7 Assistance in crisis situations

As stated earlier in this white paper, the Norwegian authorities provide various forms of consular assistance to Norwegian citizens abroad. This section of the white paper focuses on crisis situations that typically require an extraordinary response and special measures. For the purposes of this white paper, the term crisis refers specifically to these types of situations.

There are no specific rules and regulations governing assistance for Norwegian citizens during crises abroad. In legal terms, any such assistance falls within the same category as all other consular assistance. This does not change even in those crisis situations when special measures are implemented. Norwegian citizens abroad are not entitled to any extended right to assistance from the Norwegian authorities if they are affected by a crisis in the country they are in.

Experience shows that cross-sectoral cooperation between ministries and government agencies is essential to achieve effective management of crises and other large-scale incidents. Major steps have been taken to improve the crisis management system since the catastrophic tsunami that struck South Asia in 2004, in which 84 Norwegians were among those who died. The commission appointed to evaluate Norway’s response strongly criticised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for inadequate crisis management capacity. Since then, broad-based, long-term efforts have been underway to strengthen the collective ability of the Ministry and the Norwegian authorities to deal with large-scale crises affecting Norwegian citizens abroad.

Crises that have taken place since the white paper Assistance to Norwegians abroad (Meld. St. 12 (2010–2011)) was published in 2011 have generally been the result of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, large-scale accidents, pandemics and the ramifications of war and conflict. Each year, 120 to 150 events with the potential to develop into a major crisis are entered in the Foreign Ministry’s crisis management system. It is impossible to predict with any certainty the types of crises that will arise in the coming decades. It is likely, however, that crisis situations related to climate change will entail even greater challenges, even though many countries are working hard to mitigate the impacts. Future crises that may emerge in this context include natural disasters such as landslides, forest fires and flooding.

Several key trends may be pointing to an increasingly turbulent world ahead, with a risk of more war and more conflict. Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine is a stark reminder that major wars can pose a threat in Europe and in our region as well. In coming years, the Norwegian authorities need to be prepared to tackle a world situation in which war and conflict are more prevalent.

In order to provide Norwegian citizens abroad with the necessary, appropriate consular assistance during future crises, Norway must adapt to accommodate the emerging trends. Otherwise, the use of resources in connection with crisis management will be at the expense of the ability to deal with other key priorities. There are not unlimited resources available for crisis management abroad; nor should there be.

On the whole, the ability of the Norwegian authorities to manage crisis situations abroad has been greatly improved. Nonetheless, the question is always whether the crisis management system can stand up to the next crisis. Being as prepared as possible requires a continuous effort. Managing a crisis over an extended period places a heavy burden on personnel in and outside of the Foreign Service. To improve both crisis management and crisis prevention, it is crucial to evaluate and learn from the responses to past crises. The adjustments to the consular crisis response proposed in this white paper are based on the experience gained and lessons learned in the years since publication of the previous white paper on consular assistance.

7.1 Crisis management system for incidents abroad

As a general rule, when a crisis abroad affects Norwegians, it is the authorities of the country where the crisis occurs that are responsible for dealing with the situation. Any initiatives by Norway and other countries will be a supplement to the response of the host country. If a country has limited capacity to deal with crises, it will often welcome assistance from other countries. A Norwegian response to a crisis abroad must in all cases take place within the overall framework established by the host country for Norwegian or other international efforts.

The Norwegian authorities’ crisis management system has been improved in various ways since the catastrophic tsunami in 2004. The Government has overall responsibility, and the Crisis Council, where all the ministries are represented at the Secretary General level, is the highest administrative coordinating body. In accordance with section 1 of the Foreign Service Act, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a special responsibility in connection with crisis situations abroad that affect Norwegian citizens or interests. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security is to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and address any need for cross-sectoral coordination in Norway. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for crisis management, the other ministries and agencies are to support their response. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires assistance from agencies organised under the auspices of other ministries, such assistance will be requested in accordance with applicable procedures. The Government’s Crisis Support Unit (KSE) in the Ministry of Justice and Public Security is responsible for carrying out designated tasks to support crisis management efforts by the lead ministry and the Crisis Council, and for supporting the coordinating role of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in the area of civil protection.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ annual emergency response team seminar, with liaison officers from the health services, the police and the Armed Forces, was held in February 2025 at the headquarters of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Effective crisis management is dependent on close collaboration between various ministries and assistance from a variety of agencies. Close cooperation between the Armed Forces and the health and justice sectors is often of special importance when moving crisis-response resources from Norway to crisis-affected areas abroad. In many crisis situations the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has deployed emergency response units (UREs), whose capabilities have been tailored to the crisis at hand. The Armed Forces and the police can provide key resources and capabilities, for example in relation to the security and transport of Norwegian citizens. The same is true for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, with which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a special agreement. This agreement is unique to Norway and makes it possible to use the extensive resources of the Norwegian merchant fleet as part of a crisis response.

