20.06.2014 Norway criminalises begging

Numerous French newspapers address a new Norwegian law, which will make begging punishable starting summer 2015 all over Norway. From then on, beggars can be punished by fines and up to three months in prison. The right-wing nationalist Progressive Party, FrP, initiated the new law. The party member and justice minister, Anders Anundsen, claimed a clear link between begging and theft. However, this association of begging and organised criminality is very controversial in scientific research (compare Tabin et al 2012). For the the new law critics, it is beyond question that the new regulation is directly aimed against Rroma and wants to criminalise them. Justice minister Anders Anundsen said in a public statement that the vast majority of beggars in Oslo are Romanian nationals and that many are logged in criminal records. Based on the described case, once can see once more that suspicions towards Rroma are made into alleged facts by non-critical analogies. Neither the membership of the beggars to the Rroma is truly clarified, nor is it clear that all or most of the beggars have actually committed criminal acts. Baard Vegar Solhjell, from the left Norwegian socialists criticised that 200 years ago, the Norwegian constitution adopted a travel ban on Jews. The ban on begging stands in a clear, ideological line with this prohibition, since it is targeting towards an exclusion of the Rroma. Since the proponents of a ban have a clear majority in parliament, the adoption of the bill will be only a formality. Norway had just legalised begging nationwide in 2005. This was shortly before the outbreak of the biggest economic crisis since hundred years (compare Frémont 2014, L’essentiel 2014, Le Matin 2014, Libération 2014).