Internment of asylum children at Trandum

Karin Anddersen (SV). Photo: Stortinget.no

Parliament does not put the foot down against internment of asylum children

The Socialist Party (SV) requires evaluation of alternatives to asylum children being interned before being sent out of the country. The majority are not willing to consider reviewing internment before summer.

 

The Socialist Party was supported by the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, but no one else. The majority wants to postpone discussing the matter. This due to that the Government’s proposals for changes to the Immigration Act will be processed in the autumn. the proposal contain several alternatives to internment that will be reviewed.

– Internment of children should only be an extreme measure for extreme cases, not a common part of the Government’s tightening- and determent policy, says SV’s Karin Andersen.

– Children are never responsible for what the parents do. The authorities should protect the children and safeguard their rights regardless, she points out.

State sentenced to pay compensation

SV also ask the Government to suspend internment of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers who are denied stay. Before they are sent out of the country.

Asylum seekers are interned if the Government believes there is a danger that they will attempt to evade deportation.

Recently, the state is sentenced by the court of law to pay compensation for having interned two parents and their four children aged 7-14 years for 20 days at the Immigration Detention Centre at Trandum in 2014.

Facts about Trandum Camp (Wikipedia)

The Immigration Detention Centre at Trandum is Norway’s only closed detention centre for foreigners. Foreigners can be held in internment there.  Main cause is if they are to be expelled from the country, or in connection with determining the identity.

The custody center is located just north of Oslo. To be precise, at Oslo Airport Gardermoen’s eastern runway in Ullensaker municipality in Akershus. It is run by the Police Immigration Unit.

The Immigration Internment Centre is not a prison in the formal sense. It is not run by the Correctional Service, and the legal procedures for arrest and detention follow the Immigration Act (§ 106).

Design and operation is however, similar to a high security prison. The judicial procedures are close to the criminal prosecution. Arrest (up to 72 hours) is decided by police attorneys. Internment (for 2-4 weeks at a time) is decided by the court.

 

© NTB Scanpix / wikipedia.org /Norway Today