A demonstration against the deportations of young adults held at Sergels torg in Stockholm on May 10, 2026.
© Susanne Bergsten
(Stockholm) – Sweden is deporting young women to countries where they could face severe gender-based rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. Media reported that in 2025, at least 92 young adults were set to be deported alone, many of them women who grew up in Sweden and have immediate family there.
Sweden has been deporting an increasing number of young adults who spent years on temporary residence permits tied to a family member, but lost their right to remain in the country when delays and policy changes left them without permanent residency by the time they turned 18. Deporting young women is especially alarming when they are forced back to countries where gender-based violations and entrenched patriarchal norms severely restrict their rights and autonomy.
“The Swedish government is sending young women to situations where they may have to give up their rights and autonomy just to survive,” said Susanne Bergsten, research assistant at Human Rights Watch. “These deportations disregard well-documented risks of severe gender discrimination, including gender persecution and the daily risks faced by young women living alone in societies with grave social, legal, and financial barriers to women’s independence.”
These deportations separate families, undermining Sweden’s international and European human rights obligations, and expel young people from the place they call home just as they begin adult life. Sweden should halt these deportations and review all decisions to ensure young adults will be protected from gender-based harm and prioritize solutions that prevent families from being split.
Human Rights Watch interviewed two people whose residency has been denied, and two legal experts.
Recent cases ill
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