Columnist This text expresses the writer’s personal views.
William Shakespeare wrote at the start of the 17th century that “something is rotten in the Danish kingdom” in his famous play Hamlet. If Shakespeare were alive today, he could just as well have written “something is rotten in the Norwegian kingdom” if he had followed Norwegian immigration policy.
Because something is rotten when a state spends enormous resources on opening cases of revocation of citizenship or residence permits against citizens on the basis of something they did or mistakes that happened when they came here 10, 15, 20 years ago.
At this moment it sits over 20 Ethiopians detained at Trandum. Well-established, well-integrated Ethiopians who have all lived in Norway for over ten years and the longest for over twenty years. One of them, Mulalem Fekadu, who has lived in Åmot in Buskerud for sixteen years, has already been sent to Ethiopia after fifteen years in Norway and now lives on the streets of Addis Ababa.
Another of the detainees, Samuel Zigale, has lived in Norway for over fifteen years and is very active in the street football team of the Salvation Army in Ålesund. Or Woinshet Asefaw, who has lived in Norway for sixteen years and most of the time at the asylum reception at Tingvoll, is nevertheless an active contributor to the local community. Among other things, she helps an elderly lady with shopping and housework.
These are therefore not welcome longer in Norway because the immigration authorities allegedly do not believe their stories.
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There is some willow rotten when a state expects a minor to implicate his own mother for a falsehood given in an asylum interview over 19 years ago. And that’s even after mother and daughter go to the police and lay all their cards on the table. It happened to Zarina Saidova, someone about whom NRK and Klassekampen have written several stories. She has a boyfriend, friends, network and created her own workplace in Norway.
In a reply with the Minister of Justice Emilie Mehl (Sp) on 30 April in the Storting, I asked the following: “My question is quite simple, does the minister think that a minor should indicate his own mother when coming to Norway, and does the minister think that it is next in line to punish this person, who is trying to solve the situation, provide documentation and cooperate with the police after the incorrect information was given in the first place? Is that correct?”.
Emilie Mehl then replied: “It is not possible for me at a political level to step in and either assess or give comments related to individual cases. I have confidence that we have a system that works well. We have clear rules, i.a. that you must provide your correct identity when you come to Norway. If one has not done so, there may be a reaction. I understand that from a human perspective it can be experienced as very demanding, but it is also important for trust in the asylum institute that the rules we have are followed”.
Makan to bureaucratic response.
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It is also something serious wrong when the immigration authorities decide to throw out a pregnant mother of two from Afghanistan, Rukhsana Husseini, who has lived in Norway for over twelve years, has two children, is married and well established with a job and a house at Kløfta in Ullensaker.
Now she is heavily pregnant with another child on the way, but has been forced out of the country because the UDI has an idea that she is from Pakistan, even though they cannot produce any proof of that. Pakistan, on the other hand, believes that Rukhsana is not from Pakistan.
The sad story on this visa is that Rukhsana risks being deported to Afghanistan, because all Afghans in Pakistan without valid documents risk being deported. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, after Pakistan announced that all Afghans without valid documents must leave the country by November 1, 2023 or face deportation.
Norway therefore runs the risk of be responsible for sending a heavily pregnant Hazara woman into the clutches of the Taliban.
Something is rotten when good integrated citizens who are important resources for their local environment, pay their taxes and have created good and safe lives in Norway, are deprived of citizenship or residence permits for violations of the Immigration Act or the Nationality Act.
Since 2017 it has been given clear political instructions to the UDI that they should prioritize revocation cases, and a lot of resources are used for this. Since 2017, more than 5,500 people have lost their citizenship or residence permit, and such revocation cases are often opened on a suspicion that neither needs to be well-founded nor has any lower threshold. In many cases, we are talking about people who came to Norway as minors, and who have therefore spent the majority of their upbringing and lives here.
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When a revocation assessment or case, this has major consequences for the person concerned. It is very intrusive, and the processing time in a significant proportion of cases has been over five years.
It’s been five years uncertainty and a huge burden for the person concerned and those closest to them. Legal aid is also not provided in connection with the interview the person must have with the police. And as usual, consideration of the child’s best interests is not considered in such cases. They are not even heard.
Limitation periods are not something unusual or new in Norwegian law. There are some crimes that do not expire, such as murder, arson, rape of children under 18, genocide or crimes against humanity. And let me add: it is quite right that such crimes should not be statute-barred. But limitation periods are otherwise nothing new in Norwegian criminal law.
It is for me though completely incomprehensible that there should not be a limitation period for breaches of the Immigration Act and the Nationality Act.
Something is definitely rotten in the Norwegian kingdom. And once again, a majority in the Storting consisting of Ap, Sp, Conservative and Frp have voted down proposals that can do something about this. I think it is sad, especially from the parties who shout about “strict but fair” policies in this field, because there is neither justice nor proportionality here. But this is certainly the situation in the Norwegian kingdom.
