The Norwegian government’s decision to tighten asylum and immigration rules for Ukrainian refugees is drawing both praise and criticism from opposition parties. Some were “shocked,” while others think Ukrainians from “safer” areas of the country can travel home.
Norway’s justice- and labour ministers announced just before the weekend that the government, as of Friday, was dropping its policy of collective protection for all Ukrainians. Refugees now arriving from six areas in western Ukraine will need to meet the same “ordinary regulations for asylum” that apply to all refugees coming to Norway, said Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl.
More than 84,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Norway since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Nearly 82,000 have been granted collective protection and 75,728 had valid residence permission as of last week. Most have gone through introduction programs and intense language training, and more than third of Ukrainian adult refugees are now in the workforce.
Labour Minister Tonje Brenna, who’s also in charge of inclusion and integration in Norway, noted that it’s becoming more difficult to supply housing and health services to all who keep coming. “It’s getting rather full in our local communities,” Brenna said, stressing that it’s important to retain control over integration of refugees. The government has already reduced benefits for new arrivals, and brought them more in line with those offered by other Nordic countries. That led to drop in the numbers of Ukrainians arriving in Norway.
Justice Minister Mehl now questions whether everyone still coming to Norway from Ukraine needs protection or is trying to avoid military service. “We see now that arrivals are beginning to rise again,” she said. She added that “at the beginning of the war, it was mostly women and children arriving. Now we see that a steadily larger number of those coming are men, and many of them are of an age that makes them eligible for military service.”
She noted that asylum and immigration agency UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) views six areas of Ukraine (Lviv, Volyn, Zakarpatska, Ivano Frankivsk, Ternopil and Rivne) as “safe.” Ukrainians arriving from such areas may not be granted asylum.
Top politicians from the Liberal- and Greens parties (Venstre and MDG) expressed shock over the tighter rules, fearing that refugees may be sent back to cities still being bombed by Russian missiles.
“The war is still raging in Ukraine, and it’s difficult to understand that some parts of Ukraine can be considered safe,” Guri Melby, leader of the Liberals, told news bureau NTB. She called the Left-Center government’s decision to dump collective protection in order to reduce the stream of refugees arriving “both irresponsible and inhumane.”
Rasmus Hanssen of the Greens said there are no areas of Ukraine that can be deemed safe. He thinks Norway must therefore continue to take in Ukrainians from all over the war-torn country that remains under constant attack from the Russians, also recently in Kyiv and Lviv.
Representatives of both the Conservative- and Progress parties, however, said they understood the government’s decision. “We must still stand with Ukraine, with ongoing military- and humanitarian aid, and by taking in refugees,” Mari Holm Lønseth of the Conservatives told NTB. “At the same time we can’t take in more refugees than we can manage to integrate in a good manner.”
The more conservative and traditionally anti-immigration Progress Party actually praised the Left-Center government for tightening asylum rules for Ukrainians, calling it “a correct evaluation.” Spokesman Erlend Wiborg said the war can escalate this winter, “and more (Ukrainians) will come who are in fact fleeing Russian forces. Then we may need to send those from safe areas home.”
Newspaper Dagsavisen editorialized that the government’s decision was “sensible” given the large number of Ukrainian refugees already in Norway, which already has taken in the most Ukrainian refugees among the Scandinavian countries. Recent figures from the UN report that Denmark has granted asylum to 36,000 and Sweden 32,000.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
