Aegir, the Icelandic Coastguard patrol ship which is currently patrolling Europe’s southern borders as part of Iceland’s membership of the Schengen zone, yesterday saved 63 refugees from a small and overloaded boat which sank half way between Morocco and Spain.

Visir.is reports that children were among the rescued people. The Icelandic crew took all the refugees aboard, where they were warmed up before another coastguard ship rendezvoused with Aegir and took the 63 people ashore in Spain.

There is little doubt that the refugees would have died in the open water if a rescue boat had not been nearby — as thousands of refugees do at sea every year.

Aegir is working for the European borders agency, Frontex.

The refugees had been left to fend for themselves in a dangerous gully on the Radopos peninsula on the Greek island of Crete.

The group was made up of 30 men, 16 women (including two pregnant women) and 12 children — the youngest of whom are just a year old. The refugees come from Syria and Afghanistan.

A statement from the Icelandic coastguard says that the people are in good health, given their situation.

The location made the rescue operation extremely difficult and worsening sea conditions made the last stage particularly dangerous. Despite the conditions, the rescue operation went well and the people were moved to the town of Souda.

Aegir is currently patrolling European frontiers as part of Iceland’s obligation to the Schengen Zone. The ship will continue its European role until the end of October.

Pekka Tuomola of the Centre for Torture Survivors said that, in contravention of the UN Convention Against Torture, Finland sends many victims of physical and psychological abuse back to their country of origin when their asylum applications are refused.

According to Toumola, nearly 60 percent of asylum seekers suffer from some kind of torture trauma, whether it is psychical, sexual or emotional abuse; the latter is often caused by the anguish of watching family members killed and raped. He said that around 200 torture survivors are referred to the centre each year, but psychological torture cases are often ignored by immigration officials.

“We can make a well-grounded assessment of whether somebody has been tortured or not, and we write that in medical statements,” said Tuomola in a YLE report. “According to the UN convention, torture victims should not be returned to the country where they were tortured. The problem is that the Immigration Service does not always believe us, or consider our statements,” he added.

The centre, which is run by the Helsinki Deaconess Institute, often starts asylum seekers onto recovery programmes, only to have their progress interrupted when the patient is deported. “This is a really awful experience when you find out that a person is going to be returned to the same situation in which they were tortured. In effect, it’s a death sentence,” said Tuomola.

VoB Syd is jointly owned by a number of municipalities in Skane and Smaland, southern Sweden, including the Vob Kronoberg municipal board and the Skane Association of Local Authorities. The company has reportedly made millions in proceeds since cutting back on staff.

Admitting that profits were high, Vob Syd CEO Rolf Beckman said, “The occupancy has varied. When there is lower occupancy, we need less staff.”

Malmo administrative director of social resources management, Annelie Larsson, has promised to review the city’s dealings with the company. “We do not scrutinise how VoB Syd uses the money. However, there is no doubt that this really stings. It’s shocking. We need to look at how they fulfil the contract with us,” she said.

The temp agency was set up last year in an attempt to help around 80 Iraqis who had been denied refugee status in the country. The court ruled, however, that finding work for such people was illegal and that the group had no proper permits to arrange employment.

According to Politiken, the company, which has lost DKK308,000 (USD57,180) in confiscated funds, is set to appeal the decision. Asylbureau had its finances frozen by the city council last October before it managed to secure employment for any of its clients. The appeal is therefore challenging the court’s assumption that the company intended to, rather than did, act illegally.

An Asylbureau spokesman said the group, which operated out of a church in Norrebro, had “followed the rules set down by the Immigration Service at that time”. He added that some of the Iraqis were refused jobs on the basis of them not having permits and that the agency was simply trying to initiate an exemption that would secure their clients as legal residents in Denmark.

The chairman of the Board, Jorunn Frimansdottir, explained on her Facebook page what will happen: “A (Haiti) project leader will be hired. He/she will be stationed at the Central Reykjavik and Hlidar social services centre.”

She further explained that refugees in need will be contacted through their close friends and relatives who live in Iceland, RUV reported. “That way we can work towards helping the people and getting them here (to Reykjavik),” Frimansdottir said.

The national government has also shown willing to help Haitian refugees, and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has received many requests from Icelandic citizens wanting to help their close friends and family in Haiti.

The government has already asked the parliamentary Refugees Committee to investigate the best way to quickly and legally allow Haitian refugees with ties to Iceland to travel to the country.

Minister Ragna Arnadottir said she has had nearly 20 enquiries from Icelandic citizens with relatives in Haiti – relatives not deemed close enough by Icelandic law for their guaranteed entry into Iceland.

It is not currently legal to issue residence permits to non-EU nationals who are not yet inside Iceland or who do not have close family ties in the country.

Arnadottir has asked the parliamentary Refugees Committee to investigate how Icelanders’ extended family members in Haiti can legally be offered temporary Icelandic residence permits.

Henry Turay, a refugee from Sierra Leone, has been in Iceland for around two-and-a-half months. He recently went into hiding after attempts were made to deport him from the country. He yesterday released a YouTube video where he says he intends to remain in hiding until he is allowed a residence permit, or at least until his case is reopened, Visir.is reports.

Haukur Hilmarsson is one of Turay’s friends in Iceland and says that his friend is scared of being deported back to Germany because he is sure the road from there will lead straight back to Sierra Leone – a country he hasn’t seen in over eight years and where he has no friends or family.

Kristrun Kristinsdottir at the Icelandic Ministry of Justice does not agree: she says Turay is not about to be sent to Sierra Leone, only to Germany.

The Germans are ready to have him back, she said, and it is the German authorities who are in the correct legal position to deal with his asylum claim. Meanwhile, he is being looked for by Icelandic police and, as things stand, he will be deported if and when he is found.

Henry Turay’s YouTube video can be viewed here.

“It feels good that Sweden can take part in such a large humanitarian operation,” the Director General of the Swedish Migration Board, Dan Eliasson said.

“These camps are in some of the most difficult places on Earth, where the living conditions are dreadful. Now we can help to ensure…that these people that live there can come to Europe and the USA,” Eliasson said during an interview on Swedish Radio’s news feature Ekot. The news source claimed that Sweden will be taking in a further 200 refugees in addition to its current total of just under 3,000.

Sweden accepts the most refugees under the quota system, with around 1,900 of the total 4,800 European arrivals last year finding sanctuary in Sweden. The country has also been at the forefront of the push for other member states to increase their acceptance of the UN quotas.

Sweden is the main destination for Iraqi refugees, with only Jordan, Syria and Lebanon housing more. The UN estimates almost 2 million people have fled Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. Recently, Sweden has begun deporting some asylum seekers as it claims parts of Iraq are now safe enough to live in.

However, this week she reversed the decision, saying that priority would now be afforded to refugees from Burma residing in Malaysia. The minister also announced that Denmark would be refusing refugees from fellow Muslim countries Jordan and Syria.

Speaking to the Politiken newspaper Margrethe Vestager, leader for the Social Liberal party, demanded an explanation for the sudden u-turn, suspecting domestic politics have influenced the decision. “Birthe Ronn doesn’t want to be in a position where she is throwing Iraqis out of the country, while at the same time bringing more in,” said Vestager.

Birthe Ronn refused to be drawn into comment over the Iraqi affair apart from commenting that Burmese refugees have in the past proven good at integration into countries where they have resettled.

Refugees differ from asylum seekers in that they are offered the resettlement under laws handed down by the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, which is based on a quota and criteria basis.

Denmark is under agreement to take 500 refugees annually who must meet a range of considerations such as health status, safety risks and geographical origin.