The Discrimination Board does not understand racism. That claim comes from the Antiracist Centre. Much of the reason is the composition of the tribunal, believes the centre’s leader Hatem Ben Mansour. It has only one permanent member with a non-Western background. – It simply means that you do not have an understanding of what racism and discrimination are. You simply don’t recognize it. In the last year, they have only submitted one case to the tribunal. Had racism case rejected In December 2020, Norwegian-Somali health workers in Stavanger municipality were the only ones who had to submit a negative corona test before coming to work. Therefore, the Antiracist Center complained about the case to the Discrimination Board back in 2021. They were disappointed when the result was that the discrimination was legal due to infection control considerations. – Pointing to minority groups as carriers of infection is part of a racist practice that has a long tradition of targeting Jews and Roma, among others, says Ben Mansour. 103 out of 152 positive corona samples at this time were linked to Somali communities in Stavanger. This case is an example of why the Antiracist Center no longer sends cases to the tribunal. Believes there is too little representation He receives support from several people who believe there is little ethnic diversity in the tribunal. Both the Equality and Discrimination Ombudsman and the Organization against public discrimination (Omod) believe that the recruitment is not good enough. Akhenaton de Leon in Omod believes that there should be ethnic minority representation in the tribunal. Photo: Silja Björklund Einarsdóttir / news Akhenaton de Leon, leader in Omod, says people interpret the law differently. Therefore, ethnic diversity is important. – Insight, empathy and experience that is relevant to the person concerned is very important for interpreting the law, de Leon believes. Equality ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon believes it is necessary to have people with an ethnic minority background in all kinds of tribunals. – Perhaps especially in the Discrimination Board. So I hope the ministry that appoints members to this tribunal looks at that carefully. Equality and discrimination ombudsman, Bjørn Erik Thon, believes it should not be difficult to find good people with a multicultural background. Photo: Thomas Eckhoff / Thomas B Eckhoff The ministry tells news that only particularly well-qualified lawyers are recruited, and mainly judges. But they admit that they wish there were more people with an ethnic minority background. Soon they will appoint new members and then more diversity will be important. – It is something we will work extra hard for in this round, says Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap). Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen believes it is important that both people and central organizations use the anti-discrimination apparatus that we have. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / news Ethnic discrimination in 25 cases In the past five years, the Discrimination Board has dealt with 401 cases of ethnic discrimination. In 25 cases, they believe that racism has occurred. news has looked at all 500 cases of ethnic discrimination that have been received. 121 cases have been closed without a decision. Here, for example, the complainant has not provided enough information or withdrawn the complaint. In 76 cases, the tribunal believes that ethnic discrimination has not occurred. 193 cases have been dropped or rejected. 99 cases are being processed. The Minister of Culture has sympathy for people who feel that the complaint does not get through. – It is clear that you may have had incredibly unpleasant and hideous experiences, but without it being discrimination according to the law, says Trettebergstuen. – Don’t give up The Discrimination Board does not recognize itself in the criticism. Ashan Nishantha is director of the tribunal, but is not involved in deciding the cases himself. Ashan Nishantha is director of the Discrimination Board. He says that the cases that are rejected are because the legal requirements to process them are not met. Photo: Thor Brødreskift / Discrimination Board He believes the most important thing is that the members are good in the field of law the job requires. – I think this is a good basis for settling discrimination cases in court, says Nishantha. He asks the organizations not to give up. – There are a number of examples of cases that have been in the tribunal where it is concluded that there has been a breach, and which means that the world is getting better and better. A conviction in the Discrimination Board can, for example, lead to a change in rules and compensation. In 2018, they believed Color Line broke the law when an employee was refused to wear a hijab at work. The ferry company ended up changing the uniform rules. – A serious signal The Antiracist Center says they now rather try to solve the racism cases on their own. – Often it will be the only solution when we know that the Discrimination Board is both cumbersome, has a long processing time and that racism cases land on non-violations. Equality ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon thinks it’s great that the Antiracist Center solves cases for people. – But I think it is very sad and a serious signal that the centre, which is so important, will not send cases to the tribunal. Trettebergstuen is negative that the center has stopped using the tribunal. – It is important for the legitimacy of our enforcement bodies that people actually use them, says the Minister of Culture.
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The Antiracist Center has stopped sending cases to the Discrimination Board – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
