The Norwegians ban begging

"In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." - Anatole France

Norwegian households are among the richest in the world. Although jobless levels rose last year, the country's unemployment rate is still the lowest in Europe yet Arendal municipality became one of the first in Norway to feel the need to introduce a ban on begging. In the past six years, the number of ethnic Roma migrants in the country has increased tenfold. The public and politicians alike have bemoaned their presence on street corners and outside of shops. The government has granted councils the authority to instate local bans, and wants to introduce a nationwide ban by next summer. Last year, the Oslo city council banned sleeping outdoors, in a move critics said belonged to the same set of policies as the begging ban.

"The debate has been marked by spiteful rhetoric based on many stereotypes of who these people are," said Sunniva Orstavik, Norway's discrimination ombudsman and one of the harshest critics of the ban. She said the language used in the debate and police enforcement show that the ban targets Norway's migrant Roma - a group that numbers about 1,000, though the total varies by season.

Politicians say begging goes hand-in-hand with crime. Research shows that most migrant beggars support only themselves and their families and are not part of the larger, organised begging rings denounced by politicians. These have rarely been proven to exist, aside from minivans that charge money to take migrants between Romania and Norway.

Roma have long been stigmatised in the country. Between 1900 and 1970, about 1,500 children of Roma travellers were placed in foster homes. Women on the outskirts of society were sterilised by force. The group was especially exposed under the country's former begging ban, the vagrant law of 1900, introduced when Norway was one of the poorest countries in Europe. It was rescinded in 2005 after a long period of lax enforcement. Norway's Finance Minister Siv Jensen is the leader of the anti-immigration Progress Party. She once suggested that foreign beggars be bussed to the border.

Because of Norway's inclusion in the European Economic Area, visitors to Norway - poor, beggar migrants among them - are allowed to stay in the country for three months but are not entitled to benefits payments. But poor migrants can seek help from places like the Church City Mission.

From AlJazeera