Norway’s immigration detention Supervisory Board has criticised practices at the country’s Trandum Immigration Detention Centre. In its Annual Report, the board says that although there have been important changes—including shifting medical care from the private to the public sector—numerous abusive immigration detention practices persist, including “prison-like” operations at Trandum, obliging detainees to meet officials from […]
Reforming Norway’s Trandum Detention Centre
Important reforms are due to be implemented at Norway’s Trandum Detention Centre, raising hopes for improved treatment of people in immigration procedures in the country, according to the 2022 Annual Report of Trandum’s independent oversight board. Among the proposed reforms are several harm-reducing proposals identified by the Global Detention Project in our 2018 report commissioned […]
Norway: Covid-19 and Detention
The supervisory board of Norway’s Trandum Detention Centre, in its annual report about operations at the facility, expressed concern about the implementation of certain COVID-19 measures. Of particular concern are isolation measures imposed on all newly arriving detainees, who are required to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival. During this period, they are locked in […]
Norway: Covid-19 and Detention
The Norwegian Red Cross has reported that since March, it has been unable to access Norway’s sole long-term detention facility, the Trandum Detention Centre. Although the organisation has remained in close contact with the facility’s staff during the pandemic, it has been unable to physically enter the facility and its volunteers have only been able […]
Norway: Covid-19 and Detention
According to the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsperson (Sivilombudsmannen), responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, Norwegian authorities did not impose a moratorium on new immigration detention orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the National Police Immigration Service (NPIS) limited the number of immigration detention orders due to the reduced capacity at the police immigration […]
Norway: Covid-19 and Detention
The Trandum National Police Immigration Detention Centre, Norway’s only immigration detention facility which has a capacity of 220, had a population of 50 detainees as of 1 April, according to a communication from the Norwegian Red Cross (NRC) to the Global Detention Project (GDP). A series of measures have been implemented to avoid the spread […]
Norway: Covid-19 and Detention
A number of individuals have been released from immigration detention as a result of measures implemented in response to the pandemic. As of early April, the Police Immigration Department had released 10 individuals as deportations became impossible to undertake. Those released are required to remain in a stated location, either a private address or asylum […]
Trandum Police Immigration Detention Centre (from report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture 2018 visit to Norway)
Trandum Police Immigration Detention Centre (Read full CPT report) 38. The delegation carried out a follow-up visit33 to Trandum Police Immigration DetentionCentre (hereinafter: “Trandum Detention Centre”), which remains the only immigration detentioncentre in Norway.34 The current policy in Norway is to accommodate asylum-seekers only in openreception centres; thus, Trandum Detention Centre functions primarily as a […]
Last updated: February 2018
DETENTION STATISTICS
DETAINEE DATA
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
Bilateral/Multilateral Readmission Agreements
Name
Year in force
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
Types of Non-Custodial Measures (ATDs) Provided in Law
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
Types of Authorised Detention Monitoring Institutions
Institution
Type
Year
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
Internal inspection reports on migration-related detention
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
2019
2019
OPCAT, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2013
2013
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2003
2003
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2003
2003
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1986
1986
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 15/19
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
ICCPR, First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
1972
1972
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999
2002
2002
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child
(g) Prohibit the detention of children in connection with immigration cases;
2025
2025
2025
Committee on Enforced Disappearance
Unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers in reception and care centres.
48. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Take all measures necessary to protect young asylum-seekers, both those in reception and care centres and those who have disappeared from them, from the risk of enforced disappearance and other, related crimes, such as trafficking;
(d) Establish all measures necessary to prevent the disappearance of minor asylum-seekers from reception centres, including through the identification of the reasons for their disappearance and the establishment of periodic follow-up visits to and inspections of such centres;
(e) Take measures to ensure that protection mechanisms contemplate the situation of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers who have disappeared from reception centres and are easily accessible to them.
