Hello Everyone Here is somrthing to think about. Peter´s son is the father-in-law to the husband of your father´s sister. How are you related to Peter or what is Peter to you? Matarr >From: Amadu Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: EUobserver: New rules for third-country family reunification >Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 18:56:43 +0100 > >Hi! > >This news item seems quite interesting for some reasons. The Scandinavian >countries, as opposed to the rest of Europe have been sneaking in 'laws' >that require DNA testing between parents and their offspring in order to >prove biological ties in family reunification applications. > >These are not 'laws' passed by parliament but rather 'regulations' crafted >by Immigration Authorities which allow them to 'offer' such tests to >applicants in family reunification cases; an 'offer' you don't dare refuse, >as that spells automatic rejection of your application. > >In Norway, among the list of twelve countries whose nationals are availed >this special 'offer,' ten are African: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, >Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia and Cameroon; the other two non-African >countries being Afghanistan and Irak. > >That's not all, the applicants have to travel to the Norwegian embassy >nearest to their home country, which in Gambia's case for example, would >mean Abidjan in civil war-engulfed Ivory Coast and at the applicant's own >cost too, in order to give blood specimen. Specimen which is then supposed >to be dispatched to Oslo for analysis. > >Consular outpost like the one we have in the Gambia are not accepted as >being good enough to collect such specimen, an exercise than can be carried >out by even an auxillary nurse. > >It is also supposed to take three months from the collection of the >specimen till the result is made available, a time frame which does not >included the six months that it is normally supposed to take to process >such applications. > >One is naturally led to wonder why only certain hand-picked countries are >made this unethical 'offer'? > >Well according to the Norwegian Immigration Authority, >Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI), the validity of documents from these >countries is questionable since they are known for their rampant >corruption. One concrete example they proffered was that a mother can just >walk into a health centre and quote a date of birth of a child, name of >parents, and be issued with a birth certificate. > >Question is, why would these same authorities that accept other documents >from these countries without question, choose to question the validity of >only birth certificates? Why are marriage certificates exempt, for example? >The whole scheme is suspect at best. > >As usual, there has not been any concerted response from the communities >involved. Some from the affected communities have even been blaming the >victims as there has been a general attitude of: 'It does not affect me;' >while some have refuse outright to append their signatures to a petition >intended to deliver some form of protest, set in motion by certain >concerned individuals. First it was only the Somalians, now there are nine >more African nationalities; today it is DNA testing, tomorrow? > >My understanding from conversations with Gambians resident in both Sweden >and Denmark, is that these countries instituted not only 'laws' that >'offer' DNA tests but more far-reaching and hostile one towards immigrants. >I just could not believe my ears when Momodou Camara explained to me the >length to which the Danish Immigration Authority has gone in order to >frustrate efforts by 'foreigners,' even those holding Danish nationality, >to have even their wives join them in Denmark. > >For the benefit of those who read Norwegian/Danish/Swedish, the circular >from UDI on DNA testing can be accessed at: > >http://193.71.11.42/dokumenter/doc/rundskriv/2002/rs200229.doc > >Below is text of the petition. Those resident in Norway who wish to append >their signatures to it can also sign electronically by sending an email >with the heading "Petition" to: [log in to unmask] > >Gjenopprett offentlig tillit til Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI)! > >Familiegjenforening - en menneskerett! > > > >Vi som bidrar med våre underskrifter er veldig bekymret for hvordan >Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI) fungerer og hvordan UDI behandler de som søker >om familiegjenforening eller om besøksvisum for å møte slekt og venner >bosatt i Norge. De siste årene har det kommet mange klager men få >endringer. Faktisk ser det ut som om forholdene har forverret seg. > > > >Vi ber om at > > > > a.. norske myndigheter baserer sin saksbehandling på bedre kjennskap til >lokale institusjoner for ekteskapsinngåelse og lokale forståelser av >familie og slektskap. > b.. DNA-tester ikke tas i bruk i familiegjenforeningssaker, først og >fremst fordi DNA ikke er det viktigste kriteriet for familedannelse, >hverken i Norge eller landende innvandrere og asylsøkere i Norge kommer >fra. > c.. minsteinntekt på 165 000 kroner i året som forutsetning for >familiegjenforening revurderes, barns behov for oppvekst i samvær med sine >foreldre blir ikke mindre av at foreldrene har en lav inntekt. > > > > > > > Navn > Navn > > 1. > > 13. > > > 2. > > 14. > > > 3. > > 15. > > > 4. > > 16. > > > 5. > > 17. > > > 6. > > 18. > > > 7. > > 19. > > > 8. > > 20. > > > 9. > > 21. > > > 10. > > 22. > > > 11. > > 23. > > > 12. > > 24. > > > > > > > > >Regards, > >Kabir. >EUobserver: New rules for third-country family reunification: > >http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=9520# > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger http://www.msn.no/messenger - Den korteste veien mellom deg og dine venner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~