Cabinet Minister Erna Solberg, who has responsibility for immigration issues, said the new written declarations will be demanded of all men and women seeking residence permission or asylum in Norway, beginning this autumn.
Genital mutilation and forced marriages are illegal in Norway, yet they continue to occur within immigrant communities.
Solberg told newspaper Aftenposten that Norwegian authorities must make a new effort to make all immigrants aware that it’s illegal to force women into arranged marriages or subject them to female circumcision.
She said information on the subjects and acknowledgement declaration forms are being translated into a variety of foreign languages, so that no prospective immigrants can later plead ignorance.
Norwegian immigration officials will also be given the authority to question would-be immigrant families whether any underage females already have been subjected to circumcision.
A database will also be set up, registering everyone who has received such information and signed declarations confirming that they understand it.
"This will primarily be directed at ethnic groups that have a tradition of this," Solberg said.
Norwegian embassies in countries where forced marriages and female circumcision occur will also be required to distribute information about Norwegian laws against the practice, when local citizens apply for visas to Norway.
