the crisis – Norway’s little red

Are you one of those who shakes his head in despair over the wailing of those who are now in the queue? Then I think you should think a little about. For this, frame is serious.

It is one of the rarities that I ask people to listen to FRP politician Per-Willy Amundsen, but as is well known, even blind hens can find grain:

– It is a violation of human rights, it is so serious. We are talking about a human rights violation. There is also a fundamental right in the Constitution, the right to move freely, says Amundsen to TV 2.

He talks about the growing passport crisis. Somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 Norwegians are now without Norway’s little red. Or, the new ones may be more salmon pink. The pass queues just grow and grow. Delivery time is long. If you are going out and traveling this summer and have not yet obtained a passport, you are probably out too late. The reasons are twofold:

1. Firstly, there are now many who request a new passport at the same time. Many passports have expired after lying in the drawer for two years with a pandemic. Now it is tingling in the desire to travel again, and then many must have something new.
2. There is a lack of material we need to make passports. They contain electronic chips with a particularly high degree of security, and they are not made in Norway.

You can basically travel without a passport in EU and EEA countries. But you must be able to identify yourself. Then either a passport or national ID card are the only valid forms of identification. Now there is a long wait for both.

Therefore, there are many Norwegians who can sit with their beards in the mailbox instead of enjoying life in warmer regions this summer. Or it could be people who have not seen their family since before the pandemic and are now finally to be reunited.

In-country problems are also problems, as they are called. But not having access to a passport to travel is not a trifle. It is deeply problematic, and it is deprivation of liberty.

To leave this country, you must have your paperwork in order. It requires the state. The system of nation states and national borders in the world means that the Norwegian state has a clear duty to issue passports to those who want them. The exception is, among other things, if you are wanted or arrested.

No one may be refused to leave the realm unless it is necessary for the purpose of effective prosecution or for the performance of military service. It says so in the Constitution. When the state fails to line up with the documents required to leave the country, the freedom of movement is restricted.

It’s not least about which basic views you have on your passport. Is it a right to have one, or is it a privilege? You may not have reflected that much on it, but there are good reasons why you should.

It may seem like a purely philosophical debate, but how you look at the passport is important for how we are to meet the ongoing passport crisis in Norway and in the rest of the world. Should it be easier to get a passport than it is today, and should it simply be easier to travel without it? Is waiting for months and having to cancel trips abroad just something people have to endure, or is it a major intervention in freedom?

Freedom of movement is a fundamental right. It’s not something you should be grateful to the state for. As long as Norway contributes to a world order that is based on strict border control and the identification of everyone who dares to cross a national border, it is all the more important that the state puts up with the papers that enable travel.

For our part, this crisis is fortunately temporary. For many other countries it is permanent.

Not all passports are the same. There are significant differences in how powerful they are, and the differences between them only increase. Henley Passport Index each year, all the world’s passports rank according to how powerful they are. The Norwegian passport is in sixth place with access to 186 countries either visa-free or visa on arrival.

At the very bottom of the list you will find Afghanistan. If you are so unlucky that you have an Afghan passport, you can only travel to 26 countries without going through a bureaucratic obstacle course.

The difference in freedom of movement has never been greater than it is right now. The map that is drawn is quite clear: those who have the least freedom of travel are on the African continent or in the Middle East.

For Norwegians, who have a proud passport history, it should taste a little extra painful. Fridtjof Nansen, the polar explorer and peace prize winner, made sure as high commissioner for the League of Nations to issue passports to stateless refugees. 450,000 had their passports endorsed by Nansen, and ensured that they could move freely even if their previous state had banned them.

The long pass queues are unacceptable. There have not exactly been too few restrictions on freedom of movement in recent years. For many, this is probably the drop that overturns the glass with patience.

The opposition in the Storting has given the Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) a marching order to initiate immediate measures to remedy Norwegians who want to travel. Longer opening hours and validity for emergency passports are possible solutions.

It is only to be hoped that this will be resolved for the summer, but that is not how it looks. It is nothing more than a trampling on the part of the state. Of course, it is not easy to predict that passports will suffer from a shortage of raw materials, but that border controls and visas exist to make it more difficult for people to travel – we knew that all the way.