Is the state of Norway a good mother?
The country with the big heart. Our former prime minister, Gro Harlem, said: "It is typically Norwegian to be good". The first country in the world to have a law regulating child welfare. Is it time to stop patting ourselves on the back?
The case of Genet Gemedo Hensene raises this question. Can the bureaucracy violate the Constitution, international obligations enshrined in the ECHR, and the paragraphs of the Child Welfare Act? And when such things happen – can we call ourselves a modern democracy?
Hensene has been expelled from Norway. She can choose to take her children to Ethiopia, or let them stay for the two years she has been expelled for. The children are five and six years old.
Head of the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) Marianne Granlund told NRK on 28.12.21: "The needs of the children have been assessed. They have no special needs beyond how any child would be affected by a caregiver being expelled. So in this case, we have assessed that the mother can be expelled".
This matter is so serious that I have filed a report of concern to child welfare. The report has been forwarded to the child welfare service in Ringsaker from Bufdir. The concern is about UNE, by Marianne Granlund, and the reason I sent the report to Bufdir is that it is unusual for such reports to be filed about public employees.
I have no doubt that the children are traumatized, but there is no reason to suspect that the mother's ability to care is the problem. I called the Ringsaker child welfare service to hear what they were doing about the case. There I spoke with an employee at the reception department. Then I spoke with the children's father, and his response frightened me.
In the case, Granlund says that the mother can take the children to Ethiopia, a country ravaged by civil war. This means that she is encouraging the mother to expose the children to danger and to separate them from their father. She says the children could stay in Norway with their father. Both of these proposals are serious violations of the Human Rights Act, Article 8, on the right to family life.
What traumas does UNE inflict on children and adults through its work? Have they learned nothing from the case of Maria, a Supreme Court decision that should set a precedent for their work? Here, UNE's decision to expel the mother to Kenya was declared invalid.
Did they learn anything from the case of Farida, where they argued that Afghanistan is safe? The 15-year-old and her family were expelled and managed to flee to Turkey when the Taliban took power.
In 2016-17, I worked with young, unaccompanied asylum seekers at a care center in ?stfold. I then wrote an article in Dagbladet about the situation; how UDI did not consider the needs of children and how worried I was. In her response, Birgitte Lange, the Assistant Director of UDI, wrote the following: "Everyday life in Norway is tough for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers from Afghanistan, but Rian Ueland can be assured that UDI's case handlers assess all relevant aspects when processing asylum applications". I don't believe those who were returned agree now.
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My questions to Marianne Granlund at UNE are:
? Has UNE "assessed all relevant aspects" in Hensene's case?
? At what point did the Immigration Act take precedence over the Child Welfare Act and the Human Rights Act?
? Norway has already lost a number of cases in the ECHR. Are you comfortable further tarnishing our reputation as a humanitarian country?
In American politics, there is talk of "spin doctors". After speaking with the children's father, I wonder if Ringsaker child welfare service is starting to spin this case. They have received a report of concern from the kindergarten and want to investigate the family for three months.
It would be an easy solution for the system if the focus shifted from UNE's treatment of the family to the mother's ability to take care of the children in an extremely traumatic situation.
I have no doubt. No parents can handle such inhuman pressure as UNE has subjected the family to. And it is time we realize that the state of Norway is not a good mother.
How many cases will we lose in Strasbourg before the system comes into balance?
And to you who are a parent yourself: What do you think about UNE putting a person in such a situation?"
Stay at Home dad - retired - citizen - voter - taxpayer
1 年I think that the article reflects very well on the international crisis faced by the Nation-State model that adds up to burreaucracy that subjects the direct human touch of comfort and healing to protocols rather than the moment's needs. The mother is treated as a "caregiver" by the burreaucracy, omitting the actual familty reality of mother-child bond. The Nation-State model is the baby of European colonization that has mostly spread ommercilally and politically through the English and French colonizing powers. That model has become the UN model along with all other globalizing efforts that go on without correcting corrupted colonization accumulated sice industrialization started and beyond. Who can say HALT to AI, until humans find our way? https://www.facebook.com/benoitctr/posts/pfbid0v2y9pdrHC9cJBerWfzGNsy5jTAQLctM2AiTCnWBhGMiF9quFZ2rw6whN2Er4iL3vl
Retired
1 年I support the Immigrants. I am part Norwegian and proud of my blood and Norway. However, these cases should be dealt with in a Humanitarian way with them given their Human Rights. The Norwegian Gov't is wrong!
Illuminated lives & amplified voices since 1983. International authority on health, social work, AI Ethics, healing. Spiritual advisor, monk, author, artist. Dog whisperer, grandpa. On stage with Bobby McFerrin x 2.
1 年By the way - I used ChatGPT to translate this article from Norwegian. Only had to do a few edits - overall, much more proficient than Google Translate.