The Extremism Commission makes recommendations – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country

The commission was appointed by the government in June 2022, shortly after Norway was exposed to a new terrorist attack. Now they come up with 40 recommendations for how to prevent radicalization and the rise of extremism. Cathrine Thorleifsson has researched extremism for ten decades, and has led the extremism commission. She tells Nyhetsmorgen that Norway has several action plans, but does not work well enough across disciplines. – There are a number of weaknesses in the prevention field in Norway. Head of the extremism commission, Cathrine Thorleifsson, has researched extremism for two decades. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB The commission has gone through twenty individual cases related to serious violent extremism. In all the cases, they have been in contact with the service apparatus, but it has not been across the agencies. – The early interdisciplinary intervention that is expected from the authorities has not happened in practice. This creates a challenge for the preventive work. According to the commission, one of the challenges is that there is no room for sharing information about those who are feared to be radicalised. Therefore, they propose to lower the threshold for healthcare personnel to share confidential information. In other words, the various fields must talk better together, according to Thorleifsson. Because the development in Norway is not positive. The background for the report is that there have been three terrorist attacks in Norway in recent times. – Fortunately, support for the extreme environments in Norway is low. But we see a development of racism, hate speech, hate crime. There is also incitement and hatred towards social debaters, which is a challenge for the public discourse. The report is delivered to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap), Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) and Minister of Employment and Inclusion Tonje Brenna (Ap). Thorleifsson expects it to lead to political action, but here everyone must contribute. – Training a muscle of courage is required for how to face everyday racism and extremism and look after those who are particularly exposed to it.



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