– I really appreciate that people want to help. For some, the way they want to help is to travel abroad and bring refugees back. You must know that when you bring people into Norway, you also get a responsibility to know who you bring with you. It is important to bring this out.
The Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) told Dagbladet after Friday’s press conference, where it became clear that Norway will provide temporary collective protection to Ukrainians.
Asylum seekers’ protection needs are usually assessed individually. Temporary collective protection means that such individual assessments are no longer required for refugees coming from Ukraine. The decision came after the EU adopted the same on Thursday.
Saturday afternoon Dagbladet met 18 Ukrainian refugees who had traveled from the reception in Poland by a Norwegian bus. This was a private, Norwegian initiative.
– If you bring someone with you who is allowed to be in Norway, that’s all right. Then there is free travel around Schengen. But it is also the case that one must be sure that this happens in an orderly manner. Therefore, the authorities want us to have the opportunity to organize this properly, Mehl continued.
– Terribly risky
– Responsibility
– But does not this apply to all Ukrainians, by virtue of this new scheme?
– The new scheme will apply to all Ukrainians. But there may be people who are in the countries bordering Ukraine, who are not from Ukraine.
It is important to have with you if you are going down to help, she emphasizes.
– When we now also enter into talks to get people from the neighboring countries who may eventually ask for assistance – so far only Moldova has done so – then some of what we have to do then, is to make sure that those we eventually bring to Norway are in fact Ukrainian refugees.
Mehl concludes:
– There are these types of questions for which there are systems, for example in the High Commissioner for Refugees, who are working on this on the ground down there now. If you as a private person travel and pick up, it is also important to know who you have with you back.
NATO accuses
– Large load
During Friday’s press conference, Mehl emphasized that the decision to offer temporary collective protection for Ukrainians will, among other things, enable Norway to process more applications more quickly.
– It will be important in this situation, said the Minister of Justice.
She also emphasized that large arrivals can be demanding.
– This is going into people’s everyday lives. The government will line up so that this will go as well as possible throughout the country. Many will have a new Ukrainian neighbor, classmate, children in kindergarten, she emphasizes.
The Minister of Justice was also clear that some neighboring countries to Ukraine now have a heavy burden.
– Norway will provide assistance down there, so that countries such as Poland can solve the challenges they now see in their country. We will also be in talks with other European countries about the distribution of refugees a little further ahead.
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