 | |
| Company type | Foundation (nonprofit) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway |
Key people | Rita Karlsen Hege Storhaug |
| Website | www.rights.no |
Human Rights Service (HRS) is a Norwegian foundation established in 2001. [1] The organization is known for its criticism of Islam and immigration, [1] and is managed by Rita Karlsen and Hege Storhaug. [2]
HRS claims to have been established to work for a more well-functioning multi-ethnic society. [1] Through the spread of information the organization aims to contribute to better integration of immigrants, and preventing violation of human rights. [1] It has become known especially for its work against forced marriage, and against cultural and religious oppression of women. [1] The organization has also been critical of the cultural and economic effects of the high immigration to Norway. [1]
HRS received public funding from the Norwegian state from 2002 to 2021, and from 2012 to 2015 from Oslo municipality. [3] [4] After a new Oslo city council proposed to withdraw further support in 2015, the organization claimed they saw a huge surge of private donations. [5] In 2017, after longstanding opposition from the left-wing parties, the centre-right political parties Liberal Party, Christian Democratic Party, and some politicians from Conservative Party also tried to stop further funding of HRS, but they still got NOK 1.835.000 in state funding. [6] [7] In September 2021, after increasing criticism and opposition to its work from several political parties, [1] it was announced that the state would cease funding HRS. [8]
HRS has been praised by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. [9] American writer Bruce Bawer has formerly worked for the organization. [10] [11] The website of the organisation has long been considered to promote the Eurabia conspiracy theory of Bat Ye'or. [12] Previously, since 2007, the site also published works by the counter-jihad blogger Fjordman through its former employee Jens Tomas Anfindsen [13] who also attended the 2007 counter-jihad conference in Brussels. [14] HRS has later distanced itself from Bat Ye'or, the Eurabia conspiracy theory and Fjordman. [15] The organisation has however still been considered to have a counter-jihad [16] character, though more subtle than others. [17]
The organization has seen controversy as a result of criticism by immigrant women formerly affiliated with the organization, including former employee Amal Aden criticizing some of its alleged work methods. [18] [19] Aden gave a formal complaint to the police, [20] but the police later dropped the case due to insufficient capacity. [21]
"Eurabia" is a far-right, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory that posits that globalist entities, led by French and Arab powers, aim to Islamize and Arabize Europe, thereby weakening its existing culture and undermining its previous alliances with the United States and Israel.
Gisèle Littman, better known by her pen name Bat Ye'or, is an Egyptian-born, British-Swiss author and historian, known for her promulgation of the Eurabia conspiracy theory. She claims that Islam, and its perceived anti-Americanism, anti-Christian sentiment and antisemitism hold sway over European culture and politics.
Fritt Ord is a Norwegian private foundation, whose aim is to support freedom of expression and a free press. It was established on 7 June 1974 by Narvesen Kioskkompani's leaders Jens Henrik Nordlie and Finn Skedsmo as well as the lawyer Jens Christian Hauge.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde is a Norwegian politician who represented the Progress Party until 2024. He has been a member of the Norwegian parliament since 2005, and was the leader of the Progress Party's Oslo chapter from 2010 to 2014.
Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen is a Norwegian far-right counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in 2005, until he disclosed his identity in 2011. He has been active in the counter-jihad movement, which argues that multiculturalism, particularly Muslim mass immigration, poses an existential threat to Western civilization. He has promoted this belief in a self-published book titled Defeating Eurabia, and stated that "Islam, and all those who practice it, must be totally and physically removed from the entire Western world".
Geir Pollestad is a Norwegian solicitor and politician for the Centre Party. He is currently serving as the minister of agriculture and food since 2023, and has been a member of parliament for Rogaland since 2013.
