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Norway: Asylum and immigration (3)

01 January 1991

Norway: Asylum and immigration
artdoc November=1995

Repatriation plans force Tamils underground

Many Tamils from Sri Lanka have gone underground so as to avoid
deportation. The government has declared that Tamils no longer
risk persecution and announced that 300 Tamils living in Norway
will be returned.
Norway is also continuing to return Turkish refugees denied
asylum (Agence France Presse 25.1.95, 9.2.95).

British black woman strip searched at Oslo airport

A 19-year-old British travel agent, Syretta Robinson, has lodged
a complaint with Norwegian officials after being strip-searched
at Oslo's Fomebu airport when she went to Norway on a one-day
educational visit. Officials justified their action by saying
that it was unusual for someone to spend just 24 hours in a
country. But Ms Robinson's employer says that she produced
genuine ID and was picked on because she was black (Voice
28.2.95).

Housing cooperative discriminates against refugees

A housing cooperative in Lohogda has refused to sell homes to a
society that it says would then provide accommodation to
refugees. Lohogda housing cooperative has written to Oslo city
council denying they are racist. Their decision is based on the
fact that refugees are from a different cultural background, have
language problems and do not understand Norwegian customs
(Aftenposten 23.2.95).

Oslo immigration officers accused of assault

Passport officers at Oslo airport have been accused of
assaulting a Norwegian citizen of Kurdish origin. The man, a
journalist, says he was placed in a prison cell for no
apparent reason (Dagbladet 2.2.95).

IRR European Race Audit, no 13, April 1995. Contact: Liz
Fekete, Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London
WC1X 9HS. Tel: 0171 837 0041