Government wants to have a return agreement with Eritrea
Norway Today
20/06/2014
The government are in contact with Eritrean authorities to discuss a return
agreement.
The government are in contact with Eritrean authorities to discuss a return
agreement .
Secretary Himanshu Gulati (FRP) in the Ministry of Justice and Public
Security has recently returned from a trip to Eritrea, where he held
meetings with the authorities.
- I have had several meetings with the Government of Eritrea on the return
issue. The Eritreans are currently the largest group of asylum seekers to
Norway and we have over 500 exit mandatory Eritreans in Norwegian asylum
centers. It is important to have good mechanisms to return these, says
Gulati to the newspaper Klassekampen.
He said that it is a priority for the government to achieve repatriation
agreements withas many countries as possible. No agreement with Eritrea is
ready yet, but the talks will continue.
- I was welcomed, experienced a positive attitude and had constructive
talks. We will continue with new talks in the near future, says Gulati.
According to the UN, there is great risk of imprisonment, torture and
disappearances of asylum seekers who returned to Eritrea. The Government are
therefore criticized from both the opposition and asylum seekers' interest
group NOAS (Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers).
- If Gulati is sitting on completely new information on improving the human
rights situation in Eritrea, it is important that he shares it with the
world, says NOAS-General of Ann-Magrit Austenå.
SV politician Karin Andersen believes the situation upon a return to
Eritrea is so uncertain that Norway can not send anyone back yet..
The coalition government was considering establishing a return agreement
with Eritrea, but turn it down because of the human rights situation in the
country.