A group of Taiwanese in Norway sued the Norwegian government over the change of nationality on their residence permit to Chinese, but the lawsuit made it all the way to the Norwegian Supreme Court, where it was recently rejected. The initiators of the lawsuit have indicated that they will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
A few years ago, 10 Taiwanese students in Norway protested several times to the Norwegian government against the change of their nationality to Chinese on their residence permits, but received no response.
In April of this year, the judge of first instance ruled against the plaintiffs on the grounds of the “one China policy” and they appealed all the way to the High Court and the Supreme Court, but all three courts rejected the case.
The group, known as the “Campaign for the Renaming of Taiwanese Citizenship in Norway,” says in the linked book that the Norwegian government has been changing the nationality of Taiwanese to Chinese since 2010. The campaign, they say, is aimed at urging the Norwegian government to issue residence permits to Taiwanese with the nationality “Taiwan” in order to preserve their identity as guaranteed by international human rights conventions.
Joseph, the campaign’s founder, said he was disappointed that the Supreme Court of Norway did not review the case or explain why, and dismissed the appeal on November 9 on procedural grounds. Since there is still money left over from the fundraising, he intends to appoint a lawyer to file an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in the first half of next year.
Since Norway is a contracting party to the European Convention on Human Rights, it is possible to apply to the ECHR after exhausting domestic remedies, according to the Convention.
However, according to the Central News Agency, Joseph said that the case has received high public attention in Norway and has helped to raise Taiwan’s visibility in the country, and that the main purpose of the complaint is to make Norway and the European community aware of Taiwan’s international situation and the threat Taiwan’s authority poses to democracy, rather than to win or lose the case.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday (Dec. 1) that it will continue to support Taiwan’s international students and provide them with the necessary assistance according to their wishes.
In an interview with Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, on November 19, Taiwan Foreign Minister Wu Zhao-she said that the nationality column on the residence permits of Taiwanese students living in Norway was marked as “a province of China,” which is obviously not true, and Taiwanese people generally resent this, and he called on the Norwegian government to address the seriousness of the problem and correct the mistake as soon as possible.
According to the first instance verdict of the Oslo District Court in the case, obtained by Taiwan’s Central News Agency, on April 28, 2012, the Norwegian government follows a one-China policy and does not recognize Taiwan as a country, and it is in line with the official one-China policy to record the nationality of Taiwanese as Chinese.
Joseph, who initiated the complaint, studied in Norway and is now a practicing lawyer in Taiwan. He says that the Norwegian government distanced itself from Taiwan after the Chinese anger over the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Their reactions and complaints to the Norwegian government about the nationality on their residence permits have gone unanswered.
Recent Comments