Human Rights Service (HRS) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

established in 2001. The organization is known for its

criticism of Islam Criticism of Islam is broadly defined as criticism of the Islamic religion in its beliefs, principles, and/or any other ideas attributed to Islam. Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written disapprovals came f ...

and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, and is managed by Rita Karlsen and

Hege Storhaug Hege Storhaug (born 21 May 1962) is a Norwegian political activist and author. She has been known for her criticism of Islam since the 1990s, and later also opposition to immigration. She formerly worked as a journalist, and now runs the small or ...

Activities

HRS claims to have been established to work for a more well-functioning multi-ethnic society. Through the spread of information the organization aims to contribute to better

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

of immigrants, and preventing violation of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. It has become known especially for its work against

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...

, and against cultural and religious oppression of women. The organization has also been critical of the cultural and economic effects of the high immigration to Norway. HRS received public funding from the Norwegian state from 2002 to 2021, and from 2012 to 2015 from Oslo municipality. After a new Oslo city council proposed to withdraw further support in 2015, the organization claimed they saw a huge surge of private donations. In 2017, after longstanding opposition from the left-wing parties, the centre-right political parties

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

, and some politicians from

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

also tried to stop further funding of HRS, but they still got NOK 1.835.000 in state funding. In September 2021, after increasing criticism and opposition to its work from several political parties, it was announced that the state would cease funding HRS. HRS has been praised by

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; ; Somali: ''Ayaan Xirsi Cali'':'' Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī;'' born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, ar, أيان حرسي علي / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī'' 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politicia ...

. American writer

Bruce Bawer Theodore Bruce Bawer (born October 31, 1956) is an American writer who has been a resident of Norway since 1999. He is a literary, film, and cultural critic and a novelist and poet, who has also written about gay rights, Christianity, and Islam. ...

has formerly worked for the organization. The website of the organisation has long been considered to promote the

Eurabia Eurabia is a political neologism, a portmanteau of Europe and Arabia, used to describe a far-right, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, involving globalist entities allegedly led by French and Arab powers, to Islamise and Arabise Europe, thereby weak ...

theory of

Bat Ye'or ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt , death_date= , death_place= , occupation = Writer , nationality = British , signature= , alma_mater = University College LondonUniversity of Geneva , genre= , notableworks = ''The Decline ...

. Previously, since 2007, the site also published works by the

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic beli ...

blogger

Fjordman Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a prominent Norwegian counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman and who has been characterized as far-right and Islamophobic. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in ...

through its former employee Jens Tomas Anfindsen who also attended the 2007 counter-jihad conference in Brussels. HRS has later distanced itself from Bat Ye'or, the Eurabia theory and Fjordman. The organisation has however still been considered to have a counter-jihad character, though more subtle than others. The organization has seen controversy as a result of criticism by immigrant women formerly affiliated with the organization, including former employee

Amal Aden Amal Aden (born 1983) is the pseudonym of a Somali–Norwegian writer. She is an author, lecturer and lesbian activist. Aden is substitute member of the Norwegian Press Complaints Commission and has been a contributor to the newspaper ''Dag og T ...

criticizing some of its alleged work methods. Aden gave a formal complaint to the police, but the police later dropped the case due to insufficient capacity.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2001 establishments in Norway Think tanks established in 2001 Think tanks based in Norway Foundations based in Norway Human rights organisations based in Norway Counter-jihad Anti-immigration politics in Norway Anti-Islam sentiment in Norway