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IMMIGRATION

Fewer Iraqi children granted asylum

Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Board) has turned down 111 of 297 residence permit applications for Iraqi children.

The latest figures for 2008 show a sharp increase on the last two years, when 24 out of 647 asylum applications were denied.

Migrationsverket takes the view that children whose applications have been denied can return to their home country. Among them is a 16-year-old boy from Baghdad, whose rejection is contrary to UN recommendations, according to Dagens Nyheter.

The current trend applies across the board. Out of a total of 1,474 applications from all asylum seekers in 2006–2007, only 206 were turned down, compared to 230 out of 701 so far this year.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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