The Evacuation of a Building at Lier Ventemottak PDF Print E-mail
18 March 2009

In May 2008, fifteen people from Lier ventemottak were forcefully transferred to Fagerli ventemottak, near Gardermoen, in order to give their place at Lier to newly arrived refugees. The newly arrived refugees occupied one of the buildings and others were put in tents. The tents were dismantled in September prior to winter time.

The new refugees abandoned the house at Lier on 12 March, 2009 due to bad health conditions in the building. The building has been used by people living in the ventemottak from March 2006. The evacuation took place secretly, and the rest of the inhabitants were not informed. We just found that the building was empty and the mattresses heaped outside, ready to be burnt.

There have been many complaints about health in the ventemottak, but the company running Lier ventemottak has denied any such allegations. Such urgent evacuation due to bad health conditions reveals the prejudice the persons running the ventemottak have in preparation to tear down people living in the ventemottak, using buildings not in accordance with the health standards in Norway, evacuating them only at the point of urgency.

The inhabitants in the ventemottak are now scared about their health situation, since the evacuated building is just one of the three buildings in the same compound, built at the same time. It is common logic that if one of the buildings is not hygienically fit to accommodate people, then all the buildings would not be fit for the same purpose, since they were all built at the same period. Therefore, those in the ventemottak must be evacuated from the remaining building as well.

The people living in the ventemottak continue to live in the same building, known by the authorities possibly not to be fit according to health standards. The people left in the same building are also human beings with equal rights before international law. Leaving them in buildings having bad health standards is prejudice and discrimination directed against a particular group of people.

The water system has been tested three weeks ago, and was condemned, because it contained bad water. The water is not fit for human consumption. Yet the people living in the ventemottak have been drinking it for over two years. Many people suffered from stomach related diseases, but the people running the camp denied everything we complained about, and said people are just tired and stressed. We believe that if a general medical test can be carried out, many people living in the ventemottak will be diagnosed with unnecessary and serious health problems.

Inhabitant of Lier ventemottak, anonymous