Kadi Viik, Grete Kaju and Kersti Puhm from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs visited the institutions of Norway that are dealing with issues of gender equality and human rights this autumn.
The centre has been active under the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo since 2000 and they have a two-year Master's degree programme called the Theory and Practice of Human Rights. There are four main subjects in the programme: a) human rights and the authority; The centre does not deal with adjudication of individual cases; instead, it only focuses on issues of principle. The centre relies on scientifically reasoned opinions for forming opinions.
Norad is working as an advisory body in subordination to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Norad has a department of peace, gender and democracy with three gender equality advisers. The department holds training events for workers of embassies, inter alia in the field of in-depth expansion policy of gender equality. Norad is also dealing with technical counselling: when considering the funding of possible development projects, embassies are advised of the effect of a certain project in terms of gender equality and how to increase the efficiency of the project even more. There are two main directions in the strategy of Norad: projects specially directed at women and in-depth expansion. Advice of Norad regarding in-depth expansion: large-scale activity plans tend to fail - it is better to let each ministry find their own focus and act with a so-called rolling development plan, where a new element is added each year.
Young female students give legal advice to women in need. They have a helpline and women who need help can also visit the institution. They represent women who need help in different issues (for example issues related to living space, work-related issues, issues related to succession and other civil matters. They cannot represent in case of criminal matters, but they can assist in applying for victim support). Most of the persons who need help are rather in cohabitation than married; most are young women with small children.
The ministry is mainly dealing with the Social Security Act. Norway has several quotas, for example a quota for fathers in case of parental benefits, a 40/60 women/men quota for management boards of undertakings and a 40/60 women/men quota for public committees. Five types of undertakings are covered by the quotas for undertakings and all the requirements are generally complied with, because the sanctions are very harsh: undertakings cannot be registered or they will have to terminate their activities. There was a fallback in the education system of Norway about five or six years ago when the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association States ruled that the quota for Norwegian professors was not legal. Now they have a so-called soft quota, i.e. in case of equal candidates, the underrepresented candidate has to be preferred (whether due to gender, nationality or disability). Currently, only 20 per cent of professors are women. There are ombudsmen for equal treatment, children and consumers in Norway. Discussions are undergoing in Norway whether the authority of the ombudsmen is too limited and if they should receive more power (for example the right to impose sanctions).
The ombudsman is administratively subordinate to the Minister of Children, Equality and Social Involvement, who appoints the ombudsman for six years; however, the ombudsman is independent in his or her actions. The mandate of the ombudsman includes gender (including persons changing gender), nationality, sexual orientation, religion, special needs and issues related to age as well as discrimination on the basis of the aforementioned. A new unified act is planned where all the different bases for discrimination would be covered equally. Prohibition of discrimination of transsexual persons and homosexual persons will hopefully be clearly regulated within the framework of the new act. The ombudsman most often deals with discrimination on the basis of gender and nationality.
Reform is a non-profit foundation and a national centre that centralises the knowledge of research of males. Their purpose is not to deal with different topics in detail but rather to find or bring out the so-called points for concern that local governments and the state could solve. Examples of services:
The shelters provide safe housing for women and children who have suffered from violence (for three months up to one year), counselling, support in communicating with administrative agencies etc. Women with special needs and different addiction problems who suffer from violence are a separate target group who would need separate centres because due to their issues they might pose a threat to the other residents of the shelters. Statistics: The Estonian officials received support for the study trip and institutional practice from the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia. Adviser Merle Kuusk is dealing with gender equality and issues of social well-being in the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia (phone no. 627 31 05 or e-mail merle.kuusk(at)norden.ee). |
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Estonian experts visited Norwegian human rights and gender equality institutions
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The following is a summary of the visited institutions and the held discussions.
The institute was founded by the Nordic Council of Ministers 15 years ago. It is a cross-country centre for resources and information that deals with gender research and organises gender equality in the Nordic Countries. A representative of the NIKK noted that the situation regarding representation of women in politics is significantly better than in business in the Nordic Countries. However, it is noteworthy that there are fewer women on leading positions on the local government level than the national level. In addition to that, the statistical indicators of intimate partner violence are very high in the Nordic Countries. Both segregation and the gap in remuneration are also serious issues. The political changes in Denmark and Iceland give additional reasons for concern. |