Thread: Norway Security Chief Warns of Cultural Dangers of Muslim Diaspora

The head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has warned that the refugee crisis in Europe will lead to rifts in society and the rise of far-right groups, because of the consequences of a large number of refugees coming from Muslim countries.

PST chief Marie Benedicte Bjørnland — who is known to be a plain speaker on such matters — was addressing a security conference in the Swedish ski resort town of Sälen, where the New Years' Eve assaults in Cologne were discussed.

German authorities are investigating around 500 complaints over sex attacks that took place in Cologne on New Year's Eve — involving men of Arab or North African appearance.

There was outrage when in emerged that hundreds of women at Cologne rail station has been subjected to a series of sex assaults, molestation, lewd comments and behavior as well as robbery, during chaotic scenes on New Year's Eve.In Norway, police are working with their Swedish colleagues as they investigate allegations about a string of sexual attacks carried out by Afghan refugees at a Stockholm music festival, which some say have been covered up by the authorities.

"A strong increase in immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, can cause other long-term challenges. When a large number of asylum seekers come to a local community, it can have unfortunate consequences," Bjørnland told delegates.

"One cannot take for granted that new population groups will automatically adapt the norms and rules of the Norwegian society," she added.

Sex Lessons

Bjørnland went on to tell broadcaster TV2 that accepting large numbers of foreigners can lead to violent clashes and the growth of far-right extremist groups.

"If in the long term, you see a growth of parallel societies, radicalization and extremist environments, then we will have challenges as a security agency," she said.

Norway runs courses for male refugees about Norwegian sexual norms and laws, to help them adapt to a country where women have greater freedoms, wear fewer clothes and walk alone in public. The course explains that some sexual practices deemed 'honorable' in some Middle East and North African countries are not acceptable in the West. The course manual states:

"To force someone into sex is not permitted in Norway, even when you are married to that person."

Norway has also kept strict control over migrants reaching its borders, deporting 7825 people out of the country in 2015, an all-time record.

Read more: Norway Security Chief Warns of Cultural Dangers of Muslim Diaspora

Three-year-old boy is raped 'by multiple people' at asylum centre in Norway

Police investigating reports that refugee was abused on January 6

Authorities do not rule out multiple perpetrators

Alleged rape took place in Forus centre in southwestern city of Stavanger

Forus centre hosts some 800 asylum-seekers

A three-year-old refugee has allegedly been raped at an asylum centre in Norway's Stavanger, the country's third largest city.

Local police is investigating reports that the boy, whose nationality has not been disclosed, was sexually abused in the common area of Forus Akuttinnkvartering centre.

Authorities from the southwestern city were called to probe the incident on January 6 at around 10pm.

We have no suspects yet,' police superintendent Bjørn Kåre Dahl told local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, as reported by The Local.

'We are investigating the case as if the worst thing has happened and that we are talking about the rape of a child'.

Dahl did not rule out that there could be several perpetrators. 'We will investigate further to find out what happened. If it is what we fear – a rape – then this is very serious. But we do not know for certain yet,' he said.

The boy, who has been taken to the rape crisis clinic with his mother and then to the children's ward at Stavanger University Hospital, has been questioned by authorities along with several other people.

We also had crime technicians on the site. Material was sent to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health for analysis. There, they will look for DNA among other things,' he said.

'We had many people at work, both sanitation workers and security guards, but nobody saw anything. But we immediately took the case to the police, as is the routine, and they came out. We have had a good dialogue with them throughout,' he said.

The Forus centre hosts some 800 asylum-seekers.

A spokesman for the centre said they received a phone call about the incident but they did not see or hear anything.

The alleged incident took place after Norway announced it was offering non-European asylum-seekers classes in Western sexual norms, in an attempt to prevent violence against women.

Linda Hagen of Hero, a private company that runs 40 percent of Norway's reception centres for refugees, explained that the aim is to help asylum-seekers 'avoid mistakes as they discover Norwegian culture'.

'There's no single cultural code to say what is good or bad behaviour because we want a free society,' she said.

'There has to be tolerance for attitudes that may be seen as immoral by some traditional or religious norms.'

The courses were launched after a 'wave of rapes', committed mostly by foreigners, took place in Stavanger between 2009 and 2011.

The course, which Hero has tacked onto the immigration agency's broader, mandatory introduction programme to Norway, addresses the problem of sexual assault, using concrete examples for the participants to discuss.

'It could be an 18-year-old guy who says he's surprised by the interest some Norwegian girls are showing in him. He assumes they want to sleep with him,' Hagen said.

'So the group leader will ask him: Who are these girls? Where do you meet them? How do you know it is sex they want? Not all women in Norway are the same,' she added.

Read more: Norwegian 3-year-old raped at Forus asylum centre in Stavanger

Norway deports record number of immigrants in 2015

Norway deported a record of 7,825 immigrants in 2015, representing an increase of 8 percent compared to the year before, the country's Police Immigration Service said on Monday.

"I am very pleased that we have achieved the government's target figures in a year with a very challenging arrival situation," said Kristin Kvigne, head of the Police Immigration Service, which is responsible for forced return of persons who do not have legal residence in Norway.

The Norwegian government's goal was to have carried out 7,800 deportations of immigrants in the year of 2015.

The figures include asylum seekers whose applications have received a final rejection, expulsions due to either sanctions or lacking valid grounds to be in Norway and those who have not sought protection.

A total of 1,559 people were deported after their applications for asylum had been rejected, while 1,144 asylum seekers were sent to another country in Europe to have their applications processed in line with the Dublin Regulation.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), the country's immigration agency, said last week that a total of 31,145 asylum seekers came to Norway in 2015 and it was planning to prepare for up to 60,000 asylum seekers this year.

Norway deports record number of immigrants in 2015 --