Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2007, Side 7
1_RVK_GV_10_007_ARTICLE/ASYLUM SEEKERS
According to Red Cross Project Manager for Refugees
and Asylum Seekers, Atli Thorstensen, there are
currently 20 to 25 asylum seekers in Iceland, some
of whom have been waiting for a response on their
status since 2005.
Icelandic law states that the police cannot deny
individuals who maintain that they have been forced
to seek asylum as a political refugee entry into Iceland.
Upon arrival in Iceland, the authorities conduct an
interview with the individual and if their statement
is considered credible their application for asylum is
forwarded to the Directorate of Immigration. If not, the
police may refuse them entry into Iceland and request
that the applicant leave the country immediately.
The Numbers
In theory this sounds fine, but records show that the
vast majority of applications for asylum in Iceland are
rejected. To date, only one asylum seeker has received
refugee status and around 45 have received permission
to stay on humanitarian grounds.
According to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency,
there were 45 applications for asylum and 19 applications
were accepted on humanitarian grounds between
1996–1999. During the period 2000–2005, there
were 437 applications for asylum and 26 successful
applications granted on humanitarian grounds. In 2000,
Iceland granted its first refugee status under the 1951
Convention. Seven years later, this case remains the
sole application to receive successful refugee status.
The UNHCR has not yet released its most recent figures
for 2006, but according to Thorstensen there were 38
or 39 applications for asylum – none of which have yet
been accepted.
Katrín Theodórsdóttir is a lawyer who has dealt with
some of the recent applications for asylum in Iceland:
“There have been some tremendous changes on the
acceptance of permanent residency for humanitarian
basis,” she says. The changes Theodórsdóttir refers to
is the reduction in recent years in the percentage of
asylum seekers being granted asylum on humanitarian
grounds, as illustrated in the aforementioned UNHCR
and Red Cross statistics. “I have been working with
four serious applications and they have recently all been
rejected. The applications were considered neither to
meet the requirements of the Geneva Convention nor
did the authority find them entitled to stay in Iceland
on humanitarian grounds, even though we hear about
severe violations of human rights in the countries they
are coming from. We need to speak about this openly,”
she insists.
Hildur Dungal, Director of the Directorate of
Immigration, explains that “the number of asylum
seekers in Iceland has fluctuated quite a bit in the last
few years.” “What has also been a big factor is the
Dublin Convention which came into effect in 2003 and
since Iceland is not a country which can be travelled to
quite easily, quite a lot of cases are not processed here
but in other countries,” she explains. “Each case can
be very different and therefore the number of permits
is also different from year to year.”
The Dublin Convention states that the first country
that an asylum seeker applies for asylum is responsible
for dealing with that application. The purpose of the
convention is to ensure that every asylum seeker’s
application will be examined by a member state, thus
avoiding situations of refugees being shuttled from
one member state to another, with none accepting
responsibility. The convention also prevents asylum
seekers from “shopping around” by submitting multiple
applications.
The Laws
The first decision of the asylum determination procedure
is made by the Asylum Department of the Directorate of
Immigration. If the Directorate of Immigration rejects an
application for asylum, the applicant can appeal to the
Ministry of Justice. If the application is also rejected at
that point it can be reviewed by the civil courts usually
on the basis of procedure rather than merit.
An appeal must be lodged with the Ministry of
Justice within 15 days following notification of the
decision. The general principle is that the decision
ordering asylum seekers to leave Iceland cannot be
implemented until the decision on the appeal has been
made. However, there have been accusations by some
lawyers and refugee advocates of asylum seekers being
deported within these 15 days before the final ruling
has been completed.
Theodórsdóttir has been working on several such
cases. “In recent years we have had asylum seekers that
are part of minority groups in Russia maintaining that
they are not granted protection by the police [in Russia]
against persecution by violent groups. Even though
we learn every day of the corruption within the police
in Russia, the Directorate of Immigration is applying
the speed procedure. This procedure can only be used
to order deportation of the asylum seeker when it is
obvious that their case lacks merit,” Theodórsdóttir
says.
So, is the government failing in its moral obligations
towards international refugee law, namely the 1951
Convention on Refugees?
Theodórsdóttir says that when cases are rejected
over and over again that she can only assume that the
conditions for humanitarian grounds must be incredibly
strict: “When is the situation serious enough to give the
person a permit to stay on humanitarian grounds? How
can you measure humanitarian needs?” she questions.
“It can come down to interpretation. There are [only] a
few people working on cases at the Ministry of Justice,
so it comes down to them. […] Many more were
accepted in the late 90s than now. Is it a coincidence
that they [asylum seekers] are [supposedly] not in
need now? […] The administration is political not
independent like many people think. I think we need
to have this reviewed.”
The Waiting
Theodórsdóttir mentions the issue of the effect that
this lengthy process can have on asylum seekers who
are coming from very distressful situations. One such
person is Hassan Abboud (not his real name) who fled
the conflict torn region of western Darfur, Sudan, and
arrived in Iceland via Sweden in late 2005. During a
routine interview with police for asylum seeking arrivals
at Keflavík, he told them that he was on his way to
Canada to apply for asylum and that his European
passport was in fact fake. Abboud was subsequently
sent to prison on the basis of having false documents.
According to Theodórsdóttir, Abboud applied for asylum
in Iceland after the Red Cross intervened and informed
the police of his situation. Nevertheless, Abboud spent
three weeks in jail before being transferred to the
Fit hostel in Reykjanesbær where asylum seekers
usually stay while they wait for their applications to
be processed.
Abboud’s application for asylum with the Directorate
of Immigration and subsequently with the Ministry
of Justice was denied on the basis of lacking verity.
According to Abboud, Immigration believes that he is
from Ghana. While he has a Ghanaian girlfriend, who
he met since arriving in Iceland and now has a young
child with, he vehemently denies being from Ghana
himself. The Directorate of Immigration also questions
why Abboud did not seek asylum in Sweden rather
than travelling on to Iceland.
“I don’t have a passport, no papers, they don’t
trust me. I say if you want to help me, help me. If not,
take me to Sudan [but] you can’t change where I am
from,” he says. “I have a girlfriend from Ghana – does
that make me from Ghana? If I have a girlfriend from
Iceland they will say, ‘oh, so now I’m from Iceland?’”
he challenges.
Abboud has been waiting to be granted asylum
for around 18 months now. At this point, he is simply
asking for a work permit so that he can support his
child. “I’ve been here for almost two years and there is
no change. I always hear some story. I can’t see if they
can help me,” he confides. Although Abboud gave us
permission to use his real name, on the advice of his
lawyer it has been removed for fear of his case being
affected and persecution in his home country.
“People say it will affect my case [but] I’m not afraid
to tell my story – it’s the truth.”
A Story of Asylum
Text by Zoë Robert
In theory this sounds fine, but
records show that the vast ma-
jority of applications for asy-
lum in Iceland are rejected. To
date, only one asylum seeker
has received refugee status.
Opening hours see www.handknit.is