Diskrimineringsnemnda logo

If a child is being bullied because of the color of their skin – how much does the school need to do to stop it?

How far does the school's responsibility to prevent bullying and harassment extend?

It started as early as third grade.

First with other children at school shouting «brown poo».

Then came the first death threat from a fellow student.

This became the pupil's life for several years.

Racist shouts and animal noises from older children at school.

Threats. Derogatory nicknames, rumors and nasty social media mentions. Beatings.

Worse and worse over the years.

It happened both in the classroom and at recess. Often led by the same children.

Ser gjennom døren inn i et klasserom med lærer, barn og noen tomme stoler — Illustration photo.

The child's parents spoke to the school several times over the years and told them what happened. They sent detailed statements and were in contact with both the head of department and the principal.

The school implemented some measures. They paid extra attention to the pupil in swimming and PE, and they followed the activity plans they had adopted.

But the parents felt that this was not enough. They complained to the County Governor, who concluded that the school had not investigated well enough or done enough.

The pupils's family felt that the municipality had not done enough to prevent ethnic harassment. Nor did they believe that the school had done enough to try to stop the harassment. Thet therecore complained to the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (Diskrimineringsnemnda).

It is easy, and free of charge, to submit a complaint electronically to the Tribunal.

Both parties can present their side of the case in writing.

The complainant has the right to know who has filed the complaint, and both parties get to know what the other writes in their statement.

The Tribunal's experienced and qualified lawyers decide whether there has been a breach of the law.

The video explains what discrimination and harassment are.

Are you unsure whether you have been discriminated against or harassed, or do you have questions about the legislation? Then you can contact the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud.

Learn more

The pupil felt she was not heard by the adults at school.

The school believed that the incidents were so long apart that they had to be seen as isolated.

According to the family, it was a case of continuous harassment over several years.

The family was insistent: The school hadn't done enough to stop the harassment.

They didn't do enough to investigate what was happening.

And they handled the situation too poorly to be able to stop it.

Advokat snakker med sin klient om en sak — Illustration photo.

The Tribunal concluded that the school had not breached its duty to prevent harassment.

However, they concluded that the school had breached its duty to try and stop the harassment experienced by the pupil.

The Tribunal concluded that «racist bullying of a child is very serious and requires measures beyond what the school has shown in this case.»

The Tribunal believed that the school did not take the matter sufficiently seriously, and that too much of the responsibility was placed on the pupil itself. Among other things, they pointed out that the school implemented measures to strengthen the child's social skills – rather than making it clear to the other pupils that acts and statements of harassment would not be tolerated.

The Tribunal also found it striking that the school referred to the incidents as interaction problems and that they claimed that the pupil had misunderstood the others. In the Tribunal's view, the harassing statements were clear. The Tribunal pointed out that it was unclear what it would be possible to misunderstand in statements about the student being negro», «brown poo» or «going back to the jungle».

Read the Tribunals decision (in Norwegian)

Schools have a duty to try and prevent students from being harassed because of their ethnicity.

According to the Tribunal, the school breached this duty.

Have you ever experienced discrimination?

Here you can make a complaint

All images are illustration photos.

Diskrimineringsnemnda logo

Formidlet med DigiStory