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Between 2012 and 2013 Sweden, declaredthat it would grant political asylum to all Syrians who would have applied for it. Other countries, like Norway, Germany, The Netherlands and France made a similar promise accepting a limited number of requests.

To ask for political asylum means to ask protection and shelter to a state because of fear or threat of being persecuted in your own country because of your ideas, religion or sexual orientation. Not all people who flee a country at war can demonstrate that their lives as a person are in danger for a specific reason: in these cases people can apply for a specific kind of protection. By declaring that it would welcome Syrians, Sweden ensures asylum to all of them.

However, when Sweden declares that it will welcome every Syrian who applies for asylum, it means that it will welcome only the people who will be able to arrive within its territories to process the request.  As we have seen, arriving into Europe legally for Syrians is practically impossible: who wants to receive the rights that some European countries have promised, needs to get to these countries through illegal and dangerous ways. In order to do that these people need to pay human traffickers (sea and land smugglers) for a trip that might cost overall around 2.000 Euros per person in families of sometimes up to 10 members. The people who can afford this perilous trip have, therefore, high professional backgrounds. Opening its doors to who is able to get to its territory means, for Sweden, to be selecting its immigration choosing to welcome only the richer Syrians.