Norway plans to increase number of conscripted soldiers
Norway is to increase the number of conscripted soldiers from the present 9,000 to 13,500, the Norwegian government said on Tuesday.
“We must have enough people with the right skills at the right time,” Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram said. “We will need more people with professional military expertise going forward.”
The country’s armed forces will see a gradual increase in the number of conscripts for initial service each year, Mr. Gram said, adding that several billion kroner (several hundred million dollars) will be invested in the Norwegian Armed Forces’ facility at Terningmoen, north of Oslo, where the NATO member will gather all new recruits. He did not specify precisely how much oilrich Norway will spend.
Norwegian news agency NTB said the aim was to reach 13,500 conscripts by 2036.
The move by the Scandinavian NATO member comes after neighbouring Denmark last month said it wants to increase the number of young people doing military service by extending conscription to women and increasing the time of service from four months to 11 months.
The Danish government wants to increase the number of conscripts by 300 to reach a total of 5,000.
Both Denmark and Norway are staunch supporters of Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.
When Efua, a 25yearold fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful under certain conditions in the West African country, but Efua said she was still nervous.
“I had lots of questions, just to be sure I would be safe,” Efua said, on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals from the growing antiabortion movement in her country. Finding reliable information was difficult, she said, and she didn’t tell her family about her procedure. “It comes with too many judgments,” she decided.
More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say that like Efua, many women probably don’t realise they are entitled to a legal abortion. And despite the expanded legality of the procedure in places like Ghana, Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique, some doctors and nurses say they’ve become increasingly wary of openly providing abortions. They’re fearful of triggering the ire of opposition groups.
“We are providing a legal service for women who want an abortion, but we do not advertise it openly,” said Esi Asare Prah, who works at the clinic where Efua had the procedure — legal under Ghana’s law, passed in 1985. “We’ve found that people are OK with our clinic providing abortions, as long as we don’t make it too obvious what we are doing.”
The Maputo Protocol, a human rights treaty in effect since 2005 for all 55 countries of the African Union, says every nation on the continent should grant women the right to a medical abortion in cases of rape, sexual assault, incest, and endangerment for the mental or physical health of the mother or fetus.
Yet to pass laws
Africa is alone globally in having such a treaty, but more than a dozen of its countries have yet to pass laws granting women access to abortions. Even in those that have legalised the procedure, obstacles to access remain. And misinformation is rampant in many countries, with a recent study faulting practices by Google and Meta.
“The right to abortion exists in law, but in practice, the reality may be a little different,” said Evelyne Opondo, of the International Center for Research on Women. She noted that poorer countries in particular, such as Benin and Ethiopia, may permit abortions in some instances but struggle with a lack of resources to make them available to all women. Many women learn of their options only through word of mouth.
MSI Reproductive Choices — which provides contraception and abortion in 37 countries worldwide — reports that staff have been repeatedly targeted by antiabortion groups acrross Africa. The group cites harassment and intimidation of staff in Ethiopia. And in Nigeria, MSI’s clinic was raided and temporarily closed after allegations that staffers had illegally accessed confidential documents.
“The opposition to abortion in Africa has always existed, but now they are better organised,” said Mallah Tabot, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Kenya. She noted that a significant amount of money backing antiabortion efforts appears to have come from conservative American groups — and several reports have found millions in funding from conservative Christian organisations.