See photos from Migrants Day 2017.

International Migrants Day, one of the official days of the year designated by the United Nations, was commemorated at the Storting on Friday 15 December. The Storting’s goal is to create a meeting place where local elected representatives share experiences with one another and with members of the Storting.

“According to the UN, nearly 1 in 8 people in the world are migrants,” says Olemic Thommessen, the President of the Storting. “A well-functioning society is not a given. It requires commitment and genuine participation by all groups, both locally and centrally.”

The event was carried out in cooperation with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (known as KS in Norwegian). The programme included a seminar entitled “How to be a representative for everyone” and meetings with the Storting Presidium and with the Standing Committee on Local Government and Public Administration.

In 2015 Anne Brasseur, then the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, urged member-state parliaments to commemorate International Migrants Day in recognition of the migratory flows seen in recent years. The Storting took the challenge and established the event as an annual tradition.