Norway

Previous reports: 2023/24

Principal EBCO concerns

In general, the situation in Norway is good. In particular Norway set an example by completely abolishing the requirement that conscientious objectors perform alternative civilian service. However, we are concerned that some objectors may be required to serve in civil defence, particularly in a time of national emergency - as a potential part of the “war effort” this may not be compatible with the reasons for the objection in an individual case.

We also regret the lack of specific provisions consistent with Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to allow for the prompt release without penalty of serving professional members of the armed forces who develop conscientious objections.

We are furthermore extremely disturbed by the recruitment of children as young as fifteen-and-a-half into the Youth Wing of the Home Guard, which forms a crucial part of Norway's defence structure.

Developments

On 3rd April 2024, Norway announced plans to increase conscript numbers by 50% to 13,500 by 2036, which would represent about 25% of those liable as opposed to some 15% at present. “The Defence Forces Recruit Training Centre in Terningmoen, 140 kilometres north of Oslo, will be modernised and expanded to train about 1,800 recruits four times a year, up from about 300 today. To facilitate a rapid increase in training capacity, the Norwegian Armed Forces will lease civilian infrastructure until Terningmoen is fully developed, scheduled for 2036.”²

In November 2024, in the Working Group of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council, Norway received a recommendation from Costa Rica that it “Provide for conscientious objection to military service for professional soldiers and reservists in accordance with international human rights standards and process asylum applications from objectors in accordance with the Guidelines on International Protection No. 10 of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”. (See Universal periodic Review in the International Section, above, and the relevant headings in the analysis below.)

The following sections are based on information supplied in response to the EBCO Questionnaires in 2023 and 2024 by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, and the Parliamentary Ombudsman (Sivilonbudet), with our added commentary in brackets.

Conscription provisions and procedures

Conscription into obligatory military service is imposed in Norway. Under Article 119 of the Constitution: “As a general rule every citizen of the State is equally bound to serve in the defence of the country for a specific period, irrespective of birth or fortune. The application of this principle, and the restrictions to which it shall be subject, shall be determined by law”, and is governed by the procedures stated in the Act on military service (Lov om verneplikt og tjeneste i Forsvaret m.m), Article 6 of which describes in further detail the obligation to serve in the Norwegian Armed Forces for all Norwegian citizen from the year they reach 19 years, and the regulations for conscription (Forskrift om verneplikt og heimevernstjeneste).

(Initially, the requirement was in practice, as in most other countries, restricted to men. However, from the beginning of 2015 it was extended also to women, who had long been able to serve voluntarily, a precedent which has subsequently been followed in Sweden and Denmark. Only a small proportion of those eligible, both men and women, are however selected for military service; many of the others are allocated to the Home guard reserve force. A smaller proportion of women than men sign up for a military career following the initial period of service. It is not clear whether, since first conscripted in 1897, the indigenous Sami people have ever benefited from an exemption, as they have in neighbouring Sweden; certainly there is a proud tradition of Sami - and reindeer - participation in the Narvik campaign in 1940, where experience in Arctic conditions was invaluable.)

The initial duration of service for a conscript ranges from 6 to 16 months, with 12 months being the duration most practised by the Armed Forces. The total length of conscription in peace time is 19 months. Reservists can be ordered to serve in the Norwegian Home Guard and armed forces until the year they turn 44/45. The Home Guard is the largest department for reserve service consisting of approximately 40,000 soldiers. The reserve call up procedure differs between the different service branches.

First time recruitment in recent years was as follows:

The numbers above are the total number of persons conscripted for first-time military service, not number who completed the required duration. Some are discharged early for medical or other reasons.

In 2024 there were no prosecutions for evasion of military service.

Conscientious objection provisions and procedures

Chapter 4 of the Act on Military Service states the rights and duties of conscientious objectors. Article 35 states that “conscripts shall be exempted from military service if there is reason to believe that they cannot serve unless [if?] serving will be in violation with [of?] their fundamental belief and values that are of fundamental importance to them.” (It is reported that a previous Act, in 1965, explicitly included beliefs “related to the use of weapons of mass destruction as they might be expected to be used in the present day defence”³ - as far as is known such objections would still be accepted although there is no record of how often they have been put forward.)

