Coordination at national level

• Author: Løvdal, Lene
• Pages: 90-92

90

9 COORDINATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The Ministry of Children and Equality is usually responsible for dealing with anti-

discrimination in relation to the grounds covered by the GEADA, but late in 2018 the

equality and anti-discrimination issues were moved to the Ministry for Culture, with effect

from 2019. This is due to the Christian Democrats entering the Government and taking

the post of the Minister for Children, Youth and Family Affairs.

The Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs is responsible for dealing with the anti -

discrimination provisions of the WEA, which relate to age. Additionally, the Ministry for

Labour and Social Affairs is responsible for the work on an inclusive working life, which is

targeted at employees temporarily or permanently disabled and measures to promote

their return to paid employment. A job strategy for young people with disabilities was

presented in January 2012.319

The Ministry for Local Government and Modernisation is responsible for Samis and

national minorities.320

The Ministry for Justice and Public Security is responsible for immigration, while the

Ministry for Knowledge and Education is responsible for integration issues.

In a white paper on the organisation of the Norwegian Government’s policy

implementation on equality and anti-discrimination, the lack of coordination and

cooperation across different sectors was strongly criticised.321 To remedy this, the same

report proposed the cr eation of a directorate responsible for th e coordination of such

work, which led to the creation of the d epartment of equality and anti-discrimination in

the Directorate f or Children, Youth and Family Affairs. The department lists the following

aims:

• to provide a good knowledge basis and promote equality in all areas o f society;

• to have a holistic perspective and initiate work for equality on all grounds of

discrimination;

• to have a targeted and established corporation with selected sectors ;

• to coordinate efforts and implement Government policies across all sectors ; and

• to contribute to equivalent services from the public sector.322

Among other things, the department plays a major role in developing and implementing

Government action plans.

There is a Government strategy against hate speech, which expires in 2020. Since

several serving and previous ministers in this Government have us ed hate speech in

public on several occasions,323 this strategy cannot be called a success.

The Government plan of action against discrimination because of sexual orientation,

gender identity and gender expression covers the period 2017-2020, and contains 43

specific measures to be implemented during that time. The title of the action plan is:

‘Safety, openness and diversity: the Government plan of action against discrimination

because of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expressions’. The title apt ly

319 See, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/jobstrategy/id657116/ in English.

320 https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dep/kmd/id504/.

321 NOU 2011:18 Structure for Equality. See http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/bld/dok/nouer/2011/nou-

2011-18.html?id=663064 (in Norwegian). For an English summary of the report, see

https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/bld/nou18_ts.pdf.

322 Email to the author from BufDir (12 April 2019), translated by the author.

323 This concerns several of the former ministers from the Progress Party. This party has now left the

Government coalition. For example, a former Minister for Justice, Per Willy Amundsen, has repeatedly,

especially after leaving his post as a minister, made dehumanising and generalising statements about

immigrants and Muslims.