Reykjavík Grapevine - 22.05.2009, Page 6

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2009 Kolfi nna Baldvinsdóttir
has been spending a lot of time at
the FIT Hostel lately. Expect more
coverage in upcoming issues.
Article | Refugees in Iceland
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Five other refugees have gone on hunger strikes since last summer. One of them committed suicide;
he had been rejected and was about to
be deported. Another two dozen are still
there, waiting. Some have been waiting
for months, others for many years, get-
ting increasingly desperate. “Do we all
have to go on hunger strike to get the
authorities’ attention?” they ask them-
selves, fear in their eyes. Lately, they’ve
been watching yet another of their
mates, Mansri Hichem from Algeria,
deteriorating day by day. On the 25th
day he gave in, when promised a positive
outcome in his case that is now finally
on the table of the Minister of Justice
herself.
FIT HOSTEL – The Guesthouse
Hidden away in the lava of the south-
west corner of Iceland, close to where
the NATO base used to be (until 2006),
the refugees are housed in the Fit Hos-
tel. “An attractive hostel with various
facilities. The hostel/guesthouse is situ-
ated in Njarðvík and offers good and af-
fordable accommodation for everyone,”
it says in the ad – along with refugees
from places such as Afghanistan, Iraq,
Iran, Mauritania, Sudan, Algeria, Russia
etc. Backpackers from Europe who share
toilets with the refugees often surprised
when confronting them in the hallway.
They were even more surprised when,
on September 11 of 2008, a special force
of 60 police officers rushed into Fit hos-
tel, breaking open all of its doors in the
early morning, “searching for criminal
activities,” as they later stated.
“We could all expect raids on our
houses at any time,” the director of the
Directorate of Immigration, Haukur
Guðmundsson, said when explaining
this unexpected event that shocked the
general public. These words indicate
that the standard “innocent until proven
guilty“ only applies to banksters and
“New-Vikings” in Iceland; at least those
haven’t had their houses raided, though
“guilty beyond reasonable doubt” in the
minds of many Icelanders. “The burden
of proof is on us, but we are not crimi-
nals,” said Katarina, a 30 year-old from
Russia, shaking with anger when ex-
plaining the peculiar day, “we are simply
people like you. Why do you keep us here
for so long?”
“The primary problem of the
21st century”
Provided with food and a 2.500 ISK per
week stipend, the refugees-in-waiting
are free to move, but as one of them puts
it: “This is worse than prison. When in
prison, you at least know when they’ll
let you out.” Most of them have been
stranded on the shores of Iceland while
on their way to the Promised Land in
the west. Caught with forged passports,
they are taken to Fit hostel where they
are kept while their cases are being in-
vestigated. If the refugee has applied for
asylum in another country of the Schen-
gen area prior to landing in Iceland, he
or she will be sent back to that country
within three months, or so says the rule.
If the individual has not, an investiga-
tion will start.
It should not take the authorities
longer than six months to determine
whether the home country of the refu-
gee is “secure” for him or her, according
to regulations, but, as Guðmundsson ex-
plains, only two full time employees are
tasked with processing these cases. He
admits that because of a lack of finan-
cial means and lack of political policies
when it comes to this “primary problem
of the 21st century,” the cases can drag
on for a longer time, sometimes without
ever reaching a conclusion. Even though
some of them have been rejected, the
authorities are not allowed to send them
back to their home countries, if the situ-
ation there is determined insecure by
the United Nations or other humanitar-
ian organisations.
Only one got through
Iceland is a signatory to the Dublin Reg-
ulation, which was set in 2001 in order
to “share” the burden of the Mediter-
ranean countries, where most refugees
initially arrive. Overloaded with desper-
ate people, Greece, Italy and other coun-
tries in the south of Europe have been
reprimanded for their treatment of asy-
lum seekers, where they receive neither
food nor shelter, and can only turn to the
streets. Iceland has been reprimanded
as well, but for different reasons. Since
1990, Icelandic authorities have only
granted one person refugee status, out
of 600 who were stranded here. This
is the lowest percentage (0.26%) to be
found among our neighbouring coun-
tries. There are exceptions; the number
went up 400% last year, when a family of
four from Sri Lanka was granted refugee
status. The father of the family had been
the driver of an Icelandic commission on
assignment in Sri Lanka.