2024
2024
2024
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
35. The Committee remains concerned about the use in the Trandum immigration centre of solitary confinement to ensure safe deportation, It is also concerned at reports of the detention of children in immigration centres in the State party. The Committee is further concerned about the reported disappearance of unaccompanied minors, who may become victims of human trafficking (art. 5). 36. The Committee recommends that the State party review the procedures for and restrict the practice of solitary confinement of migrants and asylum seekers awaiting deportation... avoid the detention of children and ensure effective protection of unaccompanied minors, including against trafficking.
2015
2015
2015
Committee against Torture
§15: The State party should consider reducing the use and length of detention for asylum seekers who enter the State party undocumented.
§ 17: The State party should ensure that persons are held at Trandum only according to the law and only for the duration prescribed by law. The State party should ensure that all detention conditions are in total conformity with international standards, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, in particular with regard to the sanitary conditions and overcrowding.
2012
2012
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§13: The Committee, recalling its general recommendations Nos. 30 and 31 (2005) on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system, recommends that the State party bring the conditions in reception and special return centres, and in reception centres for children, in line with relevant international human rights standards.
2011
2011
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 32. "In the light of its general comment No. 6 (2005) on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin, and joint general comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Consider establishing a system to automatically reassess temporary residency permits of unaccompanied children and issuing residence permits of a longer duration;
(b) Address additional root causes of the disappearance of children from reception centres;
(c) Increase its efforts to search for missing children, provide them with the necessary protection, redress and rehabilitation and ensure that, if they have fallen victim to crimes, the perpetrators are brought to justice;
(d) Under no circumstances deport children and their families back to countries where there is a risk of irreparable harm to the children such as, but by no means limited to, those contemplated under articles 6 (1) and 37 of the Convention;
(e) Place children and their families in reception centres only for the shortest time possible, and increase the human, technical and financial resources allocated to reception centres with a view to ensuring adequate conditions for children during their residency therein and to ensuring in particular that they are protected from violence, that their mental health needs are assessed and that they have access to nutritious food;
(f) Ensure that under no circumstances are children placed in detention on the basis of their immigration status;
(g) Ensure that unaccompanied children in all municipalities, including those above 15 years of age, receive good-quality care."
2018
2018
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 52. "The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Carefully identify children affected by armed conflicts among asylum seeking children and ensure rehabilitation and social reintegration of these children;
(b) Expedite the assignment of a guardian to assist asylum-seeking children in understanding the procedures and clarify the role of guardian through the initiated guardianship legislation;
(c) Take measures to shorten the waiting period for determining the status of asylum seekers;
(d) Ensure that age determination procedures are conducted in a scientific, safe, child and gender-sensitive and fair manner, avoiding any risk of violation of the physical integrity of the child;
(e) Expand, as planned, the responsibility of the Child Welfare Services to children aged 15, 16 and 17;
(f) Carefully follow up on these children during their stay in Norway;
(g) Make sure that children do not disappear and fall into the clutches of trafficker and exploiters;
(h) Investigate cases of disappearances and find ways to make access available to hidden children;
(i) Avoid sending children back to unsafe places from which they have fled and use their stay in Norway to equip them with the competencies and skills they will need when they return under more peaceful conditions;
(j) Ensure a primary consideration of the best interests of the child and his or her affiliation to Norway whenever decisions about the child’s future are under consideration; and
(k) Take into account the Committee’s General Comment no. 6 (2005) on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin...
68. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that unaccompanied and separated children are appointed a guardian and are accommodated separately from adults, and that children among refugees and asylum-seekers are assured of access to education, health care, social protection and housing, taking into account the Committee’s general comment No. 6 (2005) on the treatment of unaccompanied and
separated children outside their country of origin (CRC/GC/2005/6)."
2010
2010
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
§ 29. The State party ensure that the Child Welfare Act applies to all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, regardless of their age, with a view to providing the same level of protection and services to all children in the State party. It also recommends that the State party ensure the timely identification of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children with mental health conditions and provide them with necessary mental health care.
2020
2020
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ 28. The State party ensure that all children in Norway have the same rights, without discrimination, and ensure: (a) That detention of asylum seekers is only used as a measure of last resort, for the shortest possible period of time, and that efforts are made to prioritize alternative measures to detention; (b) That the care of unaccompanied minors between the ages of 15 and 18 is transferred from the Directorate of Immigration to the child welfare service; (c) The effective implementation of the 2017 decision of the Norwegian parliament to give some unaccompanied minors who have received time-limited residence permits until they turn 18 the opportunity to have their cases reconsidered. When determining their status, due regard should be given to social and humanitarian circumstances.
