Press Release

No: 10/1998
30 January 1998 (English version 29 April 1998)

Norwegian Government appoints Commission on Human Values

In today’s session of the Council of State, the King appointed the Norwegian Government’s Commission on Human Values. The commission will contribute to a broad mobilisation of human and socio-ethical values, in order to enhance the role of such values in society. The Commission on Human Values consists of a board of 12 members and a council of 37 members.

The moderator of the Commission’s board is Ms Hanne Sophie Greve (45), Bergen, a presiding judge and human-rights expert who has served on UN missions in Cambodia and former Yugoslavia. Moderator of the Commission’s council is Mr. Hans Erik Matre (42), Ski, a former editor-in-chief of national and regional dailies and former president of the Norwegian Association of Editors.

The Commission’s board will lead the work, and be responsible for preliminary and final reports. The Commission’s council gathers resource persons from various walks of life, institutions and movements. The board will seek advice and input from the council. The council will meet at least twice a year. The board is free to establish additional reference groups.

The Commission on Human Values will work through i.a. open hearing, seminars, visits to institutions and open meetings. Its final report shall be presented at the latest by the end of this Storting (parliament) period in 2001. In the process, preliminary reports, leaflets and other documents should be issued, in order to stimulate public discussion. One preliminary report should come in 1999, as a contribution to the debate on human values during the millennium celebrations. The Commission’s reports shall be public.

The Values Commission has its own secretariate, led by Mr. Fred-Olav Sørensen (53), a civil servant on leave from his post as director general in the Ministry of Local Administration and Regional Development. The Commission’s 1998 budget is NOK 5 million.

(The Norwegian Government’s Commission on Human Values can be reached at:

Postal address: P.O.Box 8043 Dep. N-0030 OSLO. * Street address: Lille Grensen 5, Oslo.
Telephone: +47 22 24 06 10. * Telefax: +47 22 24 06 16.)

Board of the Commission on Human Values
Members of the board of the Commission are:

• -moderator: Ms. Hanne Sophie Greve (45), Bergen – presiding judge and human-rights expert who has served on UN missions in former Yugoslavia and in Cambodia
• -vice moderator: Mr. Inge Eidsvåg (50), Lillehammer – research fellow, former principal of the Nansen College
• -vice moderator: Ms. Randi Ledaal Gjertsen (20), Arendal – student, leader of Youth Against Drugs
• Mr. Reidar Almås (54), Trondheim – professor of sociology
• Mr. Oddbjørn Evenshaug (59), Drammen – associate professor of education, moderator of the Church of Norway National Council
• Mr. Guttorm Fløistad (67), Oslo – professor of philosophy
• Mr. Per Fugelli (55), Oslo – professor of social medicine
• Ms. Kine Hellebust (43), Balsfjord – artist
• Mr. Stein Ringen (52), Oxford – professor of sociology
• Mr. Kebba Secka (52), Oslo – child care officer, general secretary of the Islamic Council , of Gamibian origin
• Ms. Kari Wærness (59), Bergen – professor of sociology
• Ms Marie Aakre (50), Trondheim – senior nursing officer

The moderator of the Commission’s council, Mr. Hans Erik Matre, is also present at board meetings.

Council of the Commission on Human Values
Members of the council of the Commission are:

