Harassment due to degrading nick-names according to Anti-discrimination and Accessibility Act section 5(1), and failure of employer to prevent occurrence of harassment at the workplace
1) Increase protection of persons with disabilities against discrimination through ratification of the UN Convention, 2) establish the Equality and anti-discrimination Ombudsman as the supervising authority for the Convention
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal confirms that HIV-positive are covered by the term "disability" in the Anti-discrimination and Accessibility Act section 4
Interpretation based on Directive 2000/78/EC, whilst the directive is not formally a part of the EEA agreement
Introduction
The information contained on this page represents the situation as of 1 January 2012 and is a summary of the country report produced by the country expert from the network. The summary can be downloaded here as well.
Norway is a relatively homogenous country with approximately 5 million inhabitants. It is not a member of the European Union, but has since 1992 been a member of the Agreement on the European Economical Area (EEA), with its monitoring bodies the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the EFTA-court.
Norwegian anti-discrimination legislation addresses the following grounds of discrimination within all sectors: gender, ethnicity, national origin, descent, skin colour, language, religion or belief and disability. Discrimination based on political views, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation and age is covered within working life.
Cases alleging instances of discrimination may either be brought before an ordinary court, the Labour Court or be brought to the national machinery set up to assess cases of discrimination: The Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud (the Equality Ombud) and the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (the Equality Tribunal).
Norway has ratified most of the major international instruments combating discrimination, with the notable exceptions being Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
The Norwegian Constitution has currently no provisions regarding discrimination. A Constitutional Committee forwarded a proposal for amendments in the Constitution to the Storting (Parliament) in December 2011, which covers non-discrimination in a very general manner. The proposed text reads (unauthorized translation):”Everyone shall be equal before the law. No person shall be subject to unjust or disproportional differential treatment”.
National legislation applies in principle to all sectors of public and private employment and occupation, including contract work, self-employment, military service, and holding statutory office.
The Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud (“the Equality Ombud”) and its appeal body, the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (“the Equality Tribunal”) constitute the administrative equality bodies set up to hear individual complaints to possible breaches of the non-discrimination legislation. The Ombud and Tribunal are a free low-threshold complaint system, and are alternative dispute mechanisms outside the judicial system, addressing cases of discrimination.
This initiative is financed by the EC Programme Progress. But the views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the official views of the EU institutions.