2019
2019
Committee against Torture
27.While taking note that the regulations of the Trandum Holding Centre have been revised and of the establishment of additional immigration detention facilities, the Committee is concerned about the treatment of asylum seekers there, including body searches that have been described as humiliating as regards the dignity and integrity of persons residing there, and that some have been handcuffed while being transferred. It is also concerned about the absence of a prompt mandatory offer of a medical examination upon arrival in all immigration detention facilities, and in particular with regard to the long delays and the refusal of some municipalities that host asylum reception centres to provide health-care services to asylum seekers, citing linguistic and cultural difficulties, their lack of expertise and their uncertain residence status. This makes it impossible to detect signs of torture and provide the necessary treatment to affected persons (arts. 3, 11 and 16). ....
32. The State party should:
(a) Refrain from leasing detention facilities outside its territory and should ensure that State party officials and public monitoring bodies, including the national preventive mechanism and the national human rights institution, are able to carry out fully their obligations under the Convention, including to monitor and keep under review the conditions of detention in all prisons and places in which persons are deprived of their liberty;
(b) Ensure that there are sufficient numbers of prison staff with the required level of competence;
(c) Refrain from any discriminatory detention measures against foreigners in detention facilities outside its territory.
33. The Committee requests the State party to provide, by 18 May 2019, information on follow-up to the Committee’s recommendations on prolonged detention in police cells, mental health care for prisoners and the situation in immigration detention facilities (see para graphs 14, 20 and 28 above). In that context, the State party is invited to inform the Committee about its plans for implementing, within the coming reporting period, some or all of the remaining recommendations in the concluding observations.
2018
2018
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
ECHRP1, Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (amended by protocol 11)
1952
1952
2017
ECHRP7, Protocol 7 to the European Convention on Human Rights (amended by protocol 11)
1988
1988
2017
ECPT, European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment
1989
1989
2017
Relevant Recommendations or Observations of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
38...The Committee would like to receive updated information
as to the transfer of responsibility of immigration centres operating in Norway from the police
to the correctional services.... 49....the Committee recommends that the Norwegian authorities take measures
to end the practice of locking detained foreign nationals inside their room and to ensure that
an open-door regime is implemented. Further, the CPT recommends that the Norwegian
authorities take measures to ensure that all foreign nationals be granted more frequent, and
preferably daily access to the activity centre, and that those detained for prolonged periods
are provided with a wider range of purposeful activities (such as educational, music and arts
and craft activities)...55......The CPT therefore recommends that the direction of Trandum Detention Centre ceases the
use of padded helmet and body-cuff on persons presenting a risk of suicide or self-harm. The
Committee recommends putting an end to a security driven approach to self-harm
management in Trandum Centre, in light of the precepts mentioned above, including by
having healthcare staff systematically visit the person immediately after arrival at the centre
and whenever risk of self-harm is identified...59....The
Committee recommends that the Norwegian authorities ensure that asylum seekers are not
interviewed by government representatives from their country of origin...68....the CPT recommends that the Norwegian authorities take measures to
ensure that the imposition of security measures in immigration detention centre is used
proportionally, as foreseen by Norwegian law and regulations...69......recommends that the Norwegian authorities ensure that the procedures
in place at Trandum Detention Centre are appropriate to administrative detention. In
particular, pepper spray and batons should not be carried by staff inside the facility.
Applicable laws and regulations should be amended accordingly.
2024
2024
2024
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
39. The CPT recommends that the Norwegian authorities introduce an absolute time limit for such cases.
41.The CPT would like to receive updated information on the implementation of
the above-mentioned plans.
Further, the Committee urges the Norwegian authorities to put a definitive end
to the detention of unaccompanied minors at Trandum Centre; it also trusts that every effort
will be made to avoid resorting to the deprivation of liberty of any irregular migrant who is
a minor.
