Norway
On July 22, rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik detonated a large improvised explosive device (IED) next to government buildings that housed many ministries and the prime minister's office, killing eight persons and injuring scores. After detonating the IED, Breivik drove to a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoya outside of Oslo and shot and killed 69 persons (mostly youths) and injured many others. Shortly before the attack, Breivik posted a manifesto on the Internet in which he accused the Labor Party of treason for, among other things, encouraging multiculturalism, feminism, and Muslim immigration.
The Center against Racism reported that, in the hours after the attack and before the perpetrator's identity was established, some immigrants and Muslims in Oslo reported being harassed, spat upon, yelled at, or chased. The government responded to the July22 attacks by calling for "more democracy, more openness, and more humanity." Commentators noted that, in the months following the attack, there was a greater feeling of inclusiveness towards all members of society.
In a year in which there were few reports of racial profiling by police, media reported that a Ugandan researcher with the International Panel on Climate Change was stopped and searched by Oslo police in October. The police officer reportedly apologized on the spot, saying he searched the man because his behavior was suspicious, not because he was African. The Oslo Police District subsequently sent a letter of apology. There were increasing instances
of stigmatizing and hostile rhetoric against immigrants and Muslims during the year, particularly on the Internet. KRIPOS maintained a Web page for the public to contact police regarding online hate speech. In 2008, the latest date for which figures were available, KRIPOS reportedly received 160 complaints about racism and racist expressions on the Internet, but none led to further investigation or action by authorities.
In its concluding report on the country this year, CERD expressed concern over racist views by extremist groups on the Internet and by some representatives of political parties, "which constitute hate speech and may lead to acts of hostility against certain minority groups." CERD also expressed concern over the lack of judicial statistics on the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions, and condemnations regarding racist acts. After a Congolese-Norwegian woman was attacked violently December 12 and told to "go back to where she came from," there were calls for police to do more to monitor and address hate crimes.
Immigrants and their children sometimes had more difficulty finding employment than equally qualified ethnic Norwegians. As of August 30, the
unemployment rate among immigrants was 6.5 percent, compared with 3.3 percent among nonimmigrants, according to government statistics. African immigrants had the highest unemployment rate at 12.4 percent, followed by Asians at 8.2 percent, immigrants from eastern EU countries at 7.4 percent, and Central Americans at 6.3 percent.
