Anton Ahlén

In Sweden, as elsewhere in the European Union (EU), irregular migrants are subject to contradictory policy frameworks shaped by the goal conflicts between Member State's interest in migration control and their responsibility to protect human rights. By EU comparison, Sweden provides irregular migrants with comparatively strong protection of labour and social rights. Despite this, substantial gaps remain both with regard to what rights are protected and the extent to which irregular migrants actually access the rights they have. In addition, there is ongoing reform work that places increasing emphasis on migration control and decreasing the emphasis on rights. This policy context also appears to have implications for how irregular migrants in practice access their labour and social rights. This policy brief highlights how we can find better approaches to balance migration control and rights protection in order to reduce vulnerabilities among irregular migrants without increasing irregularity.