International conventions

Norway has signed the UN Refugee Convention, which obliges us to give protection to refugees who satisfy the requirements in Article 1 of the Convention. These refugees are people who have good reason to fear being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Those who are recognised as convention refugees are granted asylum.

Norway is also internationally obliged to grant protection based on provisions in other conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It follows from these obligations that no one should be transported out of Norway if he or she would then face torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

Need for protection

After some years with a stable number of asylum seekers, the number in 2007 increased by 23 per cent compared to the preceding year. A total of 6 500 people applied for asylum, and most of these came from warand conflict-torn areas of Iraq, Chechenia, Eritrea and Serbia.

During the last four years, a far greater proportion of the applicants have been granted asylum in Norway, and in 2007 the proportion was 20 per cent. Seventeen per cent of the applicants did not meet the criteria for asylum, but were granted protection on other grounds, for example danger of being killed or subjected to inhuman treatment in connection with hostilities in the country of origin. Asylum or protection on other grounds means protection against being sent out of the country.

Twenty-one per cent were granted residence on humanitarian grounds. This is granted if there are strong humanitarian considerations, such as serious health issues or consideration of children or other vulnerable groups.

A greater proportion of women than men were granted residence after applying for asylum. Almost 70 per cent of the women who applied for asylum in 2007 were granted residence, and a third were granted asylum. This shows that many of the women had genuine needs for protection.

Gender-related persecution

The Refugee Convention also covers abuse that particularly affects women. To be granted asylum, the persecution must be connected to one of the grounds given in the convention. Gender on its own is not a convention ground, but can explain why or how the persecution takes place. The danger of gender-related persecution is often connected to the ground in the convention referred to as “membership of a particular social group.”

In many of the asylum cases concerning gender-related persecution, the women have been subjected to sexual abuse or the threat of forced marriage. Other types of gender-related persecution is violence in the home, honour killing, genital mutilation, punishment for acting in violation of genderdiscriminatory laws or social norms and discrimination of lesbians and gays. Men are also subjected to gender-related persecution, but this happens far more often to women.

It is vital that UDI interviewers have knowledge of the gender-related aspects of the refugee concept. Gender-related persecution often concerns personal matters that are ifficult to speak openly about. As far as possible, we use female interviewers and female interpreters. In 2007, the UDI drew up interview guides on central issues such as human trafficking and genital mutilation to improve the quality of the asylum interviews.

Processing applications for asylum

An asylum seeker is responsible for giving a comprehensive explanation of the reasons for applying for asylum. The UDI at the same time is obliged to ensure that sufficient information is available concerning the case. The onus of proving that returning to the country of origin would be safe rests with the authorities. Only when sufficient information has been obtained on the asylum case will the UDI undertake an assessment as to whether the asylum seeker is entitled to asylum, other protection or residence on humanitarian grounds. In 2007, the UDI attached more importance to the use of language analyses in certain cases, as such analyses provide the UDI with a better basis for assessing whether the information given by an asylum seeker about his or her place of origin and ethnic background is correct. Language analyses are used in particular in cases where there are no identity papers. In 2007, the UDI administered 200 language tests, while the National Police Immigration Service (PU) conducted around 1 000 such tests.

In cases of doubt as to whether an applicant has correctly stated his or her age, the UDI offers age examinations. Some asylum seekers state an incorrect age to unjustly receive benefits limited to unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. In 2007, 43 percent of those who received a decision after applying as unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, were considered to be 18 years or older at the time the decision was taken. Their applications were therefore processed as adult asylum seekers.

The UDI faces a major challenge because the majority of asylum seekers arrive without identity documents. There may also be reasons to doubt the authenticity of ID documents, as we know that these documents can be bought or the authorities in the country in question may not have control over the issuing of such documents. The UDI examines various documents and other information in the cases. We cooperate closely with the foreign service missions, and have special envoys for immigration cases who verify asylum cases and report on the conditions in several countries. In 2007, the UDI had special envoys stationed in Nairobi, Islamabad and Damascus, and other envoys have also, when needed, travelled to Teheran, Moscow and the Balkan states.

Country information is very important. Landinfo is the immigration administration’s specialist division for country information. The UDI also collects important country information from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, human rights organisations and through exchanging knowledge with other countries. The UDI at times goes on fact-finding trips jointly with Landinfo and the Immigration Appeals Board. In 2007, the UDI visited Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.