Sweden, Population 10M, Offers Asylum to 11 Million Uyghur Muslims
Swedish Government to open doors to China's Islamic Uighurs
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The Swedish Government will be opening up country's doors and offering asylum to an estimated 11 million of China's persecuted Uyghur Muslims, potentially doubling Sweden's population.
Swedish Migration Board made the decision this week, which would allow Chinese Islamic Uyghurs, or Uighurs, to claim asylum in Sweden by easing up the regulations to guarantee entry.
The board decided that all persecuted Muslims would be welcome, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports, despite the number of potential asylum seekers being larger than Sweden's current population, which is estimated to be about 10.2 million people.
Since the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe, Sweden has already taken large numbers of refugees.
Long known for its tolerance and quality of life, the Scandinavian country has recently seen an alarming rise in gang violence, sexual assault, and terrorism–most of it linked to a large and unassimilated Muslim minority.
Integration policies for the immigration influx are already seemingly failing, with major cities, including Malmö and Stockholm, having so-called "no-go zones," or "vulnerable areas" as authorities call them, due to the high levels of violent crimes.
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According to Breitbart, Carl Bexelius, Deputy Legal Chief at the Migration Board, expanded on the reasons for the move saying, “What we have seen is that it is rather far-reaching state repression, where one can seize and detain persons without actual criminal charges.
"You are placed in what is described as retraining camp. This happens arbitrarily.”
The move could have real consequences for Sweden, a country of 10.2 million people by 2018 estimates, due to the fact that the Uyghur population in China is estimated to be up to 11 million people, according to Chinese state statistics.
Over the last year, the Chinese government has severely cracked down on Uyghur Muslims in its western Xinjiang region.
Up to a million people are believed to have been detained and sent to “re-education” camps across the region.
In 2015, Sweden took in only a fraction of a million people, around 163,000 asylum claims, which amounted to a cost of around 600 billion Swedish kronor ($60.58 billion), or 14 times the annual defense budget.
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The costs of the recent migrants have put a strain on some municipalities forcing many to consider raising taxes in order to pay for social services and for the national government to even look into raising the retirement age to help cover new costs.
The costs of housing, integration, and teaching new migrants Swedish, for those who actually attend the classes, is also complimented by the much higher unemployment rate among migrants than native Swedes.
Should only half of the population currently in camps in China make their way to Sweden, it is highly unlikely that the country would be able to manage the numbers alone.
Carl Bexelius at the Swedish Migration Board, however, said he does not think the new move will make more Chinese flee to Sweden saying, “We have relatively few asylum seekers from China and we made the decision not to expel these groups as early as September and we saw no increase then.”
