Norway
Norway regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Norway's criminal law contains specific penalty enhancements for certain hate crimes. The reported official data include cases of incitement to hatred. Hate crime data are collected by the National Police Directorate, Ministry of Justice and Statistics Norway. Hate crime statistics are regularly published.
How hate crime data is collected
Hate crimes are defined as offences motivated by a person's religion or belief, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, homosexual orientation, disability or other circumstances relating to groups with a particular need for protection.
Hate crimes are recorded separately in the database of the police and prosecutor's office. They are registered by the police as hate crimes when (i) the victim perceives it as such, or (ii) police otherwise identify the bias motive as an aggravating circumstance. In 2018, the Police Directorate issued guidelines on registering hate crimes for use by all police officers when receiving reports of hate crimes.
The Police Directorate conducts annual public surveys with questions about hate crime. It also publishes statistics on hate crimes annually.
Official Data
Hate crimes recorded by police
Because there may be several motives registered in one criminal case, the number of police-recorded hate crimes by bias motivation below is higher (699) than the overall figure presented above (624).
National developments
The Police Directorate has issued guidelines for registering hate crimes for use by all police officers when receiving reports of hate crimes.
The authorities have continued implementing two action plans: the Action Plan against Anti-Semitism 2016-2020; and the LGBTI Action Plan: Safety, Diversity, Openness 2017-2020, on countering discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
International reports
Bias against other groups - Sexual orientation or gender identity
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The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Report from the Thirty-third session: Summary of stakeholders' submissions on Norway."
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Norway has not reported on hate crimes separately from cases of hate speech
