Johan Forssell Minister for Foreign Trade. Credit to Photo Facebook
The Swedish government has made aid a weapon it uses to repatriate refugees and has threatened to withdraw aid from countries that do not cooperate with repatriation.
In May, the Minister of Relief and the Minister of Immigration sent a joint letter to the government of Somalia. The letter, which was seen by Sweden’s SVT TV, says that cooperation on refugee repatriation should be strengthened and that Sweden, which has long been one of the biggest donors to Somalia, will now review aid if changes are not made. new.
The aim was to underline that the new Swedish government wants to speed up the repatriation of refugees, and that the government of Somalia is aware of this change in Sweden’s aid policy, said aid minister Johan Forssell (M).
The Tidö agreement between the ruling Moderate party and the far-right SD stated that the government “links some of the aid to the country with the responsibility of its citizens return it when necessary,” which according to Johan Forssell means that part of the aid can be withdrawn if necessary.
This decision was criticized by the aid organizations that receive the support of Sweden.
”They should not use aid as a tool to solve the refugee policy,” said Philemon Jazi, director of Diakonia’s African division.
The government of Somalia is not known to have signed this agreement, and no news has come from the Somali side.