According to Article 36 of the Act, conscripts may apply at the earliest when they meet with the draft board. [It should be noted that the meeting with the draft board is not the same as the appearance before a Committee in order to “justify” the objection, which procedure was abolished in 2001.⁴] A standard application form, available only in Norwegian, is provided; a copy was attached to the 2023 response from the Parliamentary Ombudsman and may be consulted on the Norway page of the EBCO website. The application is considered by the Ministry of Justice.

Article 37, as reported by the Parliamentary Ombudsman in 2023, exempts the conscript from service while his application is being processed. However the Ministry of Defence claims that the conscript must continue to serve, but while the application is pending may serve without arms

The procedures are further elaborated in chapter 12 of the Regulations for Conscription.

Information about conscientious objection and exemption may be found on the Norwegian Armed Forces' official website. Further information is given in person if the question arises during the selection process. The Norwegian Armed Forces Human Resources and Conscriptions Centre (FPVS) is responsible for handling applications for exemption. Each application is considered on individual grounds.

Between 2021 and 2023, inclusive, 577 conscientious objectors were exempted, 107 applications were rejected, 79 were withdrawn, and 53 were still pending at the end 2023. In 2024 176 applications were accepted and 35 rejected; no figures were given for applications pending or withdrawn.

According to the Ministry of Defence, a written appeal against rejection can be sent to the armed forces for a second evaluation; the Parliamentary Ombudsman states that [presumably subsequently], an objector whose application is rejected may complain to the Ministry ofJustice and Public Security. In the last resort, the conscript may file his case with the courts under Article 39 of the Law on Conscription.

(No information has been received regarding the number of rejections which were appealed, or the outcome of any appeals; there is no mention of any possibility of appeal to an independent body.)

As reported in 2022 by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, there is no alternative service for conscientious objectors – it was abolished in

1. (The background, as explained in 2005, is that many objectors were

in practice not finding alternative service, the government having limited the number of places available to 1,490 per annum, well below the number of objectors being exempted. However, it is not clear what lay behind that decision, nor why by the time alternative service was abolished the number of applicants had fallen towards the current level, about a tenth of that in the past.⁵ The result was however that as with the historic recognition of objections based on the use of a nuclear deterrent Norway has set a welcome precedent.)

Those whose applications for exemption have been approved may however be ordered to serve in the Civil Defence (Sivilforsvaret) until the year they turn 55. They get a three week start-up course, then serve two days per annum as training. If there is a crisis, they will be called in for service.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman points out that he is authorised to investigate complaints regarding military service, but in recent years has received no complaints from conscientious objectors. By contrast, a number of complaints have been received from persons who are motivated to serve but had not been selected!

Voluntary recruitment

Voluntary recruitment into military service is also regulated by the Act on Military Service. Professional members of the military are also subject to other Acts regarding State employees, together with the collective agreements between the State and the national labour unions.

Conscientious objection during and after military service

According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in 2022, “If professional military personnel become conscientious objectors during their service, and thus wish to end their service contract, they are free to terminate their contract based on the regular rules of contract law and labour law. (This was also exactly the language in which Norway “noted” the UPR recommendation - see the Universal Periodic Review chapter - that it recognise the right for professional soldiers and reservists). It might be noted (see the Serving Members of the Military chapter) that the provisions in labour law regarding early termination of contracts do not ensure prompt release without any penalty, financial of other, and contain no safeguards such as those which allow new conscripts to serve without arms while their applications are being considered.

Asylum for conscientious objectors

As reported in the International Section under the Universal Periodic Review, Norway in November 2024 “partially accepted” a recommendation from Costa Rica that it “process asylum applications from objectors in accordance with the Guidelines on International Protection No. 10 of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, noting that the Guidelines were not legally binding, but that they would be given “due weight” along with “relevant international jurisprudence”.

