HOW CONSIDERS THE CASES THE SWEDISH MIGRATION BOARD

author:  Ashot Torosyan 

In our uncertain times there are many people naively believing that the Swedish Migration Board considers the cases by conscientiously studying every nuance of each individual one. This is probably because the asylum seekers, as we know, have seen so much injustice in their homelands that actually cannot imagine something insensitive on the part of the Migration Board officials. 

However, like any normal state, Sweden has his own interests and appropriate immigration policy which is fully understandable. The only question here is whether the policy which carries out the Swedish Migration Board is the policy of the country being a symbol of humanism? What kinds of strategies are used by investigators of the migration board during the examination of the cases? Do they really try to restore the overall picture of events has been occurred with the given asylum seeker? Let's consider some of the techniques that are generally used by the staff of the Swedish Migration Board under examination of cases.

False re-examination or misleading clarification.  In this case, the manipulative effect is achieved due to the fact that the manipulator makes it appear that he wanted to clarify something better for themselves, asks the same question again, but only repeats your words herewith only partially, by making necessary changes in the sense of your earlier words, thus changing the total value of what you have said in favour of Migration Board.

For instance, “How did it happen that you have required your passport from your country?” asks the investigator. And that's in case where you said “I have received my passport in homeland”.

Therefore, you should be very careful, by always listening to what the investigator is saying to you, and – while noticing a dirty trick - clarify what was stated by you earlier even though the investigator is pretending that he doesn't notice your desire to explicate the statement and is attempting to divert from the main topic.

The desire to show his indifference, or pseudo-inattention. This technique is especially used in the Migration court, where some judges stab to demonstrate as if they quite indifferently perceive the interlocutor and verbally transmitted information. Such a tactic gives the manipulator a great opportunity to unpredictably react to the seeming contradictions. Watching the judges during the trial you can see how they suddenly as though wake up and make remarks from their notebooks. You may also notice some sparkles of restrained joy on their faces when it seems they have managed to find out something controversial. 

As a counteraction by your part in this case it is required to strengthen your own volitional control and not to succumb to the provocations.

Factor of particularity or from details to an error. The manipulator forces the object of manipulation to pay attention only to one specific detail, without giving notice to the whole picture, and based on that, makes appropriate conclusions which can be taken by the consciousness of the asylum seeker as an uncontested substance of meaning of the spoken.

For example, you said that the Republic of Armenia stipulates religious freedom. As a conclusion the migration board says “That means you can apply to the authorities in case of encroachments against your rights”. But you also said how the legal system of Armenia is functioning, what kind of guarantees exist for protection of personal rights and freedom, about traditional attitude of Armenians towards law and legality as well, about some cultural and ethno-psychological factors by virtue of which actually the realization of constitutional rights is impossible. Thus, the migration board considers the law about religious freedom isolated from the social relations existing in Armenia.

To counteract, you should always work hard on yourself to improve your knowledge and level of education.  We must learn to see the whole and its parts in regard to things and phenomena.

Irony or manipulation with a sneer. Manipulation in such a situation is achieved due to the fact that the manipulator is initially chooses an ironic pitch level, as if unconsciously questioning any word of manipulation object. Usually such behaviour is observed among the representatives of the Migration board under the re-examination of cases in "Migrationsdomstolen". In this case the object of manipulation is too fast to "fly off the handle" and consequently, as in anger the critical thinking is complicated, the person enters into an altered state of consciousness (ASC). 

For an effective protection one should show his indifference towards the manipulator. Feeling himself individuality can help to condescendingly treat the person trying to manipulate you - as a child's play.

            A sudden counterargument or an insidious lie. Here the manipulator, unanticipated by the object of manipulation, refers to the words allegedly spoken by the latter earlier and according to which simply continues to develop the theme. The object of manipulation after such "revelations" as a rule acquires a sense of guiltiness, and in his psyche the barriers finally break down. This is possible also inasmuch as the most of those towards whom manipulative impact is directed are internally unstable and have a high criticality in regard to themselves. Therefore such a lie on the part of a manipulator becomes in their minds as one or the other proportion of the supposed truth, which in turn helps the manipulator to get his way.  

 Excessive suspiciousness or induction of forced excuses. This kind of manipulation occurs when the manipulator is playing suspiciousness pertaining to some issue.  

For instance, the investigator says. “I think your passports are with you and you just do not want to give them to us”.

As a response to suspiciousness in the object of manipulation should emerge a desire to justify himself, thereby, the psychological protective barrier weakens; hence, the manipulator achieves his goal by inserting into the subconsciousness of the object the necessary psychological attitudes.

A relevant protection here is a self-awareness as a personality and wilful opposition to any attempt of manipulative effect on your psyche on the part of Migration Board investigator.

Unexpected quotation or words of the asylum seeker as evidence. Here, the manipulative effect is achieved due to an unexpected citation by the investigator with regard to previously spoken words of the asylum seeker. Herewith, the words themselves can be partially made-up, i.e. have other meaning than the object of manipulation had uttered earlier on the issue. For instance, you said that the authorities cannot or will not protect you from persecution from individual people or groups of people but the investigator affirms as if you have spoken about persecution from the authorities in your home country.

The Migration Board investigator will as much as possible speculate any word said by you under investigation. Therefore one should be very attentive.

Alleged contradictions. Because in the interview the asylum seekers mostly speak in their native languages, translators, especially when they are characterized by the obvious lack of professional competence or a completely different dialect, can provide a great service to the Migration Board in the artificial entanglement and complication of the cases. Everyone knows that every word can have a very peculiar legal significance. And imprecise translation in the literal terms, as well as in the substantial level may provide an excellent opportunity for the decision-makers of the Swedish Migration Board to make necessary manoeuvres between the concepts. For example, you say the official, translator (especially when he speak in Western Armenian) says the government: To have a better understanding of how different is the Western Armenian from the Eastern, let’s consider the following. The word “ձգել”  means “dry” in Eastern Armenian, but in Western Armenian it means “release”…

The foregoing unquestionably proves that regardless of asylum grounds one actually cannot have any chance to obtain asylum in Sweden, if the Migration Board based on his immigration policy doesn't want to provide that kind of protection personally to you as if on obvious but indeed unknown reasons. In considering of each case the main task of the Migration Board consists of the following, namely, how to find a reason to refuse. The best way to do it is to simply: just say that there are very little evidences to confirm the credibility of your stories (inte sannolik att…). After all the Migration Board does not expect that you will call for example your potential killer in the Migration court to give testimonies about his criminal intentions. But who knows… Anyway, I hope things are different in the case of those who now are reading this article. Gud Luck!