{"id":2241,"date":"2015-06-08T03:16:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T03:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=2241"},"modified":"2015-06-08T03:16:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T03:16:54","slug":"norway-eritrea-return-agreement-implausible-noas-says-published-on-sunday-7th-june-2015-at-1324-under-the-news-category-by-michael-sandelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/06\/08\/norway-eritrea-return-agreement-implausible-noas-says-published-on-sunday-7th-june-2015-at-1324-under-the-news-category-by-michael-sandelson\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway-Eritrea return agreement implausible, NOAS\u00a0says Published on Sunday, 7th June, 2015 at 13:24 under the news category, by Michael Sandelson"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers Secretary General Anne-Magrit Austen\u00e5 makes her comments in a week that saw Progress Party (FrP) Justice Ministry officials visit the African country.<\/p>\n

\"Eritrean<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

What is your view regarding a return agreement with Eritrea<\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA return agreement with Eritrea is impossible. There will be strong political opposition to a return agreement with Eritrea as long as no international independent human rights-protecting institution or organisation like the UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea or the International Committee of Red Cross is allowed in to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither will one be possible if they are not allowed to move freely around to visit prisons and detention centres and as long people disappear or are subject to imprisonment and torture, as has happened to Eritreans being returned by force from countries like Israel and Egypt.”<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, senior government Party the Conservatives (H) would not want a return agreement with Eritrea, even if the Progress Party should wish for such an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the political signals being given to Eritreans discouraging them from coming to Norway?<\/em><\/p>\n

“The only reason Ministry of Justice State Secretary (Deputy Minister) J\u00f8ran Kallmyr is visiting Asmara and giving interviews about signs of political changes in Eritrea \u2013 as well as the possibility of a return agreement between Norway and Eritrea and the possibility of cessation of the right to stay in Norway for Eritrean refugees \u2013 is to send the following message to the Eritrean refugees leaving their country by the hundreds every day: Do not come to Norway if you make it to Europe. We will return you to Eritrea by the first possible chance we see to proclaim evident political change and reduction of the national service to 18 months of military training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cState Secretary Kallmyr is at best na\u00efve if he believes a regime which has been repressing its own people and lying to the international community for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is not the case. This is a well-calculated visit in Asmara, only aiming to reduce the number of Eritrean refugees arriving in Norway. We saw the same act being played last June<\/a> by Himanshu Gulati, the former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Mr Gulati visited Asmara the that month and talked about signs of change and the possibility of a return agreement with Eritrea after high numbers of Eritrean refugees arrived in Norway in May 2014<\/a>.“<\/em><\/p>\n

Are the several millions that Norway is giving Eritrea a form of bribery of the country\u2019s regime in order to obtain a return agreement?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn December 2014, the Norwegian Ministry of Justice signed a three-party \u201ccost-sharing agreement<\/a>\u201d with the state-controlled youth movement the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students and the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) regarding youth employment and skills development for young Eritreans who voluntary returned from Norway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a totally meaningless agreement. No young people return voluntarily to Eritrea unless they:<\/p>\n

a. Have Norwegian citizenship
\nb. Are members of the state-controlled youth movement and support the regime
\nc. Are originally sent to Norway on a mission to report back on regime critical activities in the Eritrean Diaspora in Norway<\/p>\n

But the Norwegian government is on good terms with the Eritrean regime and is giving the regime legitimacy internationally by making this agreement, supporting it with 5.1 million kroner during 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on good terms with the regime meant that representatives of The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre (Landinfo), an independent body within Norway\u2019s Immigration Authorities, was allowed entry in Eritrea, while the UN Special Rapporteur and the UN Special Commission on Eritrea both were denied entry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn March and April, Landinfo published three reports on the situation in Eritrea, especially regarding national service. Landinfo<\/a> (in Norwegian) concludes that there is no actual proof that Eritrean authorities will restrict this to 18 months of military service.”<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, the Norwegian government is speaking with two tongues when it comes to economic support to regimes actively violating human rights. On the one hand, the Ministry of Justice signed this agreement with the Eritrean regime, infamous for its grave violations of human rights. On the other, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented its white paper on human rights regarding foreign and development policies in December 2014. In this document, the Government states that the recipient country\u2019s will to rule the country in accordance with human rights, democracy and rule of law is a condition for economic support. Eritrea does not not comply with any of these three criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the situation in Eritrea?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no solid proof of any political or other changes in Eritrea; on the contrary. On March 16, during the oral debate at The UN Committee on Human rights in Geneva regarding the interim findings of the Commission as to conditions in Eritrea, Chair Mike Smith pointed out that national service was still universal and of an indefinite duration. Mr Smith reported<\/a> that the Committee found clear patterns of grave violations of human rights. The report is due later in June.”erit<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no rule of law as long as the Eritrean Constitution of 1993 is still not in use and the Parliament still not seated, and arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances still occur. NOAS sees no sign of any political improvements in Eritrea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had contact with young Eritreans in Norway whose parents have Norwegian citizenship \u2013 parents who have decided to pay the 2% \u2018diaspora tax\u2019 and not be critical of Isaias Afewerki\u2019s regime in Eritrea. The reasons for this are often a mixture of keeping up a right to family land and property, fear of retributions on family who are still in Eritrea, the possibility to visit old parents and other relatives, and a longing for their roots in Eritrea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome also still support Afewerki\u2019s People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (EPFDJ), the only legal political party in Eritrea. But the young people who have grown up in Norway, and are used to free speech, free media, economic freedom, and social welfare, are appalled by the poor, stagnant, repressed, and controlled Eritrean society of today,\u201d concludes Anne-Magrit Austen\u00e5.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers Secretary General Anne-Magrit Austen\u00e5 makes her comments in a week that saw Progress Party (FrP) Justice Ministry officials visit the African country.   What is your view regarding a return agreement with Eritrea? \u201cA return agreement with Eritrea is impossible. There will be strong political opposition to a return agreement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNorway-Eritrea return agreement implausible, NOAS\u00a0says Published on Sunday, 7th June, 2015 at 13:24 under the news category, by Michael Sandelson - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Norway-Eritrea return agreement implausible, NOAS\u00a0says Published on Sunday, 7th June, 2015 at 13:24 under the news category, by Michael Sandelson - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers Secretary General Anne-Magrit Austen\u00e5 makes her comments in a week that saw Progress Party (FrP) Justice Ministry officials visit the African country.   What is your view regarding a return agreement with Eritrea? \u201cA return agreement with Eritrea is impossible. 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