In the year to date, 4,474 people fleeing Syria’s civil war arrived in Sweden, with 1,506 of those arriving in the past five weeks.

Last year, 640 Syrians applied for asylum in Sweden.

So far this year, a total of 29,713 people have sought protection in Sweden, a 48 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

As these figures emerged, three leading Green Party politicians labelled Sweden’s refugee policy “inhumane”.

Åsa Romson, the Green Party spokesperson, Mehmet Kaplan, party spokesperson for legal rights issues and Maria Ferm, spokesperson for migration policy, made the accusation in an opinion piece for the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The piece was published ahead of a weekend Green Party conference in Linköping, central Sweden, focusing on migration and legal rights.

“The reception of refugees is a national commitment according to international conventions”, the three politicians wrote.

“But while the Assad regime in Syria bombs its people and many are forced to flee the country, several Swedish municipalities are turning away unaccompanied refugee children.”

The authors called for all Swedish political parties to cooperate to create a “more humane Sweden”. They also called for a change in the law to ensure that no municipality will be allowed to turn away unaccompanied refugee children.

“When people are forced to flee the battles in Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan we all have a responsibility. Children who have lost their families and have escaped to Sweden need a safe home.”

Sweden is currently accepting more refugees from Syria than any other European country.

Between January and August 2012, 43 unaccompanied children arrived from Syria, according to statistics from the Swedish Migration Board. This was a 430 per cent increase on the same period last year, when 10 unaccompanied Syrian children arrived in Sweden.

AFP/The Local/nr

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