Online Book of Condolences for Children and Young People

Many children and young people are grieving following the terrible tragedy that struck Norway on 22 July. Many of them have a need to express their thoughts and feelings. As an attempt to reply to this need, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research together with the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion and the Ombudsman for Children have today launched an online Book of Condolences for children and young people.

- Everyone in Norway is affected by the tragic events that took place on 22 July and it is crucial that children and young people get the possibility to express their sadness over those who were killed or injured.I encourage everyone to make use of this possibility, says Kristin Halvorsen, Minister of Education, especially kindergartens and schools. This could help the children in processing their grief following the horrific events in Oslo and at the Utøya Island, she continues.

A selection of the various contributions and messages will be published on this web site. The contributions could include drawings, poems or just written messages with thoughts and reflections. The contributors do not have to sign the message with their full names, if they do not wish to do so.

Messages can be sent to the web page, to the e-mail address ungkondolanse@kd.dep.no . All contributions received will be kept for the future in order to show how children and young people reacted to these terrible events. The online Book of Condolences will remain open until 1 October.

The web site for the Book of Condolences is www.ungkondolanse.no