven by Mälardalen
University. Other members of the groupare Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Magnus Hoppe, Niclas Månsson and
Mohammadrafi Mahmoodian. 2 A. Gerard, The Securitisation of Migration and Refugee Women, Routledge, Abingdon, 2014; J. Freedman,
Gendering the International Asylum and Refugee Debate, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2007. 3 Eurostat, 2017. 4 Migrationsverket 2016 5 Freedman 2007. 6 Gerard & Pickering 2012 7 M. Darvishpour, Welfare State “stepchild”: An intersectional and structural perspective on ethnic relations and
discrimination Sweden inE. Brunnberg & E. Cederström (Ed.). New Tools in Welfare research, NSU Press,
Århus, 2013. 8 A. Gerard, The Securitisation of Migration and Refugee Women, Routledge, Abingdon, 2014. 9 L. Stretemo & C.Melander, Får jag vara med? erfarenheter från ensamkommande barn och ungdomar i
Göteborgsregionen och arbetet med denna grupp, FoU i Väst, Göteborg, 2013. 10 A. Celikaksoy & E.Wadensjö De ensamkommande flyktingbarnen och den svenska arbetsmarknaden.
SULCIS Rapport 2015:2, Stockholm. 2015; I. Luthman, The Gendered Implications of Securitized Migration: A
qualitative look at how the securitization of migration affects women’s experiences of seeking asylum in one of
in exploring in what ways have the migration crises of 2015 and its aftermath implicated the
gender-specific vulnerabilities of UASC girls? Therefore, this paper is to explore:
• In what gender specific ways has the increase in securitization impacted on the
opportunities of new asylum-seeking girls reception in Sweden?
• In what ways have their life trajectories, with a specific focus on their reasons for
flight, corroborated with the experiences of reception?
• In what ways have these profound changes impacted their psychological and social
conditions?
This is to be explored by the life story analyses of two girls originating from an Afghan
background, both brought up in Iran and both having arrived to Sweden in 2015.
The securitization of the Swedish asylum system after 2015
Sweden has been recognized as one of the most generous countries in terms of the governance
of migration.11 Borevi12 identifies as the most significant feature of Swedish exceptionalism
the universal access to social rights for all citizens incorporating immigrants. The governance
was described as lacking liberal pressures put on migrants for self-reliance and a maintained
focus on multiculturalism, rather than assimilation as a form of inclusion of migrant groups in
relation to the majority society.
Swedish people’s attitudes toward the reception of refugees for a long time has been most
positive, and characterized by a tension between openness and generosity on the one hand,
and control and restrictions on the other.13
Nonetheless, this liberal framework has been undermined by rising communitarian
sentiments, “a terrain shared with ill-famed radical anti-immigration nationalist-populist
movements and parties across Europe”.14 After Sweden joined the EU migration policies have
become gradually more restrictive.15 Swedish policy has been in agreement with Schengen
and the Dublin Convention. The purpose of the Schengen agreement is to promote the EU
being a common market for goods, capital and labour. Meanwhile, EU is securitizing entrance
of third nationals. The goal of the Dublin Convention is to prevent an asylum applicant from
seeking asylum in multiple countries. The Dublin Convention, sending back asylum seekers
to the country of their first entry within the EU, applied even to UASC. As long as Sweden is
seen as a desirable target for asylum seekers, the Dublin Convention implies that many
venture onto challenging and dangerous routes to avoid being registered prior to entering.16
In Sweden, the portion of both foreign-born individuals and those born in Sweden to foreign-
born parents has been 22% in 2016. After gradual increases from 29,648 people per year in
2011, the number of asylum-seekers doubled between 2014 to 2105, reaching more than
163,000 in 2015. By this Sweden had the highest proportion of refugees filing for asylum in
relation to the population within the EU.17 Of these, approximately 70,000 were young people
under the age of 18 years. During 2015, UASC increased the number of all those seeking
the world’s most gender equal countries Uppsala University, Department of Government, Master thesis in
Political Science, Uppsala, 2017. 11 M. Darvishpour, & C.Westin, Maktperspektiv på etniska relationer, in M. Darvishpour & C.Westin (Ed.)
