Opening speech – ICPC 7th Annual Colloquium

President Dury,

Distinguished members of ICPC,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning to all of you!

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the ICPC´s Seventh Annual Colloquium on Crime Prevention. I am greatly honoured by the fact that Norway was appointed to host this important conference here in Oslo. I am told that the attendance from all over the World is overwhelming, as I can see for myself today. In my opinion this reflects that the work you do is of great importance, and that the topics are of great interest in many countries. 

Before I go into some important aspects in crime prevention, I would firstly comment short on the programme for the conference which I think signals that the following days of presentations and workshops will have a scope that reaches further than the traditional crime prevention, even if the title of conference is the Role of the Police in Crime Prevention. The programme contains topics that are close to the heart of my minister. It includes many items and questions that are discussed in Norwegian crime policy!  I hope that the conference will be a way to mobilise greater force to prevent and combat crime.

The programme indicates that the conference will cover topics ranging from the work of the police to mediation and reconciliation. One of the major concerns in Norwegian criminal policy is how to improve the cooperation and coordination between different sectors in the society. It is necessary to bring representatives from central, regional and local authorities together, including the private sector and NGOs. With this in mind, the Norwegian Government has decided that, where it is suitable, the police and the municipalities should form small bodies, - we call it police councils -, consisting of the police and local agencies. The purpose of this is to promote further cooperation and mutual information sharing with the aim to improve the crime prevention and use the resources more effectively.

The fact that criminal policy has an impact on both the social and the health policy  - and vice versa – has become a part of common policy. Hence, in my opinion we must focus on improving relations between agencies in order to underline the necessity of cross-sector co-operation and strive to tear up the borders between the different sectors.

I am convinced that if sectors cooperate, basing their cooperation on shared values and mutual interests, we will be able to fill the gaps that exist between sectors. This again will create opportunities for progress in the field of crime prevention, and will, in the end, be the best for the victims.

It is the view of the Norwegian Minister of Justice, that if we are able to reach our goals, we need to join the judicial system and civil society more closely to each other. And each sector has to take responsibility for making this co-operation as effective as possible. In short, the Norwegian model for crime prevention is characterised by a strong affiliation to areas outside the judicial system and the balance made between social and situational crime prevention. And I would like to say that it might be a specifically Nordic trait to involve the citizens themselves in participating actively and directly in crime prevention. The volunteer sector plays an important role, supplementary to the law enforcement and the child welfare, both on municipal, regional and national level. This would include a strong co-operation between the voluntary organisations and the authorities.

On this occasion, I wish to present my opinion on some topics that are of greatest importance to find measures to solve. In this respect I would like to mention as examples the fight against domestic violence against women and children, sexual offences and abuse of children in all its forms. This is a serious and to some extent hidden social problem, which means that many people suffer from humiliation and indignity. All use of violence is prohibited under Norwegian law. It is an infringement of basic human rights. Violence and abuse of women and children in close relationships is particularly serious and has far-reaching consequences for the victim. It is damaging to health, self-respect, security, and quality of life and to the victims’ ability to and possibility of having control of their own lives.

The Norwegian government’s view is clear and has emphasised the fight against this form of violence. Domestic violence is unacceptable. It must be prevented, combated and alleviated through measures to help and protect the victims and through treatment and prosecution of the perpetrators.

Many of the women who are victims of violence, by a present or past partner, have children. Some children are affected directly by violence and are the victims of criminal child abuse. Many more are affected indirectly and grow up in homes where violence is practised. Shelter for battered women has been established over some years as a joint effort between central and local authorities in close cooperation with voluntary organisations. Also the children can be sheltered there together with their mothers.

If the pattern of violence is to be broken, steps must be taken to stop the perpetrator. However, it is the responsibility of the perpetrator to stop using violence. Society has a responsibility to help to prevent the development of patterns of violence, to offer the perpetrator help and treatment, and to prevent the violence being repeated and being inherited by the children.

Another example of extended cooperation is the Children´s Advocacy Centres we now are establishing. The first opened in Bergen last week, and the next will be opened in Hamar in December. This will be centre where sexually abused or battered children can come to get help, care and treatment, in addition to the judge´s hearing of the child and the medical examination. This will imply a great challenge for the agencies to cooperate, but it would, I believe, surely be to the best interest of the child.

The responsibility for coordinating the Government’s efforts to combat violence against woman lies with the Ministry of Justice and the Police. However, there are a number of issues involved, which cannot be solved, with the use of criminal policy instruments alone. An effective fight against violence requires close cooperation with other central government authorities with responsibility for health, social welfare and gender equality issues. We are now working out a new action plan for future efforts to combat domestic violence. I hope this plan will come into force next year.

The police are assigned a very central role in the Government’s efforts to combat violence against women. The police have developed several tools to be able to offer better protection to victims of domestic violence. In 2002, a system of domestic violence coordinators was established in each of Norway’s 27 police districts. The role of the coordinators is to ensure that the police show understanding and insight in their encounters with victims and their next-of-kin. 

On 1 January 2004 the police initiated a nation-wide system of mobile violence alarms. Used in combination with other measures, mobile violence alarms are intended to give persons under threat of violence greater freedom of movement and help prevent violence and threats. As of May 2007, a total of approximately 1,700 alarms were in operation.

I would also like to mention another example on cooperation. School-mediating programmes have been in use many years now. The school-mediating programme can be described as mediation between equals. The aim is to solve conflicts and increase the capability among the participants to handle conflict situations in a satisfactory way.

However, your presence here at this conference signals your interest in and concern for crime prevention issues. We have these interests in common. We have to work further to invite others to join us in striving to prevent that people – especially children – become the victims of crime.

I feel confident that the conference will contribute to our understanding of the challenges I have mentioned and improve our knowledge of how we can meet these challenges in the future. There are a great many threats facing the important work of crime prevention, and there are a number of serious problems that have to be addressed.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to pay my compliments to the International Centre for Prevention of Crime, the Executive Committee, the ICPC Director General – and the organising committee – for having put together such a comprehensive programme with a wide and innovative perspective.

I wish you all a fruitful conference.