“It was so terribly cold. It was snowing, and it was getting dark in the evening. It was the last night of the year, New Year’s Eve. In the cold and darkness, a small, poor girl was walking in the street.” This is how the story of the girl with the brimstones begins. Perhaps it is not so different from the story of 16-year-old Agathe, who came alone to Norway to seek asylum, but who disappeared on a bus trip on New Year’s Eve, while the Norwegian state was actually supposed to take care of her. Just like the tale of the girl who freezes to death while dreaming of a better life, stories of disappearances are nothing new. For over ten years, news has written about asylum children who disappear from asylum reception centers and foster homes. This is the girl with the brimstone in 2022: 1,000 children who have applied for asylum without adults, so-called unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, have disappeared in the last 21 years. 432 have disappeared in the last eight years alone, even though the Storting said in 2015 that asylum children should be searched for on the same basis as everyone else. I am shocked, as a mother and a politician, when I read about these children. There are nameless, faceless, invisible. Just like the girl in HC Andersen’s classic Christmas story. It’s a scandal. How many matches of hope did these children try to light? How many burned out? What happened to these vulnerable children? How many were victims of drug environments, human trafficking or prostitution? How many had their last hours by a cold brick wall with only a small light to warm themselves? The girl with the brimstones does not dare to go home for fear of being beaten by her father, and she rather stays out in the cold. For many asylum children, the risk of being sent back to war, persecution or poverty is reason enough to take their chances in trying to fend for themselves. Half of the children who only received temporary residence, and risked being thrown out of the country when they turned 18, disappeared from Norwegian reception between 2009 and 2015. Norwegian immigration policy has aimed to make it less tempting to come to Norway, also for children . I find myself wondering if Norway does not appear like the impenetrable brick houses the girl peers into through the window, where warmth, food and care are reserved for those inside. This is perhaps particularly true for the asylum children aged between 15 and 18. The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration is responsible for them, while the younger children are cared for by the child welfare services. The discrimination against children between the ages of 15 and 18 is an artificial distinction without objective assessments. The Norwegian Institute for Human Rights believes that this discrimination is a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Child welfare should be responsible for all children who need it. It is not only the asylum children who are forgotten. High prices and expensive electricity have made it more difficult for many to be a child in the past year. I am deeply concerned for all those who are now growing up in increasingly difficult conditions. A good childhood lasts a lifetime. It is therefore crucial that we help these children out of poverty. We cannot accept that children grow up in poverty and have to stand in food queues, because the government’s policy does not give enough to those who have the least. Now there are only a few weeks left before the old year is over. All children are children. We cannot accept that hundreds of asylum children disappear without anyone knowing where they are. The government must immediately start an investigation into the disappearances, and ensure far better care for the asylum children by ensuring that all asylum children who come to Norway without adults come under child protection. There must be an end to temporary stays for those between the ages of 16 and 18. I hope we can enter the new year without any more children with brimstones getting lost in the dark winter evening. ALSO READ:
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The children with the sulfur sticks – Speech
