A group of Taiwanese students living in Norway are raising funds to sue the Norwegian government next year at the European Court of Human Rights, after Norway’s highest court refused to rectify the nationality listed on their residency permits from China back to Taiwan.

The fundraising campaign organizer, named Joseph, told Taiwan’s Central News Agency on Tuesday that they launched the campaign after the Supreme Court of Norway on Oct. 9 rejected their appeal without hearing the case. He said he felt “disappointed” at how the authorities handled the incident.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed high regret after the lawsuit was overturned, adding that it would continue to provide assistance to the students if they decided to resort to the European Court of Human Rights.

The change in their nationality from Taiwan to China, which applies to all Taiwanese people working or studying in the country, started in 2010 after the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award Chinese dissenter Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize. Joseph argued the Norwegian government had made the change in order to avoid provoking the ire of Beijing.

Ten Taiwanese students in 2018 raised more than NT$3 million (US$105,120) to support their lawsuit to press the Norwegian government to rectify the change, but the court directly rejected the appeal without hearing the case.

As Norway is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, plaintiffs can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights located in Strasbourg in France. Joseph said the remaining donations of more than NT$1 million would be enough to hire a lawyer to appeal to the European Court.

He said Norway’s registration of his nationality as “China” was neither in accordance with his national identity nor in accordance with the facts. He also accused Norway for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to privacy.

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