The first transport of one of several Ethiopians detained at Trandum is expected to take place on Wednesday.
Soon 30-year-old Mulualem from Ethiopia came to Norway as a 14-year-old and has lived in Modum in Buskerud. Family and friends call him Mulu. Since 22 February, he has been detained at Trandum awaiting forced return to his home country.
– Today I have been told that I have to get ready to travel, he says on the phone to Nettavisen on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Drammens Tidende, he has been told that the flight leaves at 7 p.m.
Have been rejected three times
The man’s lawyer Cecilie Schjatvet confirms to Nettavisen that her client has been told to pack.
– He is being deported despite the fact that the Ethiopian authorities have not responded to inquiries. It could be that this is a dispatch that will be of no use and that he will come back, she says.
Mulu has had his application for protection in Norway refused. Three times he has tried to overturn the decision, but was refused each time, according to the court documents, writes Drammens Tidende.
– We have thought that this cannot happen
Mulualem is one of several Ethiopians who have been detained at the Police’s immigration detention center at Trandum awaiting forced return. Everyone in this group has lived in Norway for a long time, from 10 to well over 20 years. Mulualem says that he was 14 years old when he arrived. He started upper secondary school in Norway in 2013 and has completed three years of schooling here. After first living in an asylum reception, he came to a foster family in Buskerud.
– He has had an address in Modum until now. He has been our foster son and foster brother, confirms Nina Djærff to Nettavisen.
– He does not have papers, and we have thought that he cannot be sent out. We have thought that this cannot happen, she says.
When Nettavisen spoke to her, she and her mother had just visited Mulualem at Trandum.
Another family member posted a message on Facebook:
– Ethiopia will not accept him, Norway does not want him. My good, warm, kind, fair little brother, she writes.
Got a support concert
Nina Djærff talks about the now deceased Ole Paus’ commitment to the Ethiopian. In August 2013, more than ten years ago, the vice singer held a concert in Åmot church in support of the then 20-year-old Mulu. Around 400 showed up.
– Paus was a big and strong voice that spoke for Mulu. “He is ours”, was his message, says Djærff.
– What is so great about the case of Mulu is that he has a local community around him. There are many children who do not have it. It is important to send a signal to the bureaucrats and politicians that people are moved by these fates, Paus told Bygdeposten in 2013.
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Could be the first
The return freeze to Ethiopia was lifted in May 2022. So far this year, there have been no deportations of Ethiopians.
The police’s immigration unit (PU) is responsible for the deportations. They cannot confirm that they are now ready to start the forced return of the Ethiopians.
– Unfortunately, we cannot share information about the police’s work in connection with verification and return, PU replied to an inquiry from Nettavisen on 19 April. On Wednesday afternoon, Nettavisen sent a new inquiry to PU about transport.
NOAS has protested
The Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) has considered that return to Ethiopia is still problematic and contrary to recommendations from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The organization has asked the Norwegian Immigration Service to try one of the Ethiopia cases in the grand jury.
The police’s immigration unit confirms that there are Ethiopian citizens in the immigration detention center awaiting verification/return to Ethiopia, but will not say how many there are.
Nettavisen has spoken to several of them.
According to NOAS, the figure is 21 and a further 60 Ethiopians are eligible for forced return.
PU: – An obligation to leave Norway
The police’s immigration unit says this about forced return:
– It is an obligation to leave Norway and return to your home country when your application for a residence permit is rejected. This duty is imposed on the individual himself, including obtaining a travel document in order to be able to return. All applicants are made aware of this in connection with the application process, regardless of the type of application they are applying for. If you choose to ignore the order to return to your home country, the police can take measures to carry out forced return.
According to PU, there are around 150 Ethiopian citizens whose application for asylum has been refused and who are obliged to leave Norway. According to PU, this means that they have “illegal residence in Norway”.
– In addition, there are many Ethiopian citizens who have been deported due to criminal charges or other reasons. The individual police district is responsible for following up on these cases, PU told Nettavisen.
Will fly to Addis Ababa
PU confirms that the flight will go to Addis Ababa when it becomes relevant:
– Our companions do not have the opportunity to follow the person who is returned further internally in Ethiopia. The police’s responsibility in connection with an outward transport ends after the foreigner has been accepted at the border control. If the foreigner is domiciled outside Addis Ababa, the person concerned must proceed on their own. In such cases, it is considered whether financial support should be given for tickets onward within the country, says the reply from PU.
The Immigration Act sets limits on how long a person can be detained pending forced return. The total period of detention cannot exceed twelve weeks, unless the reason it takes longer is because the foreigner does not cooperate in carrying out the deportation or there are delays in obtaining the necessary documents from the home country’s authorities, PU states.
– In such cases, the total period of detention cannot exceed 18 months. This deadline does not apply if the foreigner has been deported as a result of punishment or special reaction. The various deadlines follow from the Immigration Act section 106 b.
PU says it varies from country to country how long it takes to get a person verified and to have a travel document issued.
– As soon as the police receive this, only the work on the practical implementation will remain, including the itinerary, ticket booking, notification deadlines and other things, PU states.
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– I am sad
29-year-old Mulualem is distraught when Nettavisen talks to him. He talks about his years at school in Norway and his foster family.
– They are on their way to Trandum now, he says.
– I am sad. This could determine my entire future, he says.
He says that his father was dead when he fled Ethiopia. It was an uncle who helped him escape, so he was smuggled out. His father was politically active, and Mulualem says that he himself was imprisoned for five days, as a twelve-year-old, together with his mother.
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Ethiopia: A “fluid and complex” security situation
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the security situation in Ethiopia as “fluid and complex” in travel advice for Norwegians who want to visit Ethiopia, and travel to several conflict-affected regions is advised against.
In 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) advised against returning to Ethiopia, and to the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) they confirmed in March this year that this assessment is valid.
Norway cannot return anyone back to countries where they may risk persecution, the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, but the Norwegian authorities say they cannot just listen to the recommendations from UNHCR.
On 2 April, Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) answered a question from representative Hilde Danielsen (SV) in the Storting and said that the Ethiopian asylum seekers who are now to be deported have all had their asylum applications finally rejected. “It means”, it was said in Mehl’s reply, “that their connection to the kingdom and whether there are strong human considerations have been assessed”.
