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TITLE: NORWAY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
NORWAY
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
with King Harald V as the Head of State. Norway is governed by
a Prime Minister, Cabinet, and a 165-seat Storting
(parliament), which is elected every 4 years and cannot be
dissolved. The police, security forces, and the military are
scrupulous in their protection of human rights. The Government
(including the judicial system and the Storting) exercises firm
control over these organizations and investigates thoroughly
any allegations of human rights violations.
Norway is an advanced industrial state with a mixed economy
combining private, public, and state ownership. Personal
freedoms, such as freedom of association and of speech and the
right to pursue private interests and to hold private property,
are protected by the Constitution and respected in practice.
Deeply rooted democratic principles, a strong egalitarian
tradition, an independent press, and highly developed
educational and social welfare systems have made Norway a
leading practitioner of human rights.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Such killings did not occur.
b. Disappearance
Secret arrests and detentions did not occur.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment on the part of law enforcement or armed services
personnel do not occur in Norway. Generous furlough and
visitation rights characterize the penal system, which
emphasizes rehabilitation. The maximum sentence for any crime
is 21 years.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Norwegian law provides for arrest warrants, which are used
except in circumstances such as hot pursuit. Persons may be
detained for up to 4 hours without being charged. A person
charged with a crime has the right, observed in practice, to
appear before the judge for arraignment within 24 hours. If
charges are formalized at the arraignment, the judge then
determines whether the detainee should be kept in custody or
released pending trial. Bail need not be posted. A strong
case must be made to justify detention. Possible grounds
include fear of flight, the needs of the investigation, and
fear that a detainee will commit further crimes.
Any person held in pretrial detention appears before a judge
every 4 weeks for a determination of the necessity of continued
detention. There is no legal limit on the time a prisoner may
be held before trial; however, lengthy pretrial detention is
rare. Preventive detention also exists but is used
infrequently. There is no exile.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The right to a fair, public trial is ensured by law and honored
in practice. Only in certain cases, including those involving
state security or private family matters, are trials closed.
In criminal cases, all Norwegian citizens and aliens are
entitled to free counsel. Indigent persons are granted free
counsel in certain civil cases as well.
Norway has a three-tiered system of district and city courts,
high courts, and the Supreme Court--all of which deal with both
criminal and civil cases--as well as special courts, including
the Labor Disputes Court and the Social Insurance Court. The
judiciary is independent of both the legislative and the
executive branches of the Government and tries military and
security as well as civil and criminal cases. The Labor Court
mediates industrial relations disputes.
Persons refusing both military service and alternative civilian
service have been held in prison for up to 16 months (a period
equivalent to military service) without a trial. Detention is
based on an administrative rather than a judicial decision, and
prisoners held in this manner receive the salary and benefits
normally accorded to military recruits during their period of
confinement.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The privacy of the family and the person is free from arbitrary
interference by the Government. Police may conduct searches of
the home only with court approval and in instances of hot
pursuit or when they fear evidence is being destroyed. There
were no allegations of forced entry into Norwegian homes in
1993. In most cases, wiretaps are prohibited by law, but they
may be used in cases involving state security or narcotics
offenses when officially approved by the court within carefully
drawn legal guidelines. Correspondence may be opened only by
court order in cases involving state security.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Freedom of speech and press is protected by the constitution
and respected in practice. In addition to restrictions on
slander and libel, Norwegian law forbids racist or sexist
remarks in print or public speech. It is forbidden to publish
information concerning national defense that could prove
damaging to Norwegian security. Norway has an active and
diversified press, and many papers are sustained by government
subsidies. Some newspapers are loosely connected to various
national political parties. Norway's state broadcasting
company is the more prominent of two national television
networks (the other is private) but the Government does not
exercise editorial control over programming. Private local
radio stations and one private national radio station exist, as
do privately owned local and national cable television
stations. Foreign television networks are also available on
cable throughout the country.
Certain restrictions apply to the showing of films. The Film
Control Board, appointed by the Ministry of Culture, has the
authority to censor or ban any film deemed overly violent,
pornographic, or blasphemous. The blasphemy clause in the
censorship law, however, has not been used in the last 20
years. There is no evidence that any films have been censored
because of political content.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Norwegians exercise these freedoms without restraint. Permits
for public demonstrations are granted routinely.
c. Freedom of Religion
The state church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway,
which is financially supported by the State, and to which 93
percent of the population nominally belongs. There is a
constitutional requirement that the King and half of the
Cabinet belong to the state church. The Workers' Protection
and Working Environment Act permits prospective employers to
ask job applicants whether they respect Christian beliefs and
principles when applying for a job in private, religious-run
schools and day-care centers.