Hadia Tajik is a Pakistani-Norwegian jurist, journalist and politician from the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2021 to 2022, where after several tax evasions and misuse of appointed apartments, she resigned from the post. She previously served as Minister of Culture from 2012 to 2013. She was 29 years of age at the time and became the youngest minister to serve in the Norwegian government. She is the first Cabinet member that is a Muslim. Tajik has served as a Member of Parliament representing Rogaland since 2017, and Oslo from 2009 to 2017. She was also the party's deputy leader from 2015 until 2022.
The International Free Press Society (IFPS), founded in 2009, is a creation of the Danish Free Press Society. The stated purpose of IFPS "is to defend freedom of expression wherever and by whomever it is threatened". It has been described as a key component of the counter-jihad movement.
Center Party is a registered political party in Norway. The party was established by several former county leaders from the Christian Democratic Party, defectors from the Socialist Left Party, the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Green Party, as well as former city councilor for the Labour Party in Oslo Geir Lippestad. The party's youth organization is Unge Sentrum.
Stop Islamisation of Norway is a Norwegian anti-Muslim group that was originally established in 2000. Its stated aim is to work against Islam, which it defines as a totalitarian political ideology that violates the Norwegian Constitution as well as democratic and human values. The organisation was formerly led by Arne Tumyr, and is now led by Lars Thorsen.
Hege Storhaug is a Norwegian political activist, writer and author. She has been known for her criticism of Islamic cultural practices since the 1990s, and later also opposition to immigration. She formerly worked as a journalist, and has run the small organisation Human Rights Service with her partner since 2002. In 2015 she published the bestselling book Islam, den 11. landeplage, later translated to English as Islam: Europe Invaded. America Warned, which claimed that Islam is a "plague".
Document.no is a Norwegian far-right anti-immigration online newspaper. Academics have identified Document.no as an anti-Muslim website permeated by the Eurabia conspiracy theory. The website received global media attention in connection with the 2011 Norway attacks due to its association with perpetrator Anders Behring Breivik, a former comment section poster on the website.
Hallgrim Berg is a Norwegian author, traditional folk musician, and former politician for the Conservative Party. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament from 1982 to 1997, representing Buskerud. He has released several books and been involved in several musical albums, and held numerous public positions.
Fjotolf Hansen, better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik, is a Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist. He carried out the 2011 Norway attacks in which he killed eight people by detonating a van bomb at Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo, and then killed 69 participants of a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp, in a mass shooting on the island of Utøya.
Counter-jihad, also known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of anti-Muslim authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and so on linked by beliefs that view Islam not as a religion but as an ideology that constitutes an existential threat to Western civilization. Consequently, counter-jihadists consider all Muslims as a potential threat, especially when they are already living within Western boundaries. Western Muslims accordingly are portrayed as a "fifth column", collectively seeking to destabilize Western nations' identity and values for the benefit of an international Islamic movement intent on the establishment of a caliphate in Western countries. The counter-jihad movement has been variously described as anti-Islamic, Islamophobic, inciting hatred against Muslims, and far-right. Influential figures in the movement include the bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer in the US, and Geert Wilders and Tommy Robinson in Europe.
Øyvind Strømmen is a Norwegian author, translator and freelance journalist. He is known for his books on rightwing extremism and many contributions in Norwegian social- and mainstream media.
Olaug Vervik Bollestad is a Norwegian nurse and politician for the Christian Democratic Party who is a member of Parliament for Rogaland since 2013. She served as the party leader between 2021 and 2024, having been deputy leader from 2015 to 2021. She served as Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2019 to 2021.
Ingvild Kjerkol is a Norwegian politician. A member of Labour Party, she was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Nord-Trøndelag first time in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021. She has been a member of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, and of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services. From 2021 to 2024, she served as minister of health and care services.
Emilie Enger Mehl is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. She has served as minister of justice since 2021 and member of parliament for Hedmark since 2017.
The Alliance – Alternative for Norway is a political party in Norway. It was founded on 22 November 2016 and registered in the Party Register by Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen on 5 January 2017.
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