Norway's past record on asylum for persons fleeing situations of armed conflict, has been questionable. See for instance Bailliet's scathing comments on the handling of applications from female former soldiers from Eritrea,⁶

During the current crisis, we have received a report that in August 2024 37-year-old conscientious objector from Russia used a Finnish temporary work permit to travel to Norway in order to seek asylum, but that by the end of the year he had been returned to Finland under the “Dublin rules”. We have no news of his subsequent fate.

Militarisation of the education system

The Norwegian Armed Forces regularly visit secondary schools to inform students about upcoming selection procedures and career opportunities in the Armed Forces. This is not part of the curriculum and more often a part of the schools' vocational opportunity orientations. The Ministry of Defence has no information of whether student participation during these orientations is mandatory or not. The armed forces have access to some information shared by the education authorities, for instance on grades and degrees. No members of the armed forces are involved in teaching classes within the education system. To supplement recruitment, the armed forces also run public information campaigns such as advertising on TV or social media platforms.

Juvenile recruitment

Although conscripts are generally aged 19 before beginning military service, Norway accepts recruits into the “Home Guard Youth” frothe age of fifteen years and six months.⁷

The Government argues that “this organisation has no affiliation with the Norwegian defence structure as such. Membership in the youth organisation does not affect the likelihood of being conscripted for compulsory military service at the age of 19.”⁸ (Contradicting an earlier statement that members of the Home Guard Youth were not liable for military service, implying that it served, impermissibly, as a substitute for obligatory military service.) However, in time of war or national emergency the Home Guard is a crucial part of the national defence structure, and it is clearly inappropriate for children to be involved, even in a youth wing.

In 2017, Norway reported a change in the Military Service Act, to specify, that “people under 18 who serve in the Armed Forces will not be provided with training in, or participate in, combat related activities and that they will immediately be excused from service in situations where Norway is at war or when war threatens, or when the Armed Forces have commenced force generation (…) Furthermore, it has been clarified that people under 18 are not subject to the military punishment and disciplinary system because they cannot be called up as conscripts.”⁹

This seems to accept that for some purposes at least members of the Home Guard Youth are members of the armed forces - there is no one else aged under 18 to whom this might apply; such provisions to guard against the danger that juvenile recruits might be drawn into hostilities are necessary to comply with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. (OPAC)

When it examined Norway's Report under OPAC, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that “in order to fully respect the spirit of the Optional Protocol and to provide full protection for children in all circumstances…”, observing ‘that these kinds of activities with “a military element” for children are not in full conformity with the spirit of the Optional Protocol which emphasizes that conditions of peace and security are indispensable for the full protection of children'.¹⁰ Norway increase the recruitment age for the Home Guard Youth to 18. It repeated this recommendation when Norway reported under the Convention itself in 2018.¹¹

1. Population and armed forces figures are derived from The Military Balance 2025, published by the international Institute for Strategic Studies; military expenditure figures are estimates published by SIPRI (The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in April 2025. ⤴
2. Czumski, C. “Norway wants to increase the number of conscripts by 50% each year” , Euractiv, 3rd April 2024 (https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/norway-wants-to-increase-the-number-of-conscripts-by-50-each-year/)⤴
3. Stolwijk, M. The Right to Conscientious Objection in Europe, Quaker Council for European Affairs, Brussels, 2005, p51.⤴
4. Ibid⤴
5. Ibid, p52. and “Norway: end of substitute service for conscientious objectors”, War Resisters' International, 10th August 2011 (https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2011/norway-end-substitute-service-conscientious-objectors)⤴
6. Bailliet, C.M., “Examining Sexual Violence in the Military Within the Context of Eritrean Asylum Claims Presented in Norway” International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 19, Issue 3, October 2007, Pages 471–510⤴
7. Seventh Periodic Report of Norway under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/NOR/7), 20th August 2024, para 278.⤴
8. Ibid.⤴
9. Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Reports (CRC/C/NOR/5-6), 27th July 2017, para 361.⤴
10. CRC/C/OPAC/NOR/CO/1, 6th July, 2007, paras 10,11.⤴
11. CRC/C/NOR/CO/5-6,1st june, 2018, para 37a.⤴