The Foreign Service’s crisis management system is being adapted more or less continuously as new experience is gained. The current system is flexible and scalable, and routines have been established to expand its scope using resources from other parts of the Foreign Ministry and from other ministries and agencies. In the case of a major crisis, all necessary resources are mobilised. Crisis management is led and handled centrally at a crisis centre established at the Foreign Ministry, with other relevant ministries and agencies brought in to participate. The numerous crisis responses of recent years have required the use of considerable resources not just by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but by other ministries and agencies as well.

The Ministry’s ability to manage crises has been improved in several ways in recent years. Today’s technical solutions, such as the mobile app Reiseklar, provide new opportunities to inform and guide Norwegian citizens and companies abroad. The Ministry also actively utilises warning messages to notify Norwegians who are in areas where the Ministry sees it as likely that a crisis will develop. A key task in the years ahead will be to look for new ways to further enhance preventive aspects of crisis management.

Every crisis is unique and raises a specific set of problems and challenges. It is therefore crucial to approach each crisis with strategic and operational flexibility. Success requires, among other things, a good network of contacts in the country where the crisis is taking place. Norway’s embassies and consulates general have a particular responsibility in this regard. Norway’s approximately 300 honorary consuls in 125 countries are another important resource. Personal networks and contacts have played a vital role in the management of various crisis situations. The Norwegian authorities will also continue their close, effective cooperation with the shipping industry, the Norwegian Church Abroad and the travel and insurance industries, among others.

7.2 International cooperation

In some crises abroad, Norway will be just one of many countries affected. Others share the same challenges that Norway faces during a crisis abroad. Over time, this shared experience has led to extensive international cooperation in which Norway takes active part.

In many crisis situations, international cooperation will play a significant role in the response, not least by ensuring access to capabilities that Norway in many cases would be unable to provide on its own. Cooperating with other countries and organisations facilitates more efficient use of resources and helps to lower crisis management costs.

EU cooperation on crisis management is extensive, and mechanisms for operational coordination and collaboration have been established. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) is an important tool for strengthening joint crisis preparedness and response efforts. Norway and 9 other countries outside the EU also participate in this mechanism. The UCPM makes it possible to mobilise resources when national capabilities are not available. It also includes reimbursement schemes that make it possible to reduce the cost of assisted departure for Norwegian citizens during a crisis. The Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) administers Norway’s participation in the UCPM. In addition to UCPM cooperation, Norway entered into an agreement with the EU in 2024 that expands Norwegian participation in broader EU crisis management efforts.1

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Norway was invited to take part in political crisis management meetings in the EU’s Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) mechanism. Meetings in this crisis response mechanism are generally limited to EU member states, but Norway was given access based on its membership of the Schengen cooperation. During the pandemic, Norway took part in the development of, among other things, mobility rules inside the Schengen Area and in discussions on assisted returns for citizens.

In October 2023 the EU decided to activate the IPCR in connection with the war in the Middle East. Norway was again invited to take part as EU member states were discussing, among other things, actions to support citizens affected by the war.

Norway is also a member of the Non-combatant Evacuation Operation Coordination Group (NEOCG), a broad-based forum for the coordination of assisted departure operations from crisis areas. The group was established after the crisis in Lebanon in 2005, where there were major problems due to the lack of coordinated evacuation procedures. The NEOCG will be important to Norway in future crises where assisted departure is considered.

The Nordic countries also work together closely on crisis management. In addition to the close cooperation between Nordic diplomatic and consular missions around the world, there are weekly meetings in the Nordic capitals where assessments are discussed. When a crisis arises, Nordic cooperation is vital, especially during the response phase.

7.3 Assisted departure

More and more Norwegians are being affected by crises abroad. One explanation for this is that more people holding a Norwegian passport are travelling abroad, both on short trips and to settle in other countries. This includes countries and areas where Norwegians have traditionally not tended to travel or settle.

