INCREASED USE OF CUSTODY AGAINST UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS

FECL 14 (April 1993)

It has become a common practice in Oslo that foreigners are being kept in custody for months on the mere ground that they lack sufficient ID-documents.

The persons concerned - many of whom are asylum seekers - are held in a guarded building near Oslo's Fornebu airport. The building is situated only 200 meters from the airport which makes it suitable for keeping asylum seekers in custody while the police are waiting for a final deportation order.

The internment centre is guarded by a private security company who lets dogs run between the house and the barbed wire fence surrounding the area.

Source: SAMORA Newsletter No.2, February 1993 (based on Aftenposten, 6.2.93).
Contact: Henrik Lunde or Fida Jeries, SAMORA Newsletter, Antiracist Center, P.O. Box 244 Sentrum, N-0103 Oslo, tel:+47/2 2171750, fax:+47/2 2170561.