http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/centre-right-conduct-eritrea-return-deal-talks/
Centre-Right conduct Eritrea return deal talks
Published on Thursday, 19th June, 2014 at 12:03 under the news category, by
Sarah Winkelmann and Michael Sandelson .
Last Updated on 19th June 2014 at 12:18.
The Progress Party’s (FrP) Himanshu Gulati has met with Eritrean authorities several times to discuss a return agreement. He terms the talks as “constructive”.
“Eritreans are currently the largest group of asylum seekers that come to Norway”, he told Klassekampen, Thursday, “and there are about 500 in asylum reception centres that have to depart Norway. Good mechanisms are important in order to be able to return these [persons].”
The previous Red-Green government considered a return agreement with Eritrea during their time in power. They signed one with Ethiopia in January 2012.
Mr Gulati, whose Party has suggested placing refugees in IKEA shelters, mentions plans of returning 45% more refugees than the Centre-Left tripartite coalition did.
Moreover, deporting rejected asylum seekers who have received a final no from the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) is a priority area for the current government, according to him.
Independent organization Freedom House report Eritrea is not an electoral democracy and corruption is a major problem.
Socialist Left (SV) politician Karin Anderson remarked to Klassekampen that nine of ten Eritrean citizens flee the country out for safety reasons.
3,250 Eritrean citizens applied for asylum in Norway in 2013. Norway closed its embassy in the country, a move many protested.
The UN reports that returned asylum seekers face a major risk of imprisonment, torture and of disappearing.
The Djiboutian Government agreed in April to release all Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers – except prisoners of war.
At the same time, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, has called for further releases and the country’s government “to put an immediate end to the widespread practices of arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and persecution.”
“I urge the Eritrean authorities to immediately release, or charge and bring before a court of law, all detainees, including the members of the ‘G-15’, the journalists arrested in 2001, as well as those arrested for their opinions or religious beliefs,” Ms Keetharuth said in a statement last month.
SV’s Karin Anderson states that asylum seekers “cannot go back once they have fled the country because applying for asylum is seen as treason”.
“Human rights are important for Norway, and we raised this subject in our discussions,” said Progress’ Himanshu Gulati. “We must assume that return is defensible when someone has received a rejection [regarding their asylum application].”
Government partners the Christian Democratic Party (KrF) says that they do not have time to comment on that matter, while the Liberals (V) do not wish to comment on a currently non-existing deal.
Received on Thu Jun 19 2014 - 07:14:57 EDT