The Global in the Local and the Local in the Global – Constitusion, Human Rights and Conflict of Interest, 2013

The twentieth century has been called the "age of rights". Norway has helped to create the international human rights system. Here at home, human rights have gained an ever-increasing position in the political debate and in Norwegian law. How strong positions should such international agreements and jurisprudence have? The question raises a number of fundamental issues that have been reviewed by Stortinget, which in May 2014 considered proposals for amendments to the Constitution to strengthen human rights in Norwegian law. "The Global in the Local and the Local in the Global – Constitusion, Human Rights and Conflict of Interest, 2013" aimed at investigating the significance of different constitutional conditions for the emergence and importance of the human rights system. In part, this had an idea side to it: National constitutions inspired those who developed the drafts of international agreements and declarations; and international documents have inspired those who have prepared new or revised national constitutions. It also had a procedural side - Constitutions often have provisions on how a state can join (ratify) a final agreement. In addition, constitutions want to create a framework for the impact of a ratified agreement in individual countries. Both of the last elements will affect the role of individual countries in international negotiations on human rights agreements and the subsequent domestic assessment of whether to ratify them. The project had a main emphasis on Norway, but it also contained comparative elements. The one subproject looked at Norway's and the US' contribution to creating an international human rights system, with a main emphasis on the years of 1940-1954. The second subproject was an archive and interview study of Norway's contribution to the negotiation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 on Indigenous Rights (1989) and on the subsequent ratification process. This last project included a comprehensive oral interview with Ole Henrik Magga, which will be made available to the public on the National Archives of Norway's website