LE MONDE - In Limbo - Loulou d’Aki

A former power plant surrounded by birches in an area of Dalarna which used to be a prosperous one. Nowadays many old buildings are used to give temporary abode to asylum seekers.

Sweden was the first country to grant asylum to all refugees from Syria, in 2013. As a consequence, the country has, since then, received the largest number of asylum seekers in proportion to it’s population. The state takes care of asylum seeking refugees from their arrival and through the administration process after which they are sent to a temporary home somewhere in the country unless they already have relatives in Sweden.

With the arrival of an unprecedented number of asylum seekers in the summer of 2015, the system seemed to crack in the edges and asylum people were stuck in a bureacratic limbo.

Shot for Le Monde:

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/europe/portfolio/2015/09/10/la-suede-terre-promise-des-refugies_4751737_3214.html?xtmc=loulou_d_aki&xtcr=5

A volunteer who helps out at Kontrapunkt takes a breather. The association has opened up it’s doors for refugees the first nights they arrive in Sweden. Here they can get a bed, food, drinks, clothes and shoes.

Osams father was killed by gangs and his son had to flee the country, leaving behin a mother and 7 syblings. It took 17-year old Osam 6 months to reach Sweden from Somalia and now he is in a limbo. Osam says that he is tired after the long trip, he just w

Refugees from Somalia stand on the frozen lake before sunset in Säter, Sweden. The boys all came to seek asylum alone, having lost their families one way or another.

Asylum seekers from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Libya sit by a table outside their temporary abode at Tallmogården, a former hotel and spa turned into a home for refugees recently. Many of the men and women who arrive from mentioned countries face problem

Three Iraqi boys smoke cigarettes on the porch of Kontrapunkt, an association which has opened up it’s doors for refugees who just arrived in Malmö for a night or two before they continue to their final destinations.

15-year old Josefin Svensson from Ornäs hangs out in in her car on a Sunday evening. She thinks that Sweden should stop giving asylum to refugees now: ’I don’t see why they should get jobs and housing when we don’t’. Josefin studies in a private school an

Young men from Iraq who arrived in Malmö last night sit by a table where they can charge their phones at Kontrapunkt, an association who has opened up it’s doors for refugees the first nights they arrive in Sweden. Here they can get a bed, food, drinks, c

A window opens up on an empty corner for kids who play on the courtyard, at a center where asylum seekers who just arrived sleep for the first few nights before being sent north, south, east or west to another temporary abode until migration grants or den

Men and women line up for lunch in a center where asylum seekers who just arrived can stay a couple of days before they are given temporary abode. Sweden is the country in the European Union which accepts the largest number of refugees as opposed to it’s

16-year old Suleim Nuri from Afghanistan is an orphan, his father was killed by border police when Suleim was still a child and the family illegaly crossed the border to Iran. When his mother passed away a few years ago, Suleim’s older sister and brother

Each asylum seeker who arrives gets a bag with a pillow, blanket and some hygiene articles when they arrive to a center open 24/7 where asylum seekers who just arrived can stay a couple of days before they are given temporary abode.

A Palestinian girl arranges clothes donated to her and the community of asylum seekers from Gaza who began a hungerstrike last night. They oppose the fact that newly arrived Syrians will get their asylum request handled straight away since they are stuck

A Syrian man who arrived to Sweden two days ago watches children play on the grass in a center where asylum seekers who just arrived can stay a couple of days before they are given temporary abode. He will leave for Boden in the northern part of the count

A Syrian boy who arrived to Sweden two days ago watches children play on the grass in a center where asylum seekers who just arrived can stay a couple of days before they are given temporary abode. He will leave for Boden in the northern part of the count

A Syrian family of three who just arrived at Malmö Central Station after a month of travels from Syria, receive warm clothes and food before taken to a first appointment with the migration office.

A Syrian grabs his ’welcome bag’ before geting on a train bound north from Malmö. The blue bag is given to all asylum seekers who spend their first night in the country in one of the Migration office’s temporary centers, it contains a blanket, a pillow, a

African asylum seekers in quiet discussion across from the Migration office and next to the place where Iraqi-Palestinians and Gazawi’s have pitched their tents to hungerstrike against the lack of decisions. Some of the men and women have been waiting for

A man rests in a commune bedroom in the back of Kontrapunkt, an association who takes care of refugees the first night of arrival in Sweden.

Chairs on a pile to make room for mattrasses in a room at Kontrapunkt, an association who has opened up it’s doors for refugees the first nights they arrive in Sweden. Here they can get a bed, food, drinks, clothes and shoes.

A Syrian boy sits on his temporary bed in an asylum center for newcomers in Malmö. He will leave for Stockholm in a few hours.

A family from Somalia walk back home in a small Swedish city where they have been granted asylum before the recent refugee crisis.

LOULOU D’AKI