Europarådet: Sverige måste ta emot fler invandrare och ge dem bättre villkor

Sverige bör återgå till en mer generös asylpolitik och ta emot fler invandrare. Det menar Europarådets kommissionär för mänskliga rättigheter i en ny rapport. Bland annat anser rådet att psykologer ska få bestämma hur gamla "ensamkommande flyktingbarn" är.

Europarådet är också kritiskt till reglerna om familjeåterföreningar och att Sverige gör skillnad på människor med så kallad flyktingstatus och de som är alternativt skyddsbehövande. För de senare är det bara i undantagsfall som anhöriga får komma till Sverige.

– Sverige har varit ganska generöst mot flyktingar och asylsökande, men nödläget som infördes för flera år sedan behövs inte längre och ni kan återvända till er traditionella, bättre politik mot flyktingar och asylsökande, säger Europarådets kommissionär Nils Muižnieks till TT.

Han menar också att "ensamkommande" bara ska få skickas tillbaka till Afghanistan om det är säkerställt att ett familjenätverk kan ta emot personerna i fråga och ge dem en säker bostad.

Enligt Muižnieks finns det en risk att Sveriges nuvarande regler bryter mot de så kallade mänskliga rättigheterna.

Varför gör Europarådet på det här viset?

Muižnieks' parents, Ansis and Ingrid, were both refugees who left Latvia in 1944.

Prior to his appointment as Commissioner for Human Rights, he held prominent posts such as Programme Director at the Soros Foundation-Latvia,[1] Director of the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia in Riga (2005–2012); Chairman of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (2010–2012); Latvian minister responsible for social integration, anti-discrimination, minority rights, and civil society development (2002–2004); and Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (now Latvian Centre for Human Rights) (1994–2002).[2] Member of the Latvia's First Party (2003-2005), its co-chairman and one of its ministers in the Government.[3][4]

As member (2005–2010) and Chair (2010–2012) of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Muižnieks represented ECRI before international political bodies, human rights mechanisms and international organizations such as the EU, OSCE, UN. He was Rapporteur for country reports on Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia; member of working groups for Ireland, Iceland, Norway; and chair of the working group on combating racism in policing.

His work as Commissioner for Human Rights pivots on country and thematic work, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups, such as children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and Roma. Muižnieks has received a lot of media coverage for his support of the Roma population.[5][6]

Further work concerns the human rights of migrants, including, asylum-seekers and refugees; women’s rights and gender equality; minority rights; and the importance of respecting human rights standards within the information society, in particular as regards media freedom, data protection, social networking and access to digital literacy.

He is also enhancing the co-operation with national human rights structures with the aim of fostering human rights oriented policies at national level and addressing systemic shortcomings in member states.

Nils Muižnieks has published extensively on human rights issues, in particular on racism, discrimination, minority rights, children's rights, and women's rights.