For the last couple of months, the Swedish migration debate has once again focused on what happens in the southern region Skåne. This time, politicians in a small town rejected to help young migrants and once again the region is branded as xenophobic.

On Christmas Eve, five boys between 14 and 18 years of age arrived from Afghanistan to the small community Sävsjö in the region of Småland, in the southern parts of Sweden. A Free Church took care of them during the weekend before the Swedish administrative authorities today – ironically the Holy Innocents’ Day – start handling the case. The first information said that the boys arrived in a container and were let out in a forest. However, this was a consequence of inadequate translation – the route is not totally clear but at least from Skåne, the most southern region in Sweden, the Afghans arrived by train. [1]

So everyone that during the last couple of days has started to write articles about human trafficking and how heartless people can be even during Christmas, they had to change structure and theme of their texts. In this case, it’s an easy thing to do. All you have to do is focus on what the Afghans left behind : Skåne, a problematic region with big integration problems. It’s understandable that the Afghans chose to go further up north.

Vellinge and the Segregation
One big debate in Sweden during the last months comes out of a political decision. Without the support of local rightwing politicians, a temporary transit-home for young migrants established in Vellinge – a rich town in Skåne that always seem to reject refugees. The local conservative politician Lars-Ingvar Ljungman said in an interview that Vellinge doesn’t have the knowledge or competence to take care of migrant children without parents. He couldn’t see a good reason to have problems of integration in Vellinge, that’s why they shouldn’t be forced to welcome these young migrants either.

Though, Ljungman and some of his local party colleagues had to accept being criticized by his own party and the rightwing Sweden government. At the same time, no one is surprised that it all happened in Skåne. For decades, it has been the region most known for being xenophobic and as a result, racist and political parties have a seedbed there. [2] At the same time, there has been an interesting development afterwards where forces in civil society stood up for these young migrants.

A Controversial Region
So Skåne is interesting to study with its politics and its tradition to be (and to be viewed as) the most xenophobic region in Sweden. Malmö, the big city linked with a bridge to Copenhagen, is trying to get rid of the xenophobic label and argues that the town has succeeded with its multi-cultural society. [3] Unfortunately, an old historical slogan is closely related to the region : “Skåne till Danmark !”, i.e. “Skåne to Denmark !”. [4] The close relation to Denmark – Skåne was Danish until the 18th century – is something the population is reminded of every time Danish restrictive migration politics beats its own racist records and prejudices against Islam is flourishing. [5]

At the same time, it’s an obstacle for the population to be accepted as Swedish. Skåne is often seen as something more continental and European than a Swedish region when it comes to the traditions, architecture and politics. Even the dialect is well known (based on weak premises) for being hard to understand, ugly and closely related to Danish.

Better Safe than Sorry ?
Many people migrate to Sweden and often get Skåne as their first impression of Sweden : a beautiful and economic rich region filled with intern problematic affairs. The integration problems have once again come into focus because of Vellinge and its conservative politicians. [6] During 2010, we will know more about the five migrants and their opportunities to stay in Sweden. To be on the safe side in a country more restrictive against migrants than the Afghans might have heard, the tragic advice for them is to stay on this side of the border to Skåne. Is that a drastic thing to say ? Actually, yes. Taken into account that Skåne is a political dynamic region with much influence on political life which needs to mobilize every time the xenophobics dominate the debate, it is drastic and severe to advice the migrants to stay north of the border. But when Lars-Ingvar Ljungman – the mentioned local politician in Vellinge – is appointed to lead the conservative party’s new regional migration enquiry [7], it seems to be a reasonable conclusion.