Norway's fence to guard Arctic route against refugees

By Elin Jonsson

OSLO, Norway (AA) - Norway is due to finish erecting a steel fence along its border with Russia to control the flow of refugees -- despite none have crossed the remote Arctic frontier so far this year.

In the far northeastern Kirkenes region, which sits around 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, workers should have the 200 meter (281 yard) long fence completed in the next few weeks.

However, its construction has triggered a fierce reaction from politicians and human rights groups, who see the barrier as the latest blow to Scandinavia’s reputation as a welcome haven for refugees.

“International media is very interested in this case because Norway has gained respect as a nation that works for peace and cooperation in global matters,” Linn Landro, from Refugees Welcome, said Wednesday.

“Now that we have put up a border fence, it damages our international reputation.”

Kirkenes, where average temperatures drop to minus 14C (7F) in January, is likely the most northerly route taken by refugees from the trouble spots such as Syria and Afghanistan but last year around 5,500 mainly Syrian refugees entered Norway via this remote passage.

That flow has been stemmed by Russian measures to prevent foreigners without a passport from a Schengen zone nation entering the border region.

The Norwegian government has defended its decision to build the fence, saying security needs to be tightened at the northern edge of Europe’s passport-free zone.

- Tougher asylum rules

“The influx of border crossings here has slowed down but that doesn’t mean it can’t pick up again at a later time,” Border Police Chief Stein Kristian Hansen told TV news channel NRK.

“A fence will enhance security and control in the area of the border crossing.”

Norway has recently introduced tougher asylum rules that many feel reflect a shift in public attitudes towards the migrant influx. Others say the fence is a step back towards the Cold War era.

“This isn’t the wisest thing Norway can do in relation to its neighbor Russia,” Mayor Rune Rafaelsen of the Soer-Varanger region, which covers the border, told Swedish news website Yle. “I can’t see the utility of the fence. On the contrary, it has a bad symbolic value.”

Norway’s barrier follows months of fence-building across Europe in response to the refugee influx.

Hungary is planning a second fence on its frontier with Serbia, adding to a razor-wire fence that was put up last year after around 400,000 migrants crossed Hungary on their way to western and northern Europe.

In April, Austria began building a “migrant fence” at the Italian border and two months later Croatia erected a fence at its Batina border crossing with Serbia.

Last December, a border fence between Sweden and Denmark was completed in preparation for the introduction of identity checks between the two nations.