It's often forgotten that a factor affecting the reduction of the numbers of newly displaced is also a symptom of a reduction in the number of choices Iraqis have of places to flee to. As neighbouring countries have closed their borders to Iraqis, so has Kurdistan, numerous other Iraqi provinces, and now Sweden has had enough of the Iraqi invasion. Iraqis and Swedes had a good run for a while, Sweden has had by far the biggest influx of Iraqi refugees outside of the Middle Eastsince the war began, they (a country with a total population of nine million) took in 18,600 Iraqis last year alone, ten times the number the US did last year.That era has come to an end as the Swedish government has recently decided that Iraqis entering Sweden will now have to prove their case for personally being in danger to qualify for asylum, and that being from central or southern Iraq alone is not enough of a reason. This means that in January of 2008 42% of asylum applicants were allowed to stay in Sweden, as opposed to 93% in January 2007. Not only that, but the Swedish and Iraqi governments have signed a deal stating that Sweden can forcibly send back failed asylum seekers.
As an aside, there was an interesting line in that article from a US homeland security official who was quoted as saying that the majority of Iraqis rejected for aslyum there were for "security, medical or other reasons," I'd be very curious to know what exactly those medical reasons are.
