A separate law committee has worked for three years to see if there is reason to change laws and regulations to protect children and young people who are exposed to honor violence and negative social control. Today, the more than 500-page long report was handed over to Minister of Labor and Integration Tonje Brenna (Ap). – These proposals are absolutely crucial. We must do better in this area going forward, because in Norway everyone must be free from honor-related violence and social control. We have no time to lose, says Tonje Brenna to news. Employment and Integration Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap) says she will take all the proposals into the work on a new action plan against negative social control and honor violence, which will come next year. Photo: Andreas Lekang / news Honor motive should be tougher penalties These are some of the key proposals that the Legislative Committee comes up with: Introduce new penalties, which means that parents who take their children on harmful stays abroad can be punished, and that child protection and the police can impose an exit ban. Raise the penalty for child marriage from 3 to 6 years in prison. Make it clear that psychological abuse can be part of a maltreatment regime. Making the motive of honor an aggravating element. That mistreatment committed by several people is considered gross mistreatment. That the entire extended family can be investigated and prosecuted for honour-related crimes. Koranic schools: – It is important to prevent such trips news has in a series of reports this year, and also back in 2017, revealed how Norwegian-Somali parents send children and young people on involuntary stays abroad, some of them to so-called Koranic schools. The Law Committee spends a lot of time discussing how the legislation can be used to stop this. Committee leader Henriette Sinding Aasen. Photo: Andreas Lekang / news Committee leader Henriette Sinding Aasen tells news that this has been an important part of the work. – The committee is concerned that children should not be sent on harmful stays abroad, which means that they are exposed to actions that children should not be exposed to. For example, abuse, isolation, and strict discipline. That is why we believe it is important to prevent such journeys, says Sinding Aasen. Want to punish parents Today’s criminal law does not have a separate punishment for sending children or adults on involuntary or harmful stays abroad, writes the committee. Exposing a child to a risk of criminal offenses abroad is also not punishable. Professionals, researchers and journalists listened to the presentation of the report from the Legislative Committee. Photo: Andreas Lekang / news For example, parents who send their children to relatives abroad, or leave them there, and there is a risk that the child will be exposed to coercion, deprivation of liberty, threats or violence, will not be held criminally liable. The same applies to parents who send their children to schools or institutions abroad where violence is an accepted method of discipline, for example in so-called Koranic schools. Committee leader Henriette Sinding Aasen tells news that involuntary stays abroad have been an important part of the work. Photo: Andreas Lekang / news That is why the committee is in favor of a separate penalty proposal for harmful stays abroad: The provision imposes penalties for parents who send, take or leave a child abroad in conditions that cause serious danger to the child’s life or health, or where there is serious risk of the child being exposed to certain criminal offences. Both active and passive actions can be punished according to the penal code. Punishment can be waived if the person assists in getting the child home to Norway. Such contributions can, for example, be that the parent ensures that the child quickly obtains the necessary travel documents, that travel is booked for the child back to Norway. A consequence of the proposal is that a foreigner who is convicted of a breach of the penalty for harmful stay abroad will be considered deported under the Immigration Act. Høyre: – It is high time that we put legislation in place Høyre’s integration policy spokesperson Mari Holm Lønseth has previously advocated that parents who take children to stay at Koranic schools abroad, for example, must be able to be punished and deported. She is happy with the legislative committee’s proposal. – It is high time we put legislation in place. There must be consequences for parents of children who are sent abroad and exposed to what may resemble torture. I hope this is something the government will put before the Storting as soon as possible, says Mari Holm Lønseth to news. Mari Holm Lønseth (H) is integration policy spokesperson. Photo: Hans Kristian Thorbjoernsen / Hans Kristian Thorbjoernsen Labor and Integration Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap) says she will take all the proposals into the work on a new action plan against negative social control and honor violence, which will come next year. Published 24.06.2024, at 15.14
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Will punish parents who send children to Koranic schools – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