In some crisis situations a decision has been taken to organise assisted departure, meaning that the Norwegian authorities offer assistance to leave a country or area. Although assisted departure in principle only entails providing assistance to get people out of a crisis-affected area, it has very often involved transport to Norway. This is because neighbouring countries and/or transit countries do not wish to have responsibility for individuals that the Norwegian authorities have evacuated from a crisis-affected area. In practice, therefore, assisted departure has become a form of assisted entry into Norway. An assisted departure operation is a major undertaking that requires substantial resources (see for example Box 7.2).

There have been several examples of assisted departure operations since the publication of the previous white paper on consular affairs. In 2011, Norwegians were offered air travel from Japan to Norway after the Fukushima nuclear power accident. Following the collapse of the Afghan state in August 2021, a large-scale operation involving many parts of the Norwegian government administration was initiated. Under somewhat chaotic circumstances, an airlift operation was carried out and more than 1 100 people were transported from Afghanistan to Norway. In spring 2023 the outbreak of civil war in Sudan led to a complex operation to evacuate the Embassy and assist Norwegian citizens. A total of 140 people received assistance on this occasion, and in addition Norway helped other countries to transport their citizens out of Sudan. Some months later, following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s response, a large-scale, prolonged operation was launched to get Norwegian citizens out of Israel and Gaza. Altogether assistance was provided to approximately 200 people from Israel and 300 from Gaza to travel to Norway.

Posted and locally employed staff of the Embassy in Cairo with members of the Foreign Ministry’s emergency response unit (URE) at the Gaza border in November 2023.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Assisted departure operations from crisis-affected areas are resource-intensive and complex. They can also pose a significant security risk to Norwegian personnel. The Foreign Service’s work to assist Norwegian citizens affected by crisis situations abroad has required increasingly larger resources over the past few decades. To reduce the complexity and cost of responding to crises requiring assisted departure, steps will be taken in future crisis situations to assess whether to limit the assistance to transport out of a crisis area to a safe neighbouring country or transit country rather than to provide transport that includes entry into Norway. This is in line with the guidelines for assisted departure described in the white paper Assistance to Norwegians abroad (Meld. St. 12 (2010–2011)).

There is also a need to define in more detail when and to whom assisted departure is to be offered, including weighing the importance of any travel warnings that have been issued and the type of affiliation the individual has with Norway.

7.3.1 Implications of travel warnings

For the Norwegian authorities, the decision of whether to offer assisted departure will always require an assessment of specific factors such as the severity of the situation and the availability of commercial transport alternatives. Another crucial factor will be whether the situation arises suddenly or is in an area that Norwegian citizens have been urged to leave or for which an official travel warning has been issued. The Norwegian authorities will, as far as possible, help individuals to find ways to leave an area while it is still possible to do so, for example via ordinary commercial flights. Individuals who choose voluntarily to remain in an area it was possible to leave cannot expect to receive any type of consular assistance, and the authorities will have a high threshold for offering assisted departure. It may nevertheless be possible to make exceptions for especially vulnerable groups, such as children who are abroad alone, or individuals who have been subject to negative social control. There have been examples of people who chose to remain in an area despite a travel warning urging people to leave because they thought it would be easier to wait until the authorities could come and help them out. Individuals being given an assisted departure who are found to have acted with negligence may be required to cover a larger share of the travel costs than has been the practice to date.

7.3.2 Norwegian citizens – requirements to demonstrate ties to Norway in addition to citizenship?

The vast majority of the people offered assisted departure from crisis-affected areas abroad by the Norwegian authorities have been Norwegian citizens, with the exception of the departure operation from Afghanistan, which was an extraordinary situation. No distinction has been made between Norwegian citizens who are temporarily visiting the crisis-affected area and Norwegian citizens who have emigrated and permanently reside outside Norway.

In past crises where assistance has been provided in the form of organised assisted departure, the group of people eligible for assistance has been determined specifically for each crisis. In the case of the assisted departure from Japan after the 2011 tsunami and from Israel in 2023, most of the individuals who received assistance were permanent residents of Norway and only visiting Japan or Israel for a short stay (typically a holiday or study trip). In connection with the assisted departure from Sudan and Gaza, however, most of those who received assistance did not reside in Norway. They were largely Norwegian citizens with dual citizenship who were originally from, and had close family ties to, the country they were assisted in leaving.

While there may be very good reasons for helping Norwegian citizens to leave a crisis-affected area, in the case of families that cannot demonstrate any genuine ties to Norway, such assistance would fall more under the category of humanitarian aid than consular assistance. It will also require considerable reception capability in Norway.

