Norwegian schools cut ties with Dubai job-finder

"The treatment the Norwegian girl has been subjected to is completely unacceptable," Vibecka Osfoss, communication director for Westerdals College, told The Local. The One addressed their students several times a few years ago in its recruitment drives, and students still used the company to find work placements abroad.

 

The One also recruited students at the Idefagd School in Tønsberg, where the Norwegian woman currently jailed in Dubai studied. Her school told the NTB news agency on Friday that they would no longer be working with the job finders. 

 

The 16-month jail sentence announced on Wednesday has shocked Norway, as the 24-year-old Marte Deborah Dalelv at first contacted Emirati authorities to report being raped. She was instead accused of and found guilty of having extra-marital sex, inebriation and obstructing the course of justice. Representatives from her employer The One were reportedly present to offer her support in the initial phases of the criminal investigation, but later fired Dalelv, according to NTB.

 

"If what the media reports is true, we will immediately cut of contact with The One, as we would no longer want to put our students in touch with them," Osfoss told The Local, adding that while formal cooperation did not exists, several Westerdal design students had gone on to work in Dubai, but also other countries in the Gulf with the help of The One.

 

Norwegian authorities on Thursday said the Dalelv case was "highly problematic" from a human rights perspective.