On May 7, 2013, the international conference of the European Migration Network entitled Reception systems for asylum seekers – a comparative perspective took place in Stockholm.
Besides the representatives of Swedish organizations and institutions (e.g. Swedish Migration Board, ministries, municipalities etc.), Slovak representatives of EMN National Contact Point (NCP) as well as participants from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, and the Netherlands participated in the event.
The first session was focused on developments in the Swedish reception system for asylum seekers while two presentations offered an insight into the reception of unaccompanied migrants.
In the second part of the conference, the Swedish model was juxtaposed to the practices of other EU countries, particularly Belgium, France and Great Britain. This pointed out different Member States practices despite the attempts of the EU to harmonize the reception of asylum seekers.
Finally, the future challenges for the Swedish reception system were discussed within the discussion panel consisted of Johan Ward (the municipality of Södertälje), Ewa Hagberg (Swedish Red Cross), Adam Cwejman (Timbro), Anna Wessel (Swedish Migration Board) and Susanne Nilsson Marino (Swedish Migration Board).
The theme of the conference contributed to the preparation of the upcoming 2013 EMN focussed study on Organisation of reception facilities for asylum seekers. More information including the conference programme as well as presentations is available on Swedish EMN NCP website.
The conference was consequently followed by a cluster meeting held on 8 May. The meeting was attended by various EMN NCP representatives who discussed EMN‘s findings and recommendations emerging from the EMN evaluation from two years ago.