Doomsday is approaching

Tomorrow the Swedish parliament will have a vote on asylum policy and a possible amnesty for refugees and asylum seekers. During the last months, huge campaigns have been organized in favour of amnesty for refugees. The idea is to allow asylum seekers who have been turned down, to remain in Sweden. It is an ad hoc solution to solve the catastrophic situation that many refugees are living. Because of a rotten asylum policy with an eternal processing of applications and extremely delayed answers to the applicants, many refugees live in constant insecurity about their future. The proposal of amnesty would allow all recent applicants a residential permit. This would not help the problem in the long run but save the lives of many people suffering under a bad system.

At this very moment the government is still negotiating with its coalition partners concerning the budget proposal. The coalition parties, the Left party and the Greens, have long since promoted the amnesty for refugees and are now pressuring the Social democrats on the issue. According to recent media reporting the Left party has given in to the government while the Green party is still struggling to achieve the amnesty. The parliamentary vote will take place tomorrow morning at 9 am. The assembly’s public seats will be full of spectators from several human rights organisation watching over the MP’s, encouraging them to vote for the amnesty. Tomorrow is a kind of judgement day; the Members of parliaments have a unique chance to show their stand on a central human rights issue. This decision will be vital for the lives of thousands of people who are done nothing wrong but seeking refuge in Sweden, getting stuck in our disastrous asylum system. It’s now or never.