Government with NOK 120 million for asylum children

bufdir.no Director Mari Trommald. Photo: Tine Poppe

Government proposes to spend NOK 120 million extra on unaccompanied minors

The Norwegian Government proposes to spend an additional NOK 120 million on unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in the revised national budget.

 

 

Dagbladet writes that acting Minister of Immigration and Integration, Per Sandberg, and Minister of Children and Equality, Solveig Horne, will use the millions on seven distinct measures to “improve the situation for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers” – effective immediately.

– It has over time been a grave situation for many children in asylum centers. This the Government takes seriously, Sandberg (Progress Party) told the newspaper Dagbladet.

The measures involve several more psychologists, less relocation between recipient centers, means to reduce trauma-related mental disorders and closer psychological follow-up.

– The Government’s main goal is to pursue a policy that leads to fewer children being sent out on a perilous journey to Norway. At the same time, it is important that children who come to the country without caregivers, receive proper and adequate tratment, says Horne (Progress Party).

Since 2015 the number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum has decreased significantly. In 2016 there came 320 unaccompanied minor asylum seekers to Norway. As of the end of March this year there have only been 60.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today