NORWAY-SOGI-TBs-CRC

Country: Norway

Issue: SOGI

Human rights mechanism: Treaty bodies

Treaty body: Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Concluding Observations on Report 7 (2025) (Link)

Non-discrimination

13. Welcoming the action plan on gender and sexual diversity (2023–2026), the Committee recommends that the State Party:

(a) Strengthen measures, both online and offline, including awareness-raising campaigns, to combat and prevent expressions of racism, hate speech and discrimination against Sami children and children belonging to minority groups, including Roma and Romani/Tater children, and against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, and encourage the reporting of hate crimes against children, punish perpetrators with commensurate sanctions and provide adequate compensation to victims;…

…(d) Continue to address discrimination faced, in particular, by asylum-seeking and migrant children, children with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children.

***

Abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation

18. While welcoming the entry into force of the new Child Welfare Act in 2023, the Escalation Plan against Violence and Abuse of Children and Violence in Close Relations (2024–2028) and the national strategy for coordinated efforts against online abuse of children, the Committee is concerned about:

…(b) The higher risk of becoming victims of sexual exploitation faced by unaccompanied migrant children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children and children belonging to minorities and Sami Indigenous groups compared with other children;

19. Recalling its general comment No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, the Committee recommends that the State Party:

…(e) Strengthen prevention efforts and protection, support and redress for children who are particularly vulnerable and exposed to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, including unaccompanied children, children with disabilities, children who break with gender and sexuality norms and Roma and Sami children;…

***

Intersex children

30. Welcoming the State Party’s commitment to protecting intersex children from violence and harmful practices, but concerned about persisting cases of medically

unnecessary and irreversible surgery and other treatment on intersex children without their informed consent and about the lack of redress and compensation in such cases, the Committee recommends that the State Party:

(a) Explicitly prohibit and adequately sanction the performance of involuntary, deferrable medical or surgical treatment on intersex children, and provide reparations to children who have received unnecessary treatment, including by extending the statute of limitations;

(b) Provide social, medical and psychological services, as well as adequate counselling, peer support and reparations, to the families of intersex children;

(c) Systematically collect data with a view to understanding the extent of these harmful practices so that children at risk can be more easily identified and their abuse prevented.

***

Aims and coverage of education

33. While welcoming the fact that the best interests of the child have been enshrined in law as a fundamental consideration in all actions and decisions concerning children in kindergartens and that children have the right to participate in all education matters that concern them, the Committee is concerned about:

…(c) The increase in bullying, school absenteeism and school-related mental health conditions;

(d) Violence against children in schools, including cyberbullying, discrimination and physical force and coercion by staff.

34. The Committee recommends that the State Party:

…(e) Strengthen measures to combat violence in schools, including bullying, cyberbullying and online violence, and discrimination on the grounds of race, migration status, sexual orientation or gender identity in the school context.

Concluding Observations on Report 5-6 (2018) (Link)

Education, including vocational training and guidance

29. In the light of the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education, and target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals on ensuring that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Increase its efforts to implement a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination on the grounds of race, migration status, sexual orientation or gender identity in the school context and expand the scope of that approach to include private schools and by ensuring recurrent training for all school staff members on equality and gender identity and addressing all forms of discrimination, as well as civic instruction for students on the importance and methods of combating and reporting instances of discrimination. The State party should also develop a new plan of action for promoting gender equality and preventing discrimination on the ground of ethnicity;

(b) Continue its efforts to combat bullying and raise awareness of its harmful effects, with particular emphasis on the prevention of cyberbullying and on how children can defend themselves against cyberbullying, introduce mandatory elements into school curricula at all education levels on tolerance for diversity, non- violent conflict resolution skills and the judicious and safe use of the Internet, further build the capacity of teachers and school personnel in that regard and ensure that schools conduct special information sessions for parents on those issues.

NORWAY-SOGI-TBs-CRC

501c3 text and tax id