– It’s nice to see mum smile. I have missed her smile for the last eight years, says Dilani Johnson Collin, wiping the tears from her face. On Tuesday, her family learned that they can soon leave Finnsnes church after eight long years, without risking being arrested and deported from Norway. It is happening after it became clear yesterday that people who have been in church asylum for more than five years will be allowed to stay in Norway. It was decided as part of the settlement on the new state budget between the governing parties and SV. No one has ever spent longer in church asylum in Norway than the family from Sri Lanka. In church asylum since 2014 The family has been in church asylum at Finnsnes in Senja municipality since 2014. They have not dared to leave the church for fear of being sent back to Sri Lanka, where an uncertain fate would await them. The authorities have previously believed that the family’s credibility has been weakened, because they did not tell about their connection to the separatist movement the Tamil Tigers in the first asylum interview. The Collin family is now granted residence on humanitarian grounds. Which gives slightly fewer rights than if you are granted residence as a refugee under the Refugee Convention. After the family’s freedom became a fact, both friends and acquaintances met to celebrate in Finnsnes church in Senja municipality. – Waited for eight years SV’s budget negotiator Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, who represents Troms in the Storting, says that he has spent a lot of time getting the point into the budget agreement. The parties have also agreed that the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness will begin work to look at the framework around church asylum. Knag Fylkesnes says that it affected him strongly when the family’s case gained traction. – It was an enormous victory that I have been working on for several years this year. Finally they can get justice and go free. Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, parliamentary representative for Troms, describes it as a huge victory that the family now gets accommodation. Photo: Torstein Bøe He describes the family’s situation as one where they have been badly treated for many years. – Showing that the state and society can have a human side is very important to me. 34-year-old Dilani Johnson Collin thinks it will be hard for people to imagine the feelings she has now. – This is the day we have been waiting for for eight years. Taking too long The Norwegian Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NOAS) believes that the family has been in church asylum for eight years is far too long. – Faster and better solutions must be found. Our experience with legal aid is that we constantly get cases turned around for asylum seekers who have been here for a very long time and have been refused, says Secretary General Pål Nesse. The organization believes that the Norwegian Immigration Service (UNE) attaches too little importance to doubt and uncertainty surrounding the security of asylum seekers in their home country. When there is doubt about safety, it is more often that it becomes a disadvantage for the asylum seeker than that it speaks for residence. Nesse will not comment on the Collin case specifically, but is speaking in general. – Norway adheres to a very strict practice. When we ask for things to be reconsidered, we often see that there are different results. Not least when we experience that people themselves can stand and appear before the tribunal. Pål Nesse is secretary general of the Norwegian Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Photo: Gerd Johanne Braadland / news Department director in UNE’s subject department, Ketil Larsen, says that they do not recognize the criticism from NOAS. – It is a fundamental principle that doubts about the need for protection should benefit the asylum seeker, and as an appeals body UNE naturally deals with this. He says that approximately 90 per cent of asylum seekers have been granted residence in recent years. Larsen clarifies that he also answers in general, and not specifically about the Collin case. – NOAS does a lot of things right in the cases they get involved in. UNE safeguards legal certainty and reverses previous decisions when there is a basis for it. Such changes are often due to the fact that the case is different after previous decisions. Can set a precedent Chairman of the justice committee, Per-Willy Amundsen from the Progress Party, believes it is good that the family has now got a solution to their case. But he believes it is important to distinguish between this specific case and the principle. Storting representative for the Frp, Per-Willy Amundsen, believes that the budget agreement will set a precedent for future cases. Photo: Vidar Ruud / Vidar Ruud He believes that the budget agreement between the government and SV will set a precedent for future cases. – The challenging thing is that, in practice, you now have an opening to get automatic residence in Norway, if you have been in church asylum long enough. Then the danger is that the Church of Norway will once again use church asylum as a method to prevent legal deportation decisions, and no one benefits from that. Knag Fylkesnes does not believe that people will take advantage of church asylum by staying there for five years. He believes that Amundsen overestimates how lucrative it can be. – Being in a church asylum for so long can be compared to a form of prison, with no future. Church asylum Church asylum is a practice where the special status of the church room provides protection to the person who is in it. When Christianity came to Norway, it quickly became common for persecuted and outlaws to find safety for a short period in the church. In modern times, church asylums in Norway have only been used by refugees and asylum seekers. There is no established arrangement or practice, and there are really no sanction options if the authorities should decide to break the church asylum and extract those who stay there. The church asylum occurs when someone does not voluntarily leave the church premises with the intention of avoiding arrest. Church asylum, in contrast to ordinary asylum, is not granted by anyone and one cannot therefore be denied church asylum either. In Norway, at one point in the 90s, there were around 650 asylum seekers in church asylums. Today, there are only a few people in church asylums. Historically, the word “asylum” has been used for a sacred place where the persecuted cannot be apprehended. From antiquity to the present, these have typically been temples, Christian churches, monasteries and hospitals. When Norway became Christian, a practice arose where the persecuted and outlaws could seek refuge in the church for a shorter period. In the 12th century and until the Reformation, the church asylum was authorized both in the secular and ecclesiastical legislation in the Nordic countries. The arrangement was mutually respected in the two competing power systems and dealt with the necessity of being able to seek refuge in one regime if one was persecuted in the other. After the church became subject to the king in 1537 in Denmark-Norway, the arrangement has had no formal authority in the legislation. (Source: Uni Rokkansenteret/Wikipedia/Store Norske Leksikon (sln.no)) – Has been of great importance in the congregation Recently, the family and the support group have been working on planning a torchlight procession before Christmas. Together they have stood year after year, without the big results. Now it seems that the torchlight train will be a cheering train instead. Leader of the family’s support group, Kjellrun Skoglund, says that the family has done a lot for others in the congregation. – I believe that God had a purpose in having placed them here for so long, because they have meant so much to so many. Through them many hearts have been touched. LYKKERUS: After eight years in church asylum, the married couple Merry Anjala and Antonipillai Johnson Collin and their daughter Dilani Johnson Collin are granted residence in Norway. Photo: Børge Hoseth / news The family will soon be released, but first the formalities must be in place. And they must be able to endure the last waiting period. – We have been waiting for eight years. I’ll be able to wait a few more weeks or a month. It’s going just fine, says Johnson Collin with a broad smile. She already knows what she will do the day she can leave the church. – I want to go to the center of Finnsnes and greet people. Many people have said that there are a lot of changes in the area, I really want to see the city centre.
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The Collin family in Finnsnes from Sri Lanka escapes from church asylum after 8 years – Want to go until late – news Troms and Finnmark