44. The CPT encourages the Norwegian authorities to take steps at Trandum Detention
Centre to ensure that:
- the foreign nationals’ daily entitlement to outdoor exercise is increased and that
the total amount of time during which foreign nationals are locked in their rooms is
reduced (including at weekends);
- all foreign nationals are granted more frequent and, preferably, daily access to
the activity centre and that those detained for prolonged periods are provided with
a wider range of purposeful activities (such as educational activities). To this end,
the involvement of external service providers such as charity associations and/or NGOs
should be explored
46. The CPT reiterates its recommendation that the Norwegian authorities take steps
without further delay to ensure that all newly-admitted foreign nationals at Trandum
Detention Centre benefit from a prompt physical examination carried out by a doctor or
a nurse reporting to a doctor. In this connection, particular attention should also be paid to
the possible existence of mental disorders and other vulnerabilities.
48. The CPT reiterates its recommendation that steps be taken at Trandum Detention
Centre to ensure that medical confidentiality is fully respected in practice. In particular,
prescribed medicines should, as a rule, only be distributed by qualified health-care staff.
Further, the Committee recommends that steps be taken to ensure that all medical
examinations of foreign nationals (whether upon arrival or at a later stage) are conducted out
of the hearing and – unless the doctor or nurse concerned expressly requests otherwise in
a particular case – out of the sight of custodial staff.
50. the Committee invites
the Norwegian authorities to consider extending the possibilities for foreign nationals to have
contact with the outside world, in particular those who are being held at Trandum Centre for
prolonged periods, by allowing them to keep or have access to their mobile phones, as is
increasingly the practice in various other European countries, or by developing other cost-
efficient internet options.
54. the CPT recommends that a dedicated
register for the application of any of the aforementioned measures be created at Trandum
Detention Centre. The entry should include the times at which the measure began and ended,
the circumstances of the case, the reasons for resorting to the measure, the name of the person
who ordered or approved it, the involvement of a health-care professional and an account of
any injuries sustained by the detained person or staff.
55. The CPT recommends that the Norwegian authorities take steps to ensure that:
- all reinforced cells are equipped with a table and a means of rest (if necessary, fixed
to the floor);
- the privacy of detainees placed in a security cell is guaranteed whenever s/he is using
the toilet, for instance, by pixelating the image of the toilet area;
- food and drinks are as far as possible not delivered through the floor-level hatch.
56. the CPT would like to be informed of the arrangements made to provide foreign nationals subjected to regime level 2 with appropriate human contact.
2018
2018
2018
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
§33: the Norwegian authorities to take urgent steps to:
- ensure that all newly-arrived foreign nationals at the Trandum Holding Centre are promptly examined by a doctor or a fully-qualified nurse reporting to a doctor;
- arrange for the daily presence in the Centre of a person with a recognised nursing qualification;
- ensure appropriate psychological/psychiatric assistance to foreign nationals;
§34: existing procedures to be reviewed at the Trandum Aliens Holding Center in order to ensure that, whenever injuries are recorded by a doctor which are consistent with allegations of illtreatment made by a foreign national (or which, even in the absence of allegations, are indicative of ill-treatment), the record is systematically brought to the attention of the relevant prosecutor, regardless of the wishes of the person concerned;
§35: steps to be taken at the Trandum Holding Centre to ensure that confidentiality of medical data is respected in practice;
§37: steps to be taken to ensure that foreign nationals placed in a security cell and/or subjected to “body cuffs” are always seen by health-care staff.
2011
2011
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Important reforms are due to be implemented at Norway’s Trandum Detention Centre, raising hopes for improved treatment of people in immigration procedures in the country, according to the 2022 Annual Report of Trandum’s independent oversight board. Among the proposed reforms are several harm-reducing proposals identified by the Global Detention Project in our 2018 report commissioned by the Norwegian Red Cross. These include reducing the amount of time that detainees are locked up in cells and transferring healthcare services from a private company to the Norwegian Public Health Service.
