Norway will bring 800 quota refugees from Rwanda and Romania

Norway has agreed to welcome 200 refugees located in Romania and 600 in Rwanda during the year.

“A total of 800 people who have been in Libya have been assessed and given refugee status,” Justice and Public Security Minister Jøran Kallmyr (FrP/Progress Party) told Aftenposten.

200 of them have been evacuated to Romania by the UN, while 600 are staying in refugee camps in Rwanda.

Entire families
The African country of Rwanda signed an agreement this autumn to welcome refugees residing in Libya. Norway has allocated NOK 50 million to a refugee camp in Rwanda. Here, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is considering whether the people there can obtain refugee status.

The 800 people will be brought to Norway in four rounds. Kallmyr points out that Norway takes in whole families when it comes to quota refugees, thus avoiding family reunions afterwards.

No to boat migrants
In total, Norway has agreed to accept 3,000 quota refugees this year. News outlet Vårt Land wrote earlier this week about how the quota of 3,000 will be distributed.

In addition to the 800 of various nationalities evacuated from Libya to Rwanda and Romania, Norway will receive 600 Syrians from Lebanon, 200 Syrians from Jordan, 350 Congolese, South Sudanese, Yemenis and Somalis from Ethiopia, 150 Congolese, South Sudanese and Somalis from Kenya and 750 Congolese and South Sudanese from Uganda. In addition, 150 open spaces remain.

However, Norway rejects the EU’s request to welcome boat migrants.

“This is our answer to why we have said no to the boat migrants. We think it is indefensible to lure people across the Mediterranean. They are largely not refugees, but economic migrants,” says Kallmyr.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today