Bill for action plan against antigypsyism submitted to Norwegian Parliament, vote should be taken before summer
On Thursday, 10 April, a bill for an action plan against antigypsyism was submitted to the Norwegian Parliament. Ola Elvestuen of Venstre (the Liberal Party) submitted it for consideration.
In Norway, Romani people have long pointed to the need for an action plan against antigypsyism, for the last five years always on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year’s January session of the national legislature was attended by lawmaker Ola Elvestuen, who connected with the Romano Kher organization to produce the bill submitted on Thursday, 10 April.
The bill is supported by Venstre and four other parties – the Socialist Party, the Reds, the Greens, and the Christian Democrats. Parliament should consider the bill before the summer break.
“Romano Kher, together with other organizations, is trying to get the bill passed with the aid of one of the big parties. We are optimistic because we have already heard positive signals from the conservative party Høyre. It was exactly their Prime Minister Erna Solberg who, in 2015, apologized on behalf of the Government for Norway’s discrimination of the Romani population before and after the Second World War,” Balder Hasvoll of Romano Kher told news server Romea.cz.
The action plan against antigypsyism bill says that it is necessary to intensify knowledge of antigypsyism and that it is essential to involve representatives of Roma and Travellers (called Taters in Norway) in the creation of such action plans. The Council of Europe has also recommended Norway produce such an action plan, together with the recommendation that authorities collect data on crimes with anti-Romani, racist motives and arrange for their investigation, prosecution, and punishment.
The measures in the action plan should also be assessed at regular intervals in close collaboration with the affected minorities. “Several opinion polls, including surveys undertaken by the Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies and the Fafo Foundation, show that Romani people are the minority group toward whom the most prejudices are held in Norwegian society. The Norwegian Roma and Travellers report extensive discrimination on the housing market, in shops and shopping centers, in restaurants, at the police, at the NAV [Norway’s Office of Labor and Social Care], and in many other areas,” Hasvoll said.
The number of persons who belong to the Romani and Traveller minority and who have Norwegian citizenship is estimated at anywhere between 4,000 and 30,000 Travellers and 700-1,000 Roma, while several thousand more members of both groups who do not have Norwegian citizenship and national minority status also live there. The concept of antigypsyism includes discrimination, hate speech, prejudices, and propaganda targeting the Romani and Traveller minority.