Approximately 4 percent of the population are registered
members of 20 other denominations which operate freely and may
proselytize. Foreign clergy are welcome in Norway. No
religious community is required to register with the Government
unless it desires state support, which is provided to all
registered denominations on a proportional basis in accordance
with membership. Although the state religion is taught in all
public schools, children of other faiths are allowed to be
absent from such classes upon parental request. If there are
enough students of the same faith, the school will arrange
classes in that faith. Workers belonging to minority
denominations are allowed leave for religious holidays.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Government does not impede foreign or domestic travel. The
right to voluntary repatriation is guaranteed. Refugees and
asylum seekers are provided generous benefits, including social
services, free medical care, and education while awaiting
decisions on their asylum applications. In 1993 Norway
involuntarily repatriated rejected asylum seekers from the
province of Kosovo in Serbia. This caused protest from
churches which offered "asylum" from Norwegian authorities to
these individuals. Repatriations occur only after asylum
applications have been denied, and appeals and reviews have
been completed. There are approximately 400 rejected asylum
seekers in church asylum nationwide.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Norway is a multiparty democracy. Eight parties are
represented in the Storting where distribution of seats is
based upon proportional representation by district. The
Storting may reject or modify government proposals; if a
government loses a vote on a major issue of confidence, it
resigns, and a new government is formed. The minimum voting
age is 18, and voter turnout in the 1993 parliamentary
elections was about 76 percent. Foreigners who have resided in
Norway for at least 3 years, and are otherwise eligible, have
the right to vote in local elections only.
In addition to participating freely in the national political
process, Norwegian Sami (Lapp) elected their own constituent
assembly, the Sameting, for the second time in 1993. The
39-seat body is a consultative group which meets regularly to
consider issues of importance to the Sami people. According to
the law establishing it, the Sameting deals with "all matters
which in (its) opinion are of special importance to the Sami
people." In practice, the Sameting has been most interested in
protecting the group's language and cultural rights and in
influencing decisions on resources and lands where the Sami are
a majority.
There are no restrictions, in law or in practice, on the
participation of women in government or in the political arena
generally. Norway has a female Prime Minister and women lead
the other two most prominent political parties.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
A number of public and private organizations monitor alleged
human rights abuses either inside or, more often, outside the
country. The Government cooperates with nongovernmental
investigations of alleged violations of human rights and, in
recent years, has cooperated with both the European Commission
of Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. Norway is an active participant in international
human rights organizations.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Through a highly developed social welfare system that reflects
a long tradition of egalitarianism, the Government provides for
the health, education, retirement, and other needs of its
people, regardless of race, religion, sex, ethnic background,
physical disability, or political opinion.
Women
The rights of women are protected under the Equal Rights Law of
1978 and other regulations. Under that law, "women and men
engaged in the same activity shall have equal wages for work of
equal value." An Equal Rights Council monitors enforcement of
the 1978 law, and an Equal Rights Ombudsman processes
complaints of sexual discrimination. There were 303 complaints
in 1992, and, as of November, 213 in 1993. The Government
provides liberal maternity leave and time off for either parent
to care for their children.
Crime against women is not widespread. Increases in the crime
rate have included crimes against women, although police
authorities believe that much of the increase in reported rapes
and incidents of wife beating is due to a greater willingness
among women to report these crimes than has been the case in
the past. The police vigorously investigate and prosecute such
crimes and have instituted special programs for rape and
domestic violence prevention and for counseling victims.
Public and private organizations run several free shelters
which give battered wives an alternative to returning to a
violent domestic situation after an incident of wife beating.
Children
The Government is highly committed to the welfare of children,
reflecting a similar profound commitment in Norwegian society.
Among the many features of a comprehensive system of child
welfare benefits are governmental maintenance of generous
maternal and paternal leave policies to assure the health and
welfare of the newborn, and provision of stipends to parents
based on the number of children they have. An independent
children's ombudsman office assures the protection of children
in law and practice.
Indigenous People
Apart from an extremely small Finnish population in the
northeastern corner of the country, the Sami (Lapp) people were
Norway's only significant minority group until the influx of
immigrants during the 1970's. In recent years, the Government
has taken steps to protect the cultural rights of the Sami by
providing Sami-language instruction at schools in Sami-
inhabited areas, radio and television programs broadcast or
subtitled in the Sami language, and subsidies for the
publication of newspapers and books oriented toward the Sami
(see also Section 3).
