The team
Ida Normann and Øyvind Lervik from UDI, Sidsel Rønning from IMDi and the Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi and Ohene Aboagye from IMDi recently visited Addis Ababa. Embassy immigration attaché Gry Henriksen has assisted the team.
Ida Normann, Ohene Aboagye, Ambassador Jens-Petter Kjemprud, Immigration Attaché Gry Henriksen, Sidsel Rønning and Øyvind LervikMeetings with the embassy, UNHCR, IOM, ARRA (Ethiopian Administration for Refugee/Returnee Affairs), Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association and the Refugee Women Committee have been arranged for the team to gain knowledge about the refugee situation in Ethiopia.
The Team visiting Ethiopian Women Lawyer's AssociationQuota refugees
This year 200 Eritrean refugees will be resettled in Norway, 75 of these from Ethiopia and the remaining 125 from Sudan. The yearly number of quota refugees is decided by the Norwegian parliament. In 2009 1200 people, based on their need for protection through resettlement, will come to Norway on this quota. The UNHCR, prioritising the Horn of Africa, presents cases to UDI/INDi, who then conducts the selection.
Most of the Eritreans will be taken from the Shimelba camp, together with a few cases from Addis Ababa. ’Women at risk’ are in focus; meaning female single heads of households, usually with children, and without any protection from men. At least 15 percent of the quota refugees will be women.
Preparations for, and arriving in, Norway
To prepare the refugees for the travel to Norway the refugees will go through a cultural orientation programme conducted by IOM. The programme will inform the refugees about the practical realities awaiting them in Norway, as well as information about their rights and duties there. Adults go through a 5 day preparation programme and children a 2 day programme.
In Norway, different municipalities have agreed to receive a number of the refugees.
- The Norwegian host municipalities have given very positive feedback on the cultural orientation programme and its benefits for the refugees, the Team says.
The quota refugees will come to Norway within 6 months of the selection and move straight to their host municipalities. A two-year introduction programme to Norwegian language and life will help integrate the newcomers into Norwegian society and qualify them for the Norwegian job market.
The Team expressed great satisfaction with the visit, and emphasised the importance of acquiring knowledge and insight to be better prepared to understand, and deal with, the refugee situation in the years to come.