New Delhi — Indian families have been at the receiving end of draconian child protection laws in the West, Europe in particular. Governments of different European countries forcibly take custody of children of families of Indian origin, unable to appreciate that the Indian cultural way of upbringing children is entirely different from the West’s idea of how a child must be brought up.
Against this atrocious practice of authorities of Norway, today an activist registered her protest by driving around Delhi with the slogan “Norway Steals Children” and “Boycott Norway” when Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende arrived in the Indian capital. The activist is Suranya Aiyar.
Under Norwegian laws, child protection authorities can permanently remove children from parents, even of foreign nationals who are on holiday or short-term work assignments there.
Aiyar, who has been campaigning against this form of child protection for some years, says that children are removed on frivolous and, often, racist grounds from innocent parents. Of particular concern to her and her supporters is the refusal of Norway to return such children even to the extended family in their home countries.
In a case that occurred a few years ago with a Bengali family in Norway, the children were returned only after high-level intervention by India. Recently a Czech family had to bear the brunt of highhandedness of Norwegian authorities. They have refused to repatriate the children to their extended family in Czechia and instead placed them for forced adoption by Norwegians.
Norway has come under criticism from several countries for unjustifiably removing children from their parents.
Excellent effort. This is what we need here in Norway and the West now: help from abroad in getting the truth out. Our own press and our own authorities will do nothing to stop the tragic destruction of families. They invariably trust what the child protection services say, and they trust that the courts, judges, lawyers treat the cases responsibly. This does not happen, so the derailed system is allowed to continue endlessly, in ever new cases.
By protesting in countries like India and Czecha, and making such protests public, the people there are doing their dash to protect their own citizens and in fact: they are also helping Norwegian families. So we thank you gratefully!