Government wants to have a return agreement with Eritrea

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The government are in contact  with Eritrean authorities to discuss a return agreement .

Secretary Himanshu Gulati (FRP) in the Ministry of Justice and Public Security  has recently returned from a trip to Eritrea, where he held meetings with the authorities.

- I have had several meetings with the Government of Eritrea on the return issue. The Eritreans are currently the largest group of asylum seekers to Norway and we have over 500 exit mandatory Eritreans  in Norwegian asylum centers. It is important to have good mechanisms to return these, says Gulati to the newspaper Klassekampen.

He said that it is a priority for the government to achieve repatriation agreements withas many countries as possible. No agreement with Eritrea is ready yet, but the  talks will continue.

- I was  welcomed, experienced a positive attitude and had constructive talks. We will continue with new talks in the near future, says Gulati.

According to the UN, there is great risk of imprisonment, torture and disappearances of asylum seekers who returned to Eritrea. The Government are therefore criticized from both the opposition and asylum seekers' interest group NOAS (Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers).

- If Gulati is sitting on completely new information on improving the human rights situation in Eritrea, it is important that he shares it with the world, says NOAS-General of Ann-Magrit Austenå.

SV politician Karin Andersen believes the situation upon a  return to Eritrea is so uncertain that Norway can not send anyone back yet..

The coalition government was considering establishing a return agreement with Eritrea, but turn it down because of the human rights situation in the country.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today