Among the signatories to the appeal are all the organisations at the Human Righrs House in Oslo. They are joined by all bishops in Norway and other faith-based institutions, too, among them YMCA and YWCA. In addition to those come a number of youth organisations and youth sections of political parties, and a host of other organisations, including Changemaker, the International Commission of Jurists - Norway, Save the Children, and SOS Racism.

What triggered the action and appeal was Norway's return by force of 30 Iraqi asylum seekers to Bagdad in December last year. The return contradicted UNHCR's recommendation not to return asylum seekers to baghdad. Both UNHCR and the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner have criticised Norway for its decision. Norway has defended this particular return by way of saying that it has documenation confirming that returning Iraqis to Baghdad does not involve any risk. This documentation, however, is not made available to the public.

-The Norwegian government should take note of the large number of organisations and individuals supporting this appeal, says Secretary general of Norwegian Amnesty John Peder Egenæs, right. -On this issue, we will not give up. If the government continues to act in contradiction to the UN's recommendations, we will also continue our loud protests. The Norwegian Minister of Justice Knut Storberget has previously signalled that it is at least as important to streamline Norwegian policy and practice in asylum seekers' cases with our neighbouring countries, as it is to follow the UN's recommendations.

-We are experiencing a downwards trend with regards to Norway's respect for the UN's recommendations on how to deal with asylym seekers. The rhetorics from our governments is getting ever more negative. This is why it is important to mobilise against this very unfortunate trend, comments Secretary General in NOAS, Morten Tjessem.