Everyone has the right to seek asylum

Many swedes are appalled by the numbers presented by the Swedish Migration Agency of the estimated cost for handling the vast increase of people applying for asylum in Sweden. The estimate for 2016 is 60 billion SEK and 73 billion SEK for 2017. Many say that these numbers are outrageous and the government need to take action to prevent this. My question is, what options do we have and which one do you suggest? Although most people does not spell it out, the bottomline is often that we need to reduce these numbers. If not possible otherwise, then by force.

However, according to Article 14 of the declaration of human rights:

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

So, the right to seek asylum is a human right, and furthermore, according to Article 30, we would explicitly violate the human rights if we prevent people from doing that. So, the people that come to Sweden and seek asylum are OUR responsibility. We cannot neglect them their rights. If we do not honour the human rights our society would be on a very dark path (think of the horror of violations of Article 19 for instance).

Analogy:

Sweden suffers from a population that grows older and older. Soon we will have too many old people that needs to be taken care of by too few young. The cost of taking care of the old will be outrageously high. Government need to take action. Suggestion is to reduce the number of people growing old. How? We could deport them somewhere or if not possible we might also reintroduce the kin/clan precipice. Anyone with a sane, humane mindset would think this is a horrendous idea.

The challenges with a ageing population is something we need to deal with in an appropriate and humane manner. It is exactly the same with the refugee crisis we are facing right now.

Don't forget to celebrate the Human Rights Day on December 10. It is a perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of our responsibilities. It is particularly important in these times.