The Tidö Government Wants to Amend UN Convention to Enable Deportation of Refugees

On Wednesday evening, the Nordic migration ministers will meet for a discussion. Among other topics, they will attempt to agree on ways to make it possible to deport more migrants convicted of serious crimes.

In February, Minister for Migration Johan Forssell (Moderate Party) and Minister for Gender Equality Nina Larsson (Liberal Party) published an op-ed explaining how the government and the Sweden Democrats intend to take the initiative to amend the Refugee Convention so that foreign nationals convicted of serious sexual offenses can be deported—even if they are refugees.

For Sweden to remain a safe haven for people fleeing war and persecution, the ministers argued, the regulations must protect those who truly need and deserve protection, while those who abuse Swedish hospitality by committing crimes undermine confidence in a regulated immigration system.

They referred to statistics from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) showing that one in four young women aged 20–25 and 16 percent of girls aged 16–19 have been subjected to sexual offenses. Despite the seriousness of these crimes, it is not uncommon for the perpetrator to remain in Sweden—something they now want to change.

One of the measures includes a new declaration expected to be adopted at the Council of Europe’s meeting in June, which will mean that the foreign criminal’s ties to the country will not weigh as heavily as they do today, potentially leading to more deportations.

75-Year-Old Rules Due For Revision

The next step is to address the UN Refugee Convention, which was written for a very different era. On Wednesday night, the Nordic migration ministers will meet in Brussels to attempt to bring about a change to these regulations.

Those who are not citizens and who do not accept our fundamental values—including women’s rights—should not come here. Those who are here and commit crimes will be deported. We are actively working in Sweden, at the European level, and now within the UN system to ensure this.

The 75-year-old Refugee Convention requires that the crime be particularly serious for deportation to be considered. Under current regulations, rape can qualify as such a crime, but each case must be assessed on its individual circumstances. This is also something they want to change: the ambition is that rape and aggravated sexual offenses should always be regarded as particularly serious crimes under the Refugee Convention, regardless of the specifics of the case.

According to Forssell, the aim is to ensure that foreign nationals convicted of serious sexual offenses will be deported—even if they are refugees.

Previously, the Tidö government has also ensured that the number of deportations of foreign nationals who commit crimes can be increased sixfold. The goal is for all foreign criminals sentenced to penalties harsher than fines to, as a main rule, also be deported. The ambition is for Sweden to have the strictest regulations in the Nordic region for deportation due to criminal offenses.