Norwegian Directorate of Immigration does not consider the situation in Chechnya dangerous

The most wide-spread reason to refuse political asylum in Norway to residents of Chechnya is the use of general situation in the republic as an argument by the claimants without specifying the particular threats, Guri Norstrom, official of PR Department of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May, 24. 

"As for the problems of security in Chechnya and Northern Caucasus on the whole, we estimate the situation in the context of the standards stipulated by Norwegian Law of immigration and the International Convention on Refugees. At the moment we do not consider the general situation in Chechnya dangerous enough to become a reason for granting political asylum to all the comers. As far as we know, the majority of migration services in Europe stick to the same opinion", Guri Norstrom said. 

Formerly, human rights activist Ahmed Gisaev repeatedly spoke about particular cases of refusal to grant asylum to the Chechens whose return to their republic would not be safe. For example, Salakh Isaev, ex-member of the Fund "Save the Generation", who by many evidences might encounter danger in case of returning home was deported from Norway. At the moment Isaev does not wish to inform the press of his location considering it also dangerous for his life. 

Usam Baisaev, human rights activist, member of "Memorial" Human Rights Center, said that the reasons for refusal are "sometimes really cynical". 

"For instance, a refugee who complains of prosecution on religious grounds may be told: sorry, the President of Chechnya is enacting sheria, so go there. A person whose brother was killed can get a refusal, too. We do believe that your brother was killed, - they may say to him, - but it was your brother, not yourself", Baisaev says.