The State of Scandinavia

From the centre-right Norwegian daily Aftenposten: "Norway's New Underclass"

"Thousands of people, most of them immigrants with no legal right to be in Norway, are believed to be working in the country under conditions that some experts describe as modern-day slavery.

Newspaper Aftenposten has been running a series of stories describing the lives of many members of the country's new underclass of illegal immigrants. The vast majority sought asylum in Norway, were turned down, but have avoided deportation.

Most are hiding out all over the country, in friends' homes, basements, churches or makeshift shelter. With no legal right to work, and lacking the state tax card necessary to obtain legitimate employment, members of this new underclass are vulnerable to exploitation.

That's because there's a pressing need for labour in Norway, and work abounds. Some employers are as willing to "hire" illegal immigrants at wages well below scale as the immigrants are willing to work.

Among them is "Ziad," a 32-year-old Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. He's been living underground in Norway for seven years, ever since his appeal for asylum in Norway was turned down. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor of an Oslo cellar along with six other illegal immigrants in Oslo, and is in constant fear of being seized and deported.

Ziad worked long days for a vegetable dealer in Oslo, also from the Middle East, who regularly abused him and paid him small change. But even that helped Ziad eat, since he's constantly desperate for money. The job ended abruptly when the vegetable dealer replaced him with a family member.

Such stories of desperation are repeated from Kristiansand to Tromsø, and have included a couple who even had a baby girl while hiding out. They're constantly worried her crying will attract attention and reveal their location in a small mountain town."


On a somewhat related note, Norway has slipped from number one to number two in the United Nation's Human Development Index. The HDI ranks nations on the basis of life expectancy, literacy, standard of living, and education.


Amnesty International has accused the government of Denmark of direct discrimination against recent immigrants. Here is the story from the Copenhagen Post: "Amnesty Accuses State of Discrimination

"The human rights watchdog has criticised the government for giving lower social benefits to new immigrants

Amnesty International published a report today labelling the government's controversial Start Help benefit, discriminative and causing poverty and blaming it for marginalizing immigrants.

The benefit, paid instead of the regular state income support, is for unemployed people who have not resided in Denmark for seven out of the previous eight years.

The amount is DKK 11,968 monthly before tax for a family of two adults and two children - an amount lower than the EU margin for poverty.

The start benefit is significantly lower than that of the normal state income support, which amounts to a monthly minimum of DKK 21,672 before tax for the same sized family.

Amnesty finds the benefit directly discriminative as it is primarily given to immigrants and refugees. In 2006, 94 percent of recipients were people with non-Danish backgrounds.

Stinne Lyager Bech, author of the report, emphasised: 'Even if the Start Help benefit was intended for all, in practice, it affects foreigners, and that is illegal.'

She also stated that the legislation was not in accordance with international human rights standards.

'Start Help is an example of discrimination that the Danish state is directly responsible for,' she continued. 'It must therefore be abolished.'

Ida Elisabeth Koch, senior researcher at the Institute of Human Rights, reiterated that the benefit affected Danes and foreigners differently.

Similar cases had been taken to the European Court of Human Rights where it was possible for Start Help recipients to sue national states on charges of discrimination.

The newly appointed integration minister, Birthe Rønn Hornbech, did not wish to comment on the outcome of the report.

However, Karen Elleman the integration spokesperson for the prime minister's Liberal Party, said: 'Start Help is a loving push in the right direction - results show that recipients are more motivated to look for work or enter a study programme.'