By a commentator for Tjen Folket Media
Statistics from UDI show that it makes no difference for refugees if SV or FrP sits in government. Under Solberg’s government, many more have received asylum in Norway than when Stoltenberg and SV sat in government. The parties’ promises have been shown to be nothing more than empty rhetoric.
This year’s election is a municipal and county election, but the parties that participate are Parliament parties. Seven of them have sat in government over the course of the last 15 years. Some of them profile themselves as being very strict on refugees, others as more humane. The numbers from 2005 until the present show that the matter of which party sits in government means nothing for the total number of refugees that receive asylum in Norway.
The tables from UDI [The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration] show how many people received asylum status within the period. The figures include the sum of asylum seekers, other refugee status, and stay for humanitarian reasons.
Yearly Sum of Persons Who Received Asylum Status
2005 – 3999
(Stoltenberg becomes Prime Minister in Autumn 2005 – with SV in government)
2006 – 3201
2007 – 5845
2008 – 4624
2009 – 6056
2010 – 6831
2011 – 6105
2012 – 7177
2013 – 7903
(Erna Solberg becomes Prime Minister in Autumn 2013 – with FrP in government)
2014 – 7537
2015 – 9696
2016 – 16041
2017 – 7981
2018 – 3875
Briefly summarized – the year with the fewest number of persons who received asylum status was 2006, with Stoltenberg’s “red-green” government. The year with the greatest number of persons who received asylum status was 2016, with Solberg’s Conservative/FrP government. Each year under Stoltenberg, there were actually fewer who were granted asylum status than each year under Solberg, with the exception of 2018 – which had the second lowest number in the course of 14 years. The five years with the greatest number was under Solberg’s government (with FrP!). Four of the five lowest numbers are with Stoltenberg (and SV) in government…
Even shorter put: Far fewer received asylum status with SV in government, and far more received asylum status with FrP in government!
These are other factors in play than what the parties reportedly stand for, which governs policy in this area. And the overwhelming majority in Parliament agree on the broad lines followed in Norwegian refugee policies. Both Labour and Conservative wish for a “strict but fair” policy, which in practice means that each year, thousands of people from war-torn countries will be deported back to war, terror, and torture.
The framework is sealed shut, and in addition, other conditions have dramatic effects. That over 25.000 people received asylum in 2015/2016 does not have anything to do with the fact that Conservative and FrP was over three times as humane as Labour/Centre/Socialist Left in 2005/2006, but rather that the extremely destructive war in Syria drove millions from their homes in Medditerranean countries with a short passage to Europe.
In other words – again, it is primarily rhetoric and empty electoral promises when the parties flaunt themselves as being either very firm or very humane.
Kjære leser!
Tjen Folket Media trenger din støtte. Vi får selvsagt ingen pressestøtte eller noen hjelp fra rike kapitalister slik som rasistiske “alternative medier”. All vår støtte kommer fra våre lesere og fra den revolusjonære bevegelsen. Vi er dypt takknemlige for dette. Vi overlever ikke uten, og du kan gjøre ditt bidrag ved å støtte oss med det du kan avse.