Migration och etnicitet: perspektiv på ett mångkulturell Sverige, Studentlitteratur. Lund, 2015. 12Borevi, K. ‘Sweden: The Flagship of Multiculturalism’, in G.Brochmann & A.Hagelund (Ed.), Immigration
Policy and the Scandinavian Welfare State 1945–2010, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp. 25–96. 13 Darvishpour, 2013. 14 C-U. Schierup & A. Ålund, ‘From Paradoxes of Multiculturalism to Paradoxes of Liberalism.Sweden and the
asylum – from one-tenth to one-fifth, with 66% of UASC coming from Afghanistan (23 480).
In the autumn of 2015, there was a breakdown of the previous rule system. Many refugees
came to Sweden without registering themselves in another European country or at the
Swedish border.18
The 2015 refugee stream, or so-called “refugee crisis”, placed both service provision for
asylum seekers and the Migration Board handling the applications into a “crisis situation,”
mobilizing resources and civil society for the accommodation of refugees. Despite the
pressure, to start, Sweden retained a positive attitude to refugees as reflected in the 6
September 2015 statement by Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén: “My Europe does not build any
walls.”.
However, at the same time, a counter-mobilization and the increasing popularity of the right-
wing xenophobic Swedish Democrat Party put pressure on breaking the political consensus on
the welcoming of refugees. An anti-refugee discourse permeated other parties, opinions and
media.19 The media image of refugees, especially the young group of men, presented an
unbalanced and unfairly negative view of the group.20
Thus, facing political pressure, on November 24 the government, based on a national
consultation with all parties, though excluding the populist Swedish Democrats, declared a
turnaround from the EU’s most generous migration policy to one comparable with the EU’s
minimum standard.21 The Temporary Asylum Law implied an increase in the “securitization”
of the terms given for residency permits and an alliance with EU directives demanding the
redistribution quotas for refugees. Combined with an increased securitization of borders,
which ruled out the open internal borders under Schengen, the changes resulted in the
“normalization” of migration flows. The number refugees coming to Sweden declined to
29000 in 2016 and 22000 by 2017.22
This new law had a specifically adverse impact on the opportunities for UASC. One
important change was the increased securitization of age certification of UASC, a highly-
criticized method by the medical profession.23 The age of the children is often discussed
during the asylum process, and the child’s own information can be questioned. The “writing
up” of the age of minors implies that they lose special rights and protections in place for those
who are being classified as UASC, both in terms of accessing services and resources while
waiting, and as special protection when deciding about rejecting the application. Those,
whose age has been written up most commonly, soon received a rejection of their application.
Furthermore, the temporary stop in giving permits for family affiliation also makes the
prospects for UASC to reunite with their families improbable. The length of the period
asylum seekers have to wait for their trial has increased, thus exacerbating the period of
uncertainty for applicants. The proportion of those receiving a permanent residence permit
(PUT) declined drastically, since most applicants after 2016 obtained a temporary resident
permit (TUT). In total the proportion of children examined who received residence permit
18 Migrationsverket, 2016. 19 Ahmadi, F. O.Mella, I.Palm & M.Darvishpour, Mångfaldsbarometern Tio år av attitydmätningar i Sverige,
Gävle University press, Gävle 2015. 20 J. Strömbäck, F, Andersson & E. Nedlund, Invandring i medierna – Hur rapporterade svenska tidningar åren
2010-2015, Delmi Rapport: 2017:6, Stockholm, 2017. 21 Löfven, S., & Romson, Å. (2015, November 24). Regeringskansliet . Retrieved from Regeringen
föreslår åtgärder för att skapa andrum för svenskt flyktingmottagande. 22 Migrationsverket, (2017). Antal asylsökande – aktuell statistik. Accessed at:
https://www.migrationsverket.se/Om-Migrationsverket/Statistik.html 23 A. Hjern, M. Brendler-Lindqvist & M. Norredan, Age assessment of young asylum seekers. Foundation Acta
Pædiatrica, No. 101, 2012, pp. 4–7; B. Rai, J. Kaur, J & H, Jafarzadeh, ’Dental age estimation from the
developmental stage of the third molars in Iranian population’ Journal Forensic Leg Med. Vol. 17, No. 6, 2010,
25 http://www.dt.se/inrikes/vag-av-sjalvmord-hos-ensamkommande-barn-fran-afghanistan-de-far-ingen-karlek. 26 J. Huysmans, ’The European Union and the Securitization of Migration’, Journal of Common Market Studies,
Vol. 38, No. 5. 2000, pp. 751–777. 27 Bigo D. & J.Julien, ’Border Security, Technology and the Stockholm Programme’, Centre for European
Policy Studies: INEX Policy Brief No. 3, November 2009; C. Cantat, Contesting Europeanism: Discourses and
Practices of Pro-migrant Organisations in the European Union. PhD Thesis at the School of Law & Social
Sciences, University of East London, London, 2015. 28 P. Nyers, 'Abject Cosmopolitanism: The Politics of Protection in the Anti-Deportation Movement’, in N. De
Genova & N. Peutz (Eds.), The Deportation Regime: Sovereignty, Space, and the Freedom of Movement, Duke
University Press, Duke, 2010. 29 Cantat 2015. 30 A. Tickner, ’You Just Don't Understand: Troubled Engagements Between Feminists Stokes and IR Theorists’
International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4,
1997, pp. 611–632, p.625; 31 Tickner, 1997, p. 625 32 P. Roe, P. ’Gender and 'positive' security’ International Relations, Vol. 26, 2014, pp. 116-138, p. 17)
explore from a process-oriented perspective how social and structural hierarchies interact with
the international systems regulating migration33 and how these produce gendered inequalities
in the intersections of the private and public spheres contributing to the insecurities of women
in particular.