Trandum Detention Centre has faced a host of criticisms, particularly for its punitive and restrictive detention regime, which treats detainees as criminals, even though they are not serving criminal sentences. In 2015, for example, Norway’s Parliamentary Ombudsman, which is mandated to visit all places of detention in the country under its remit as the country’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), concluded that the facility was placing an “excessive attention to control and security at the expense of the individual detainee’s integrity,” employing the “same security procedures as the correctional services.”
In 2018, the Norwegian Red Cross commissioned the GDP to produce a comparative assessment of detention conditions and operations between Norway and other European countries in order to identify targets for reforms at Trandum. The resultant report, “Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention,” compared detention centres in Norway, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. It found that the carceral model adopted by Trandum was more extreme than that adopted by centres elsewhere in Europe, and proposed key reforms (both for Trandum and other facilities) including shedding carceral elements, including regime, internal layout, and design; increasing detainees’ freedom of movement; and ensuring detainees can easily make and receive calls and have access to the internet. Many of these suggestions were subsequently highlighted by the Norwegian Red Cross in a statement urging Norway’s authorities to reform its immigration detention system.
According to Trandum’s Supervisory Board, in 2022 some of these recommendations were finally initiated as "immediate measures". Following instruction from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the amount of time for which detainees can be locked in their cells is to be reduced, and they are also to have increased access to outdoor space. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security has also instructed that detainees are given increased opportunities to communicate with the outside world, and that by June 2023, health care provision within the centre is to be provided by Norwegian public health services (rather than private company) and that detainees face no limitations in accessing care.
However, the Supervisory Board has criticised the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management for the slow pace at which these reforms are being implemented. For example, health care reorganisation is now only set to be completed by January 2024 - seven months later than the original June 2023 deadline. The Board is also critical of the Norwegian Police Directorate and Police Immigration Unit for failing to quickly introduce the new measures. As of January 2023, detainees' ability to communicate with the outside world has not yet been increased, and the length of time for which detainees are locked up has so far only marginally decreased (contrary to instructions from the Ministry, they are still locked up twice a day).
The Global Detention Project is also concerned that the Ministry of Justice and Public Security is currently considering transferring responsibility for the centre from the National Police Directorate to the Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Services. Such a development runs counter to our recommendation that the management of the centre be shifted from a security to a social welfare institution. Failure to do so could be a critical barrier to further reforms and hinder efforts to limit or end the use of immigration detention in the country.
The supervisory board of Norway’s Trandum Detention Centre, in its annual report about operations at the facility, expressed concern about the implementation of certain COVID-19 measures. Of particular concern are isolation measures imposed on all newly arriving detainees, who are required to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival. During this period, they are locked in their rooms and unable to interact with others. Food is provided four times a day, and detainees are allowed outside for 1.5 hours a day--the same amount of time provided to non-quarantining detainees. During their time outdoors, they may speak to others at a distance and they are encouraged to wear masks.
According to the supervisory board, the isolation measure is “disproportionate” and the legal basis for the practice is “questionable.” They pointed out that detainees appear to have no ability to legally challenge their isolation. The board urged the facility to reassess its quarantine policy and investigate increased testing to reduce detainees’ isolation time. They pointed to the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution (NIM) which, in November 2020, affirmed that isolation in prison for the purposes of quarantine has a significantly different impact than “stay at home” orders and should be assessed in light of this distinction. The Trandum supervisory board urged similar consideration for isolation in immigration detention.
The board also noted a need to improve health services at the centre--both in terms of access and quality of care provided; to reduce the penal nature of the facility; and to ensure that detainees are provided with more varied, and culturally appropriate, food. As the Global Detention Project highlighted in its 2019 report, “Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention,” these concerns have been raised by observers for years. Recently, in December 2020, Norwegian media reported the case of an Ethiopian woman suffering from a number of health problems who was detained at Trandum from 16 August - 11 December 2020. According to the County Governor, her medical conditions significantly worsened because she was not provided with adequate medical care during her time in the facility.
With the number of detainees low in 2020 (on 8 September, 36 detainees were recorded in the facility)--and an expectation that numbers will remain low in 2021--the board held that now is an “opportune time for establishing new routines.”
