Italian authorities don’t win case for asylum in Norway

A rubber boat with 129 migrants on board, among them 60 women, is seen sailing out of control about 15 miles north of Al Khums, Libya.(AP Photo/Anna Surinyach)

Italian authorities find it unfair that asylum seekers are sent back to Italy from Norway, but they don’t gain a hearing from the Norwegian government.

 

Norway has returned 57 asylum seekers to Italy since the so-called Dublin Agreement. The Agreement says that asylum seekers should mainly be registered, and have their asylum applications handled, in the country where they first arrived,reported VG newspaper.

‘The rules are completely unfair, and we are struggling to change them. That the first country asylum seekers land are responsible for them, and we have these boats coming across the Mediterranean.

The rules are unfair, and the system is outdated,’ said Sandro Gozi, European Secretary at the Italian Prime Minister’s Office.

This year, Norway has returned 277 asylum seekers to the country where they first arrived in Europe. Italy is the country Norway has returned most back to, followed by Sweden and Germany.

Immigration Minister, Sylvi Listhaug of Fremskrittsparti (Frp), said it is not appropriate to stop Dublin Agreement sanctioned returns to Italy.

‘The EU and Italy must also secure the limits, and stop ferry traffic of economic migrants across the Mediterranean, and create asylum reception centres in North Africa’, she said.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today