Norway has begun deporting refugees back to Russia
As a representative of the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International told the BBC, the first batch of migrants gathered at a former military base near the city of Kirkeness, close to the border with Russia, is ready to be sent by buses towards the border crossing. It was through Kirkeness that for several months migrants, predominantly Syrians, crossed the border into Norway.
Due to peculiarities of Russian laws prohibiting crossing the border on foot at this point, migrants massively bought bicycles and crossed the border on two wheels. In total, according to the Norwegian border service, 5,500 people arrived in Norway this way in the second half of 2015. All of them had visas to stay in Russia or documents suitable for transit through Russia. This, from the point of view of the authorities in Oslo, gives grounds to say that they could have applied for asylum before arriving in Norway.
In November, Norwegian authorities closed the border to migrants and amended immigration legislation. Now, requests for asylum will be denied altogether if the applicant arrived from a country where their life was not in danger. Despite the fact that in other cases Norway has granted asylum to Russians who have arrived, Russia is generally considered a safe country in this regard.
In a letter to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for Northern Europe, human rights activists express concern that Norwegian authorities are departing from the previously proclaimed policy of protecting those in danger. They note that in the new version of the Norwegian law, the list of countries with an acceptable level of human rights for refugees raises questions. However, the key problem, in their opinion, is that Russia, where migrants are now being returned, cannot be considered a safe place in terms of refugee rights.
“Very few people receive refugee status in Russia, and there are many examples of people being extradited or deported from Russia to countries where the risk of torture or other inhuman treatment is inevitable. There are examples of Russian authorities returning people to war-torn Syria,” says the human rights activists' letter to the UN Refugee Agency.
On Monday, lawyers made a final attempt to stop the return of refugees to Russia by sending a letter to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Among other things, the lawyers note that Norwegian authorities do not leave those expelled time to file an appeal, which contradicts ECHR rules.