The Norwegian Red Cross has reported that since March, it has been unable to access Norway’s sole long-term detention facility, the Trandum Detention Centre. Although the organisation has remained in close contact with the facility’s staff during the pandemic, it has been unable to physically enter the facility and its volunteers have only been able to speak with two detainees via video call. The organisation has frequently raised the need for access with the immigration police, but as of 29 September, access continued to be denied. Prior to the pandemic, the Red Cross ran an active volunteer visitor programme in the facility providing support and assistance to detainees.
As of 8 September, there were 36 detainees in Norway’s Trandum detention facility—three of whom are women—and no detainees have been held in the facility’s separate family unit since March. One Red Cross representative told the GDP that because as the numbers of detainees at the Trandum have fallen since the onset of the pandemic, this has presented new opportunities for the humanitarian group to dialogue with officials about implementing new development projects at the centre. Among the items they have proposed has been boosting “internet access through digital equipment procured by the Red Cross.”
As the GDP previously reported on this platform (see 24 July update), some people have been released from detention due to the pandemic. According to the Norwegian Red Cross, although the exact number who were released remains unclear, it is generally thought that persons who were released (mainly from Ethiopia and Iraq) were selected because they had a network/family in the country who could provide them with accommodation. Those who were released have been required to report regularly to immigration police.
According to the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsperson (Sivilombudsmannen), responding to the Global Detention Project’s Covid-19 survey, Norwegian authorities did not impose a moratorium on new immigration detention orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the National Police Immigration Service (NPIS) limited the number of immigration detention orders due to the reduced capacity at the police immigration detention centre, mainly caused by the implementation of infection control measures and the cancellation of scheduled returns and deportations. They also reported that the capacity of the immigration detention centre (presumably the Trandum facility near Oslo international airport, Norway’s only dedicated immigration detention centre) has been increased, and each case is therefore assessed individually according to specific criteria in order to decide if a migrant is to be placed in detention or not.
The Ombudsperson confirmed that persons have been released from immigration detention due to the pandemic, as mentioned in previous updates (see 25 April Norway update on this platform). However, no generalised criteria have been established and cases are assessed individually to determine if the legal conditions are still in place for keeping a person in detention pursuant to the Immigration Act. For instance, in some instances, decisions to release immigration detainees were made in order to avoid exceeding the legal time frames for detention provided in the Immigration Act. These cases arose due to flight cancellations and general travel restrictions due to Covid-19.
Upon release, immigration detainees are checked for any Covid-19 symptoms. No further measures are taken apart from encouraging released detainees to follow infection control advice and recommendations provided by the Norwegian government. Within immigration detention, all new arrivals are tested for the disease. Detainees are first placed in a separate quarantine section of the centre, in which they remain until they have been tested and receive a negative result (see 25 April Norway update on this platform). According to NPIS, testing takes place upon arrival and results are normally provided within 24 hours. Non-nationals transferred to the immigration detention centre directly from another prison or detention facility who are free of any Covid-19 related symptoms are not tested. So far, the Ombudsperson reported that no detainees have tested positive at the imigration detention centre.
The majority of accompanied forcible returns have been halted temporarily due to challenges caused by the pandemic, such as closed borders, flight cancellations, issues with transit countries, and safety of the accompanying personnel. A small number of unaccompanied forcible returns were still carried out; however, the amount of rescheduled and cancelled flights has also made these difficult to conduct. There is no list of “approved” countries for deportation but rather continuous assessments are conducted based on developments in the countries. Generally however, countries to which deportation flights were arranged had been determined, following a risk assessment, to be safe for a migrant to travel unaccompanied and where the flight itinerary avoided any transit issues. NPIS has carried out a very limited number of accompanied forcible returns in certain high priority areas. The Ombudsperson did not provide further details in this regard.
In response to the pandemic, Norway adopted several new policies and regulations for immigration and border control. The Ombudsperson indicated that these have mostly consisted of interim acts, regulations and circulars relating to entry restrictions for non-nationals out of concern for public health. For example, limitations to the right of entry of non-nationals who would otherwise be legally entitled to enter Norway under the Immigration Act, when this is necessary to safeguard public health in connection with the outbreak of Covid-19; as well as exemptions from these restrictions for certain groups of non-nationals, including those seeking asylum. As regards border control measures, temporary entry and exit controls have been introduced at the internal Schengen border.
