Civil law

Civil remedies against the state – ensuring due diligence

27. GREVIO strongly encourages the Norwegian authorities to ensure through all available means that women victims of any of the forms of violence against women are aware of and given the practical means to challenge and address any wrongdoing by state actors, including by re- examining and removing any barriers that may delay or prevent victims from doing so.
28. GREVIO encourages the Norwegian authorities to measure progress in this area by collecting data on the number of proceedings initiated by victims and their outcomes.

Compensation

GREVIO encourages the Norwegian authorities to:
a. take the necessary measures in order to ensure that victims are informed about the legal possibilities to claim compensation for women victims of any of the forms of violence covered by the Istanbul Convention, with a view to facilitating their access to the available mechanisms;
b. ensure that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority collects data disaggregated by sex, age, type of violence, the relation of the perpetrator to the victim and geographical location on claimed and granted compensation requests in order to analyse the effectiveness of the compensation system;

Custody, visitation rights and safety

30. GREVIO urges the Norwegian authorities to introduce the principle of non-mandatory mediation in family law processes that concern families marred by a history of violence.
31. In the interim, GREVIO urges the Norwegian authorities to introduce an appropriate screening process in order to identify families with a history of violence, including violence perpetrated by one parent against the other, in order to apply exceptions to mandatory mediation in family law processes aiming to establish decisions on custody and visitation rights by making use of information received from both parents and relevant entities, including but not limited to lawenforcement agencies, social services, health, education, domestic violence crisis centres and/or other women’s specialist support services .
32. GREVIO further urges the Norwegian authorities to establish a risk-assessment process in cases where parents with a history of abuse by one parent against the other have reached an agreement about custody, visitation or residence with a view to determining that the agreement is in the best interests of the child and that the safety of the woman and her child are ensured.
33. Finally, GREVIO urges the Norwegian authorities to:
a. increase the competence of mediators, family counsellors, psychologists, judges and other professionals working with child custody and visitation issues to recognise and take into due consideration domestic violence witnessed by children, through in-service training;
b. systematically collect data on the number of cases in which custody and visitation rights have been limited, restricted or denied because of a child witnessing violence and use such data as means for reviewing and revising policies in this area.

Civil consequences of forced marriages

34. GREVIO encourages the Norwegian authorities to take measures to strengthen the legal remedies for women in situations of forced marriage in order to regain their unmarried civil status, in particular by removing the time limit on annulments and by offering the legal entitlement to void or
dissolve a marriage