{"id":1654,"date":"2014-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/20-06-2014-norway-criminalises-begging\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:32:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:32:49","slug":"20-06-2014-norway-criminalises-begging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/20-06-2014-norway-criminalises-begging\/","title":{"rendered":"20.06.2014 Norway criminalises begging"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous French newspapers address a new Norwegian \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlaw, which will make begging punishable starting summer 2015 all over Norway. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrom then on, beggars can be punished by fines and up to three months in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprison. The right-wing nationalist Progressive Party, FrP, initiated the new \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlaw. The party member and justice minister, Anders Anundsen, claimed a clear \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlink between begging and theft. However, this association of begging and organised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriminality is very controversial in scientific research (compare Tabin et al \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2012). For the the new law critics, it is beyond question that the new \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tregulation is directly aimed against Rroma and wants to criminalise them. Justice \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminister Anders Anundsen said in a public statement that the vast majority of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeggars in Oslo are Romanian nationals and that many are logged in criminal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trecords. Based on the described case, once can see once more that suspicions \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttowards Rroma are made into alleged facts by non-critical analogies. Neither \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe membership of the beggars to the Rroma is truly clarified, nor is it clear \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat all or most of the beggars have actually committed criminal acts. Baard \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVegar Solhjell, from the left Norwegian socialists criticised that 200 years \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tago, the Norwegian constitution adopted a travel ban on Jews. The ban on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegging stands in a clear, ideological line with this prohibition, since it is targeting \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttowards an exclusion of the Rroma. Since the proponents of a ban have a clear \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmajority in parliament, the adoption of the bill will be only a formality. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNorway had just legalised begging nationwide in 2005. This was shortly before \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe outbreak of the biggest economic crisis since hundred years (compare Fr\u00e9mont 2014, L\u2019essentiel \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Le Matin 2014, Lib\u00e9ration 2014).<\/p>\n