Sveriges Radio International - English -- Engelska
Three abandoned brothers from war-torn Congo Kinshasa who fled to Sweden two years ago are fighting to stay here after being told by the Swedish Migration Board that they must go back to their native country.
The boys, Asa, Kenneth and Patrick Vuvu who aged 7, 13 and 14 , say they face torture and death if they're sent back. Now their schoolfriends, local residents and politicians are campaigning to keep them in Sweden.
Listen to Dave Russell's report
Two years ago they fled Congo Kinshasa with their mother seeking political asylum in Sweden after their father, a member of the political opposition, disappeared. Six months later after their plea for asylum in Sweden was rejected three times, the mother fled underground, hoping that with her 3 children living alone, they'd have a legal right to stay. The boys now live with a guardian.
The Swedish Migration Board has said that it found no evidence that the children faced torture by being sent back to Congo. It did say that it would never leave children in a country on their own but if it could find a relative or another acceptable way, then it would follow the children over there and hand them into safe care. But it wouldn't do that until it was 100 percent sure that the boys would be looked after.
Sveriges Radio International - English -- Engelska
Elena Yurkovskaya, SD:s EU-kandidat. Foto: Fredrik Persson/Scanpix.
One of the xenophobic Sweden Democrat party's candidates to the European Parliament has called immigrants to Sweden "primitive individuals" and claims that many have over 2000 parasites in their bodies. Elena Yurkovskaya also says that many of them are only qualified to pick up chewing gum from the pavements. She made the comments on a party trip earlier this year, and they were caught on a hidden microphone.
Speaking to Swedish Radio's Kaliber programme, Yurkovskaya still claims today that her comments can't be construed as offensive.
"No, it isn't offensive. I can take all kinds of criticism myself, if it's constructive and if something can be done about it. After all, people can be dewormed and sent to school. It's not hopeless".
Yurkovskaja is number 17 on the Sweden Democrat ballot to next week's European election, the party does not currently have a single MEP and is currently hovering below the 4% threshhold to get a seat in the new parliament.
Sveriges Radio International - English -- Engelska
Photo: Mark Earthy/SCANPIX
Work permits can later be turned into permanent residence permits
Since Sweden introduced new rules to allow immigration for work reasons, 102 people whose application for asylum was declined, have now been given a work permit instead.
The rules were introduced in December last year, in order to make it easier for employers to recruit new staff abroad. At the same time, it became possible for former asylum seekers to apply for a work permit from within Sweden - if they do so within two weeks of having their asylum application rejected.
In total, over 500 asylum seekers have applied for this work permit. Out of them, just over 200 have been declined a permit because the applications were not filed within the stipulated two weeks. Another 110 applications have been declined because they did not fulfil the criteria regarding existing salary and employment.
The work permit can be extended for up to four years, and after that it is possible to turn it into a permanent residence permit.
One of the successful 102 applicants is Garnik Sargsyan from the northern town of Sundsvall. After nine years as an asylum seeker in Sweden, he has now got a work permit. "I cried when I was given the news", he says in an interview with the daily Dagens Nyheter.
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