Explaining this low number is the
obvious fact that Iceland is never the
first country where the refugees arrive,
so Icelandic authorities have the “right”
to send them back to the country of
their initial arrival. Iceland can, how-
ever, grant the refugee a permit to stay
on humanitarian grounds. Around fifty
people have been that lucky since 1990.
But this permit is not handed on a silver
plate, often many years pass before au-
thorities simply give up on trying to find
plausible reasons to send the refugee
back.
Hunger strikes the only tool?
“I can’t take this anymore, I have been
waiting for two years and they don’t give
me any information,” said the afore-
mentioned Hichem on the 22nd day of
his hunger strike. Upon learning of his
hunger strike through the media, the au-
thorities presented him with a statement
to sign, saying: “I undersigned hereby
confirm that when unconscious because
of my hunger strike, I will deny all medi-
cal assistance.” “Standard procedure,”
said Guðmundsson. “If people intend
to starve themselves to death, it is better
to know it.” Amnesty International does
not agree: “Not even in Guantanamo do
they leave them to die, quite the contrary,
they feed them with force.”
Guðmundsson admitted in an inter-
view that the case of the Algerian had
been “forgotten” for a whole year before
his case was opened. Only Guðmunds-
son himself knows how many other
such cases presently lurk within the
system. Hunger strikes seem to have be-
come the only tool these landless people
have. No papers, no identity, no rights.
“We didn’t come here for the food. We
have only one thing in common here in
this house: to be allowed to live a normal
life” says Hassan, a 23 year-old from Af-
ghanistan.
“The passport is more important
than our lives,” he adds. He has been on
the road for six years, seeking for this
“ticket to life.” Last month, the Director-
ate of Immigration decided to send him,
along with four others, back to Greece,
despite reports from the UN, classifying
Greece as an unfit receiving country. “I
wouldn’t even send my dog there,” Guð-
mundsson said while meeting up with
the refugees last month. The Ministry
of Justice overruled this decision at the
last moment. Only 2% of refugees in
Greece get their cases investigated. They
are usually sent to prison before being
deported back home.
Protests another tool?
For some weeks now, the asylum seekers
at Fit have been pressuring Icelandic au-
thorities to change their harsh policies
towards refugees – that are among the
most strict in Europe – with various pro-
tests. They have been demonstrating in
front of the Parliament, meeting various
politicians, who have all sympathised
with their cause and promised a just and
fair procedure. They even met with the
Minister of Justice in person, who greet-
ed them warmly at her home. “I’m not
in the habit of giving any promises,” she
said, but still promised to apply a fair and
just procedure to their cases. How a new
government will greet them remains to
be seen. What will be the fate of these
individuals who reside at Fit hostel? Will
they all go on a hunger strike, like they
recently threatened to do, to receive their
fair and just treatment? Will Iceland
stand up to its image and treat these peo-
ple with the “basic rights and freedoms
to which all humans are entitled?”
Or will they be treated as “guilty until
proven innocent?”
Words
Kolfinna Baldvinsdóttir
Photography
Julia Staples
“It is better that I kill myself than
to be killed when sent back,” says
Medhi, a 50 year-old refugee from
Iran. He has now been waiting for
answers from Icelandic authorities
about whether he will be granted
the status of a refugee for more
than four years. Giving up on wait-
ing, he went on a hunger strike. It
was not until the 28th day that the
authorities gave in and granted
him a six-month work permit. What
happens after that, he doesn’t
know, but he is happy: finally
providing for himself and the family
he left behind. “It can drive you
crazy waiting like this, year after
year – sleeping, eating, sleeping –
not knowing what they’re going to
do with you.”
1. 19 Year-old Baghdad native
Nour Al-din is one of the
refugees currently waiting for
resolution at the FIT hostel.
Nour is a veritable rapper,
and occasionally performs in
Reykjavík. Go see him if you
have the chance.
“I undersigned hereby
confirm that when
unconscious because
of my hunger strike, I
will deny all medical
assistance.” “Standard
procedure,” said
Guðmundsson. “If
people intend to starve
themselves to death, it is
better to know it.”