The increase in the proportion of women during the past decades among labour migrants has
prompted Castles and Miller34 to talk about the feminization of migration. In contrast, men
dominate among asylum seekers35 The increased securitization of migration, and the growth
of border controls and surveillance, has increased both the costs of border crossings as
refugees and made the crossing riskier. While the deterioration of the rights of asylum seekers
impacted all, research exposed specific vulnerabilities and insecurities that women experience
throughout the entire asylum process.36 Concerning the gender-specific causes of flight,
women’s gender-specific vulnerabilities are emphasized, such as the occurrence of the GBV
(gender-based violence) issues of forced marriage and genital mutilation. Meanwhile,
women’s weaker socio-economic status and access to resources have been named as a
hindrance to cover the expenses of flight. Women are exposed to GBV on their way in
transit,37 and experience special hindrances while in detention upon arrival to first countries
waiting for decisions.38 Women asylum seekers find themselves in vulnerable positions in the
asylum-seeking process, since they are placed into joint asylum-seeking accommodations
with men. Due to the high proportion of men, informants experienced a fear of sexual
harassment and violence.39 Women may experience special conditions in the process of
asylum determination, as well as through provisions for reception and while processing their
applications.40 Lastly, gender differences prevail in the process of the establishment in
countries of final destination.
In Sweden, asylum seekers may be granted refugee status if “he or she feels a well-founded
fear of persecution on grounds of race, nationality, religious or political beliefs, or on the
grounds of gender, sexual orientation or other membership of a particular social group.”41 The
gender notion was first included after the reform of the Aliens Act in 2005. In the EU,
Sweden and UK are the only two EU member states adopting such guidelines.42 Permits are
also granted on the so-called subsidiary protection43 and on humanitarian grounds.
Sweden is renowned for its gender equality policies. Despite of the special status Swedish
asylum law offers to gendered-based vulnerabilities, in praxis, however, women who had
33 Freedman 2007. 34 S. Castles, M.J. Miller, M. J & G. Ammendola, in P. Marfleet (E.) The Age of Migration: International
Population. Refugees in a global era, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2005, pp. 57-140. 35 (EU 2016). 36 Gerard 2014. 37 M. Nagai, U.Karunakara, E. Rowley, E. & G. Burnham, ‘Violence against Refugees, Non-refugees and Host
Populations in Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda’. Global Public Health, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2008, 249–270.
38 Freedman 2007; Bhabha, J. ‘Demography and Rights: Women, Children and Access to Asylum’ International
Journal of Refugee Law, Vol 16, No. 2, 2004, pp. 227–243; S. Pickering, Women, Violence and Borders,
Springer, London, 2011; A. Gerard & S. Pickering, Sharon, ‘The Crime and Punishment of Somali Women’s
Extra-Legal Arrival in Malta’ The British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2012, Pp 514–533. 39 Luthman, 2017. 40 J. Freedman, ’Engendering Security at the Borders of Europe: Women Migrants and the Mediterranean
‘Crisis’’, Journal of Refugee Studies, 2016, pp. 1-15; Gerard, 2014; L. Hunt, ’Women Asylum Seekers and
Refugees: Opportunities, Constraints and the Role of Agency’, Social Policy & Society, 2008, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.