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
There is continuing political debate on whether current
restrictions on non-Nordic immigration, in effect since 1975,
are racially motivated and whether immigrant minority groups
such as Pakistanis, Vietnamese, Turks, and Africans are
accorded equal rights by Norwegian authorities. Eligibility
for citizenship is based on residency. The Government provides
legal protection for the rights of all minorities and has taken
active measures to help these groups adjust to Norwegian
society, including free Norwegian-language instruction for any
foreign resident and funding of nongovernmental organizations
such as the Anti-Racism Center.
As the result of a decade-long parliamentary study, the
Storting in 1988 significantly revised the Norwegian
immigration law. Among the major changes was an effort to link
refugee and asylum processing more closely to the definitions
and processes established under the U.N. Convention on
Refugees. The current law provides that asylum may no longer
be granted solely on humanitarian grounds to those applicants
who had been determined not to have a well-grounded fear of
persecution. The law, while limiting the number of those
granted asylum, continues to safeguard the rights of those
asylum seekers allowed to remain in Norway. Refugee policy
continues to be a significant political issue; some groups call
for reducing the inflow of refugees and others--human rights
groups and political parties--urge the Government to accept
more refugees. Although some individual asylum cases have
caused problems, Norway has a well-organized system which
includes advance planning, careful dispersion of refugees
throughout the populace, and generous welfare, educational, and
vocational training programs.
People with Disabilities
The physically disabled are fully integrated into social,
economic and political life, and are provided full health care
and other social benefits. They are not discriminated against
in employment, education or the provision of any state
service. Accessibility is mandated in new construction. In
existing buildings, accessibility is mandated if the building
is refitted for new uses.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The law provides to workers the rights to associate freely and
to strike. There were several short strikes in 1993, settled
through normal means. The Government, however, has the right,
with the approval of the Storting, to invoke compulsory
arbitration under certain circumstances. This procedure, which
was invoked several times in the 1980's, particularly in the
oil industry, was criticized repeatedly by the Committee of
Experts of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which
argued that the situations were not a sufficient threat to
public health and safety to justify the action. The Government
again invoked this procedure in 1993 to stop an oil workers'
strike. A case against Norway is pending in the ILO Committee
on Freedom of Association, awaiting information from the
Norwegian Government. This case is based on a strike by a
small union, the Maritime Engineers.
With membership totaling about 60 percent of the work force,
unions play an important role in political and economic life,
and are consulted by the Government on important economic and
social problems. Although the largest trade union federation
is associated with the Labor Party, all unions and labor
federations are free of party and government control. Unions
are free to form federations and to affiliate internationally.
They maintain strong ties with such international bodies as the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
All workers, including government employees and military
personnel, exercise the right to organize and bargain
collectively. Collective bargaining is widespread, with most
wage earners covered by negotiated settlements, either directly
or through understandings which extend the contract terms to
workers outside of the main labor federation and the employers'
bargaining group. There have been no complaints of antiunion
discrimination in recent years. If there were such complaints
they would be dealt with by the Labor Court.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Compulsory labor is prohibited by law and does not exist. The
Directorate of Labor Inspections ensures compliance.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Children aged 13 to 18 may be employed part-time in light work
that will not adversely affect their health, development, or
schooling. Minimum age rules are observed in practice and
enforced by the Directorate of Labor Inspections. Nine years
of education is compulsory in Norway.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Normal working hours are mandated by law and do not exceed 37.5
hours per week. The law also provides for 25 working days of
paid leave per year (31 for those over age 60). A 28-hour rest
period is legally mandated on the weekend and for holidays.
There is no minimum wage as such, but wages normally fall
within a national wage scale negotiated by labor, employers,
and the Government. The average annual per capita income, not
including extensive social benefits, is adequate to provide a
worker and his or her family a decent living.
Under the Workers' Protection and Working Environment Act of
1977, all employed persons are assured safe and physically
acceptable working conditions. Specific standards are set by
the Directorate of Labor Inspections in consultation with
nongovernmental experts. According to the Act, working
environment committees, composed of management, workers, and
health personnel must be established in all enterprises with 50
or more workers, and safety delegates must be elected in all
organizations. Workers enjoy strong rights to remove
themselves from situations which endanger their health. The
Directorate of Labor Inspections ensures effective compliance
with labor legislation and standards.
[end of document]
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