Good as far as it goes, but does it go far enough?

This report has been prepared by MPG at the request of the Norwegian government. It serves as a background report for the follow-up conference to the Norwegian Action Plan on Racism and Discrimination 2002-2006. This conference, which is organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion, will mark the launch of a new action plan.

This report checks the position of Norway on anti-discrimination policies and law against applicable international and European standards. It also highlights promising practices in some European countries, particularly Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The report looks at three distinct areas that together determine the overall success - or the lack of it - of the fight against discrimination:

1. the institutional framework;
2. the policy framework; and
3. the legal framework.

In some of these respects Norway sets a positive example to the rest of Europe. On the other hand, there are areas in which Norway falls behind the applicable standards or the level of best practice. The report notes that:

• equality considerations have not yet been fully mainstreamed into all decision-making;
• there is a significant and detrimental lack of equality data apart from official statistics;
• the legal framework is based on a negative, reactive approach, whereas a more proactive, positive approach, is what would be needed to promote achievement of equal treatment in practice; and
• the law’s definition of indirect discrimination appears to be somewhat limited as is the scope of available sanctions and remedies, in addition to which the so-called justification clauses give rise to concern because of their potentially wide applicability.