The Trandum National Police Immigration Detention Centre, Norway’s only immigration detention facility which has a capacity of 220, had a population of 50 detainees as of 1 April, according to a communication from the Norwegian Red Cross (NRC) to the Global Detention Project (GDP). A series of measures have been implemented to avoid the spread of Covid-19 within the facility:
- Only lawyers are allowed into the facility while visits by Norwegian Red Cross volunteers and individuals have been suspended.
- Staff are investigating enabling videoconferences for detainees with family members, although this has not yet been put in place.
- The frequency of disinfection and cleaning has been increased. The facility is now cleaned several times a day.
- A separate unit has been dedicated to managing suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases. Infected persons will be placed in this separate unit, isolated from others.
The Norwegian Red Cross reported that some detainees had been released, but it was unclear how many. Those released include people deemed to not be a flight risk as well as people with a permanent and/or official address in Norway (for instance, reception centres for asylum seekers or a family address). On 24 April, two Dublin cases were released due to border closures and as the police cannot detain asylum seekers for more than six weeks after the recipient country accepts responsibility. It was expected that three others would soon be released.
On 16 March, the country released 194 prisoners to avoid the spread of Covid-19 within its prisons. However, on 14 April, four inmates in the Bastøy Prison in Oslo tested positive for the disease. The Norwegian Correctional Service stated that 10 of their employees nationwide have been affected by the virus, but have not specified where in the country the employees work.
As in other Scandinavian countries, the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be taking a disproportionate toll on immigrant groups in Norway. Some 15 percent of residents in Norway were born abroad but 25 percent of those that have tested positive for Covid-19 were foreign-born. Public health officials and researchers have said that immigrant communities tend to work in “high-contract jobs - healthcare workers, drivers and cleaners, for example - with a higher risk of exposure.” Language barriers may also be at play as a lot of information was circulated through national health authorities’ websites that are unfamiliar to many people in immigrant communities.
On 21 April 2020, the National Centre for Multicultural Education (NAFO) published an online resource with information on Covid-19 in several languages, as well as various online resources for minority language learners.
A number of individuals have been released from immigration detention as a result of measures implemented in response to the pandemic. As of early April, the Police Immigration Department had released 10 individuals as deportations became impossible to undertake. Those released are required to remain in a stated location, either a private address or asylum reception centre.
Arriving asylum seekers are to be quarantined for 14 days at the Rade arrival centre before they can be transferred to other reception centres.
The Norwegian Correctional Service had released by early April nearly 200 prisoners in order to reduce prison populations. As of 7 April 2020, seven members of staff of the correctional service and two prisoners serving sentences in the community had tested positive for Covid-19.
Government Agencies
Ministry of Justice and Police (Justis- og Politidepartementet), http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/jd.html?id=463
Norwegian Directorate for Immigration (Utlendingsdirektoratet), http://www.udi.no/Norwegian-Directorate-of-Immigration/
Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (Utlendingsnemnda), http://www.une.no/
International Organisations
International Organisation for Migration Oslo, https://norway.iom.int/
UNHCR Norway Country Information, https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/norway
NGO & Research Institutions
Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers, http://www.noas.org/
Norwegian Refugee Council, https://www.nrc.no/
Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress, NKVTS, http://www.nkvts.no/Pages/Index.aspx
Norsk senter for menneskerettigheter (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights), http://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/
Flyktninghjelpen (Norwegian Refugee Council), www.flyktninghjelpen.no
Institutt for Arbeidsliv- og Velferdsforsking (Institute for Labour and Social Research), http://www.fafo.no/index.php/en/
Redd Barna (Save the Children Norway), http://www.reddbarna.no/default.asp?V_ITEM_ID=11539
Amnesty International Norge (Amnesty International Norway), www.amnesty.no
Institutt for samfunnsforsking, www.samfunnsforskning.no
Røde Kors, www.redcross.no
Statistisk sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway), www.ssb.no/innvstat
