A group of Afghan refugees are fighting hard to avoid deportation from Norway. The Lutheran state church has come out heavily on the refugees' side, by asserting that some of them have converted to Christianity.
Many of the 21 refugees arrested last week when police broke up their camp in front of the Norwegian Parliament were expected to be sent back to Afghanistan over the weekend. They remained in Norway Monday morning, after Oslo Bishop Ole Christian Kvarme told immigration officials that several had converted to Christianity.
Their conversion could leave them facing death threats in Afghanistan. Norwegian officials won't return refugees to their homelands if their lives would be in danger.
Kvarme even asserted that the story of their alleged conversion had already been broadcast in Afghanistan, which would place them in serious trouble if they were sent back. Immigration officials checked out the story and found it false. Then, the bishop had some immigrants publicly baptised in lake Mjøsa, again to great publicity, and stated that this news had been made public on al-Jazeera, again denied by Norwegian authorities.
None of the group appears to have been returned yet, but while many undoubtedly sympathise with the Afghans' desire to not be returned to their homeland, the bishop has even turned the normally immigrant-friendly press against him, and the people are obviously not impressed with this "conversion" that Kvarme pretends to believe in.
It is not difficult to understand that the Afghans prefer living here, but if we are to set the threshold of "too dangerous for return" at the current troubles in Afghanistan, though well publicised in the press, it would be virtually impossible to return anyone, anywhere. What decides who should stay should be a fair and even application of the law, not who manages to get the most high profile publicity stunts or spokespersons. The government also stands on this position so far (and backing down now would be a nice gift the opposition will do much to exploit).
I have followed the big debate over the troubled new immigration bill in the US, and am somewhat amused that the social-democratic government of Norway is far tougher on immigration than the Republican administration of the USA.
10:29:20 PM 
|
