Recently the Norwegian Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud Sunniva Ørstavik visited the MiRA Centre. During her visit she made it clear that she intends to reach out to women with the ethnic minority backgrounds and provide them with information about the anti-discrimination law and the role of the Ombud office. 

Many people who experience discrimination do not report it. This is often that they believe reporting discrimination won’t make a difference.

Sunniva Ørstavik says that she is aware of how difficult it is to report episodes of discrimination at work, in restaurants and bars, or in any public setting, but stresses that each and every case is taken seriously. Discrimination is difficult to prove. However, the act of reporting discrimination in itself is beneficial, whether or not the individual case is successful, as it supports the case of others who may face the same kind of discrimination.

The MiRA Centre works to uncover discrimination against immigrant and refugee women and highlight weaknesses within legislation which often fail to protect women from multiple- discrimination. We believe that if there are many complaints about a certain type of discrimination, even if many of the cases can’t be proven, politicians will be forced to take the issue seriously.  In this way, each and every reported case of discrimination contributes to increasing the visibility of discrimination in Norway. 

The Ombud recognizes that individuals need resolution regarding their own cases, but stresses that the mere act of reporting discrimination is valuable in and of itself in raising awareness around the practice of discrimination.