Incorporating the Convention in Norwegian Law

Abstract

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC) is incorporated in Norwegian law by the Human Rights Act. This chapter explores and analyse the legislative effect of this legal incorporation. It provides an overview of legislative amendments that the CRC has catalysed and cases in the Norwegian Supreme Court in which the CRC has been invoked. In several judgments, the CRC has been a central issue and the Court has divided over its interpretation. Drawing on the CRC committee's concluding observations, the chapter also reflects on contemporary challenges in the implementation of CRC in the Norwegian legal system.

Being an unaccompanied- a dilemma for policy? Representations of unaccompanied teenagers in Norwegian policy

“…The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)- (Lidén, 2019;Søvig, 2019) anticipates that all children presumably are taken care of politically through legislation as well as being personally cared for. This becomes necessary, especially when the basic family unit, traditionally expected to safeguard the young, has broken down or does not function as expected (Engebrigtsen, 2002(Engebrigtsen, , 2012.…”

“…For example, research points out that by age, unaccompanied minors between 16 and 18 are children (Lidén, 2019;Vitus & Lidén, 2010). This is mostly made evident when cases concerning them are appealed at the EU court of arbitration, where the definition of a minor is broader than the Norwegian definition (Søvig, 2019). The political identity of a child sets in motion discursive struggles between their vulnerability and a claim on their inviolable rights as children, which in Norway remains antagonistic.…”

“…The practice of constructing unaccompanied asylum-seekers in this duality first as asylum seekers and then children or teenagers means that particularity might supersede universality, resulting in a dilemma or ambiguous treatment. What is daunting for this study is that the category of "unaccompanied" and asylum-seekers are used concurrently in most research named above, while advocating for preferential treatment as children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (see Lidén, 2019;Søvig, 2019). For this reason, legal rights fashioned around asylum-seeking children might be in limbo depending on a country's prerogative to give them.…”

“…While the younger asylum-seekers were under child protective services, the older ones were seen to be discriminated against, and their rights to receive professional child-care infringed on. (Pastoor & Aadnanes, 2013) The tension between interests and rights becomes what (Søvig, 2019) refers to as redundant in law. The interpretation of care from a Norwegian perspective depends on the state's interpretation since CRC's general comments on care for unaccompanied minors are "softer" (p. 277) unspecified.…”

“…Thus, the changes in effect allowed the forceful return of unaccompanied asylum seekers to their homecountries or intensification in the use of temporary permits until they turn 18 years. Article 3(1) of CRC allows host states to override the child's best interests when other interests are more substantial (Engebrigtsen, 2012;Søvig, 2019).…”