• moderator: Mr. Hans Erik Matre (42), Ski – editor, former editor-in-chief of the Bergens Tidende, and former president of the Norwegian Association of Editors.
• vice moderator: Ms. Astrid Frøysnes (33), Kristiansand – housewife, vice moderator of the Norwegian Women and Family Association
• vice moderator: Mr. Dag Hareide (48), Oslo – general secretary of Church City Mission
• Mr. Arthur Arntzen, (60), Tromsø - author
• Rev. Trond Bakkevig (49), Oslo – Church of Norway vicar, theologian and ethicist
• Ms. Lisbet Bang (50), Oslo – medical doctor (social medicine)
• Ms. Kristin Ma Berg (40), Bærum – editor-in-chief of youth magasine Det Nye
• Ms. Unni Berge (18), Bygstad - secondary school pupil
• Ms. Ragnhild Bratberg (36), Lillehammer – sales officer, former athlete
• Ms. Jorunn Bårli (25), Leksvik – nursery school teacher
• Ms. Kristin Clemet (39), Oslo – managing director
• Rev. Per Arne Dahl (47) – Church of Norway priest, leader of Modum Mental Health Centre’s family centre
• Ms. Edel Hætta Eriksen (76), Kautokeino – former director of Council on Sami Education
• Mr. Jacob Margido Esp (54), Trondheim - artist
• Mr. Edvard Grimstad (64), Råde - farmer
• Rev. K arl Johan Hallaråker (53), Bergen – general secretary of Western Norwegian Inner Mission Federation
• Mr. Lars Haltbrekken (26), Oslo - student
• Mr. Bjørn Hansen (59), Trondheim – assistant national football coach
• Ms. Ruth Åse Haugen (50), Flekkefjord – state enrolled nurse, second vice moderator of the Norwegian Confederation of Municipal Employees
• Mr. Ottar Hellevik (54), Tønsberg – professor of political science, polling expert
• Ms. lærer Hege Holstad (27), Hareid – medical doctor
• Mr. Geir Isaksen (43), Oppegård – managing director of Statkorn Holding
• Ms. Mathilde Karlsen (57), Lenvik – department manager of Brødrene Karlsen A/S
• Ms. Esther Kostøl (61), Oslo – executive officer, former vice moderator of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions
• Mr. Anders Krystad (41) – manager, Vålerenga Fotball
• Ms. Wenche Meldal (52), Sandnes – managing director of Jonas Øglænd A/S
• Mr. Ole D. Mjøs (58), Tromsø – professor of medicine, former rector of Tromsø University
• Mr. Willy Olsen (46), Rena – factory worker, Rena Kartong
• Mr. Julius Paltiel (73), Trondheim – agent, moderator of the Jewish Community
• Mr. Nasim Riaz (54), Oslo – educationalist, of Pakistani origin
• Mr. Frode Ringheim (57), Mo i Rana – chief physician
• Mr. Hans Martin Skovly (34), Stavanger – police sergeant
• Ms. Solveig Sukka (50), Suldalsosen – state enrolled nurse, former vice moderator of Norwegian Society of Rural Women
• Ms. Hanh Thuyet Vo (18), Kristiansand – secondary school pupil, of Vietnamese origin
• Ms. Unni Wilhelmsen (26), Oslo – musician
• Mr. Thomas Chr. Wyller (75), Oslo – professor of political science
• Mr. Lars Ødegård (40), Nannestad – general secretary of the Norwegian Association of the Disabled.

Mandate of the Commission on Human Values
The King today also established the following mandate for the Commission on Human Values:

”The main aim of the Commission on Human Values is to contribute to a broad mobilisation of human and socio-ethical values, in order to enhance the role of such values in society, and strengthen the responsibility for the environment and the community. It is important to counter indifference and to promote personal responsibility, participation and democracy.

• The Commission on Human Values shall contribute towards increased awareness of human values and ethical matters, in order that our lives as individuals, the development of our culture and our society, and our relationship to nature may be increasingly marked by conscient choices founded on human values.
• The Commission on Human Values shall contribute to knowledge about the development of human values in present society, included the institutional culture that we are part of, and our individual understanding of human values.
• The Commission on Human Values shall study how human values are being influenced in various ways. This – partly unconscious – influence shall be studied in relation to the conscious educating taking place in families and in schools, the latter stated by Norwegian authorities to be a clear purpose of our educational system.
• The Commission on Human Values shall identify present challenges to human values and social ethics, and discuss possible responses. In this, the Commission shall challenge and stimulate political authorities and relevant sectors of the civil society, to debate and participation.
• The Commission on Human Values shall contribute to a discussion on the role of political authorities in this field, as well as the roles of individuals, families, civil institutions and trade and industry.
• The Commission on Human Values shall inspire ethical reflection and action, not merely through studies and reports, but also by way of a wide spectrum of activities which exemplify, actualise and concretise matters related to human values”.

This page was last updated April 29 1998 by the editors