As stated in chapter 2, many Norwegians hold dual citizenship or permanently reside abroad, and the Foreign Service is increasingly dealing with Norwegian citizens who have never been in Norway and have very weak ties to the country. In the Government’s view, there is a need to consider establishing criteria requiring some form of affiliation with Norway in addition to citizenship in order to qualify for assistance from the Norwegian authorities to leave a crisis-affected area and travel on to Norway. Relevant requirements could include permanent residence in Norway, registration in the Norwegian National Population Register, membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme or other objective criteria. The degree to which citizenship of other countries is to be given any weight should also be considered. This will entail a change in current practice, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will review the issue in cooperation with other relevant ministries.

7.3.3 Foreign nationals

Certain categories of foreign nationals have also been eligible to take part in assisted departure organised by the Norwegian authorities. These are primarily foreign nationals permanently residing in Norway on a valid residence permit, including individuals residing in Norway who have a Norwegian refugee travel document or Norwegian immigrant’s passport. Close family members of Norwegian citizens who have been granted a residence permit in Norway may also be eligible when they travel together with their Norwegian family members.

There will also be instances when individuals are granted a Norwegian residence permit while a crisis is taking place. However, the Norwegian authorities cannot assume responsibility for ensuring that everyone who has been granted a permit can travel all the way to the Norwegian border. That would be beyond the scope of consular assistance, both during a crisis and in a normal situation.

The group defined as eligible for the Afghanistan operation in 2021 represented an exception. In the wake of 20 years of extensive civilian and military assistance to the country, there were various special issues that needed to be taken into account during this operation. Some 80 % of those who received assistance were Afghan citizens who did not belong to a category of foreign national that would normally have been offered consular assistance.

7.3.4 Families with different nationalities – challenges relating to immigration legislation

When it comes to eligibility for assisted departure, families where one or more members are Norwegian citizens and one or more are foreign nationals without right to reside in or enter Norway pose a particular challenge.

In situations involving assisted departure (which often entail entry into Norway), the wish to provide assistance to families such as this tends not to be compatible with immigration legislation, and the solutions are dependent on individual decisions taken by the immigration authorities on granting of entry visas and further grounds for residence in Norway.

To provide assisted departure for Norwegian minors, a parent or another person responsible for the child is often required to accompany the child on the journey. If a Norwegian child is in a crisis-affected area without their Norwegian parent, it has been standard practice to offer the non-Norwegian parent assisted departure to accompany the child even if that parent does not have a Norwegian residence permit. In some cases it has been deemed appropriate to allow a parent accompanying a Norwegian child to also be joined by their other children, even if these children are not Norwegian citizens or do not have Norwegian residence permits.

When a foreign national without a Norwegian residence permit is included in an assisted departure, it is necessary in many cases to grant an entry visa to individuals who would normally not have received one.

Many of the foreign nationals who have been included in assisted departure would not have fulfilled the criteria for a residence permit or visa if they had applied through ordinary channels, and some have already had previous applications for family immigration rejected. The reasons for this may be that they do not meet the criterion for assured subsistence, that there is evidence of polygamy, or that the marriage was entered into when one or both parties were under the age of 18 (child marriage). Although offers of assisted departure to individuals without a residence permit do not entail any guarantee of further residency in Norway, there is always a risk that their entry into Norway will circumvent immigration rules established to prevent forced marriage and negative social control, among other things.

In cases where foreign nationals without right to reside in or enter Norway have been offered assisted departure, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security has issued special instructions to the Directorate of Immigration on granting a national visa or entry visa for Norway in accordance with the special rules for cases involving foreign policy considerations in the Immigration Act. The individuals who came to Norway after the crises in Afghanistan and Gaza were included in the resettlement refugee quota and granted residence permits as refugees or on humanitarian grounds.

In cases where assisted departure is organised in connection with a situation of war and conflict, it may be very difficult for an individual to return to their country of origin if their application for asylum or for residency on other grounds is rejected. Thus there is reason to maintain a restrictive practice when it comes to offering assisted departure to individuals who do not have a residence permit in Norway. It will also be necessary to implement certain control measures in connection with assisted departure of foreign nationals. The issues described above show that close cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and relevant subordinate agencies is essential.

When a crisis is occurring it is difficult to decide which categories of individuals are to be eligible for assisted departure and which ones the Norwegian authorities cannot take responsibility for. This should be defined as clearly as possible beforehand. After this white paper has been debated in the Storting, the Government will therefore draw up clear and transparent guidelines on how to define eligible groups.