State Secratary Atle Hamar

Columbian asylumseekers in Norway

Oslo, 15 March 2000

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to wish you all welcome to this Colombia Seminar arranged by UNHCR, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Norwegian Organisation for Asylum-seekers. It is of great importance to draw our attention to Colombia, due to the social and political tension that has prevailed for many decades and that has worsened the last years.

I will not present myself as an expert on Colombia in a forum like this. I know that many of the real experts will go into details about Colombian issues later on today. But I will stress that I visited Latin-America on a 10 days mission in November last year, and spent most of my time in Colombia. The purpose of the visit was to broaden our acknowledge of the political situation with emphasis on the human rights issues, more specificly related to Colombians seeking asylum in Norway.

The stay in Colombia was in all aspects very useful and interesting. We met with several local human rights organisations, Colombian authorities, UN organisations as UNHCR and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. We also met with the International Committee of Red Cross, foreign missions and others. Thanks to the Norwegian Refugee Council`s representation in Bogotà who helped us to carry out our program, we also got to see some of Bogotà`s outskirts as Ciudad de Bolivar where we could see Norwegian Refugee Council`s projects and meet with several internally displaced families.

Even though the situation for a considerable part of the population in Colombia is so dramatic, I was impressed by the Colombian people that we met and the spirit and involvement they showed. The attitude of the people and the Colombians as individuals, makes it impossible to be indifferent to their country. The involvement among the human rights organisations is impressive taking into account that they represent the most vulnerable group in Colombia with daily threats and constant pressure. The work they are doing is of invaluable importance.

What we experienced in Colombia during our many conversations with all the people that we met, confirmed the information that we had from earlier missions and from written reports. The situation seems to be out of control. Violations of the human rights committed by both paramilitary groups and also the guerrilla are increasing; leaving more than a million people as internally displaced. These difficult tensions, do however not implicate that the whole Colombian population is in need of protection. We have experienced that many of the Colombians who have applied for asylum in Norway do not have an individual fear of persecution according to the UN Convention and the Norwegian Immigration Law. However, with the latest developments in mind, and from what we know from the human rights organisations the humanitarian situation has become extremely difficult. We assess the situation for families with children to be of such a kind that return to Colombia in many contexts is not to be recommended, even though they do not have an individual need of protection. This implies that Norwegian immigration authorities have decided to give those Colombian families with children, who currently are in Norway, a residence permit based on humanitarian grounds.

Even though many of the asylumseekers coming to Norway do not need protection according to the Convention and the law, we know that a growing number of people in Colombia do need to leave of the country in order to attain safety. This was emphasized by both local human rights organisations, the International Committee of Red Cross, the UNHCR in Bogotà and others. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find internal flight alternatives. Besides, the alternative of seeking protection in the neighbouring countries are restricted. Therefore we have established routines on how to get some of these people out of Colombia to give them protection in Norway. Through recommendations from some of the most experienced human rights organisations in Colombia, it has been possible to locate these people. These are people who can not find a safe place in Colombia. Several families have been accepted for resettlement in Norway through a special quota created for this group. This system assures us of giving protection to the ones in most need. On the other hand, the Norwegian immigration authorities try to prevent economic asylumseekers coming to Norway. The asylum-institute is not meant to serve economic immigrants.

Norwegian Immigration authorities are often met with critics either for having a too strict or too liberal immigration policy. What is true is that the government that has been in power for the last 2 ^2 years has led a more liberal refugee- and immigration policy than former governments. Several of the changes in this policy was however started by the former government and fulfilled by today`s government.

One of the changes is the criteria in order to be granted political asylum by making no difference between persecution led by authorities or persecution led by other groups. This change has been accomplished in agreement with UNHCR.

Also the criteria to get residence permit on humanitarian grounds has been made broader.

We have also decided to increase our yearly refugee-quota from 1000 to 1500 persons. For this quota-system we have an excellent collaboration with the UNHCR to screen the persons that are in need.

Less restrictions on working permits is another liberal move. Asylumseekers are now allowed to get a temporary working permission while they are waiting for their application of asylum to be processed. We have also made it easier for skilled persons without an academic career to come to Norway to work.

These are just some of the moves we have done in order to implement a more liberal refugee- and immigration policy in Norway. Despite a more liberal refugee- and immigration policy, we can still be able to help just a small number of the refugee population. The most important work is therefore the effort that is being done in the country of origin. The work that is being done, in this case, in Colombia is of great importance. On my trip I observed both The Norwegian Refugee Council and the UNHCRs contribution in the country. The international presence in the country is of great value not only because of their concrete work but also because they make the international society becoming aware of the situation. Their presence is an invaluable contribution in order to find a solution to the conflict.

I wish you all good luck in your future work. I can assure you that I personally will follow the situation in Colombia with great interest also in the future, even though not as a State Secretary.