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Superposter |
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Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am Posts: 6857 Location: Oslo
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Cristina Nicoli: Norway’s Barnevernet and its parallels in human historySunday Guardian, 11 November 2017 "Growing up in Australia, I learnt about its young past. I discovered its dark aspects such as the “Stolen Generation” of part-Aboriginal children, which occurred throughout most of the 20th century. This knowledge sparked a nerve when I first heard of Norway’s Child Protection Service: Barnevernet.""Like most Romanians around the world, I saw news of a young Romanian/Norwegian family, the Bodnarius, who were caught up in a surreal drama in Norway. Their five children, including a three-month-old suckling infant, had been removed.""None of the reasons given by Barnevernet justified the treatment of the family.""Australia was “discovered” in 1770, and soon after was declared “Terra Nullius”, which means uninhabited or “no one’s land”. ..... However, this ignorant claim led to multiple levels of abuse by the Europeans. They completely overlooked an established population with culture, beliefs, traditions, languages, law system and well-functioning family structures; they were the Aboriginal people. ..... One other such crime, and yet not the least, was the rape of many women. When they gave birth, the Europeans decided due to the part breed, that the children should receive some form of education, and thus began the “Stolen Generation”. ..... Children were taken out of the arms of their mothers, sent interstate or at a great distance from their family, and kept in “mission camps” where the education was actually “re-education”. Most of these children never saw their families again. The children cried and screamed but were met with extreme force. Their wild outbursts were not viewed as trauma, but rather the part that was “Aboriginal”. This happened legally between 1910 to 1970.""To be fair, every continent has some history of abuse towards children. Spain abducted up to 300,000 children during the Spanish Civil War and Francoist Spain during 1944-1954 and these are known as the “Lost Children of Francoism”. Argentina stole children from parents fighting the regime during 1976-1983 and unfortunately, up to 30,000 were killed. Part of the Generalplan Ost (GPO), Germany took Aryan-looking children from around Europe, an estimated 400,000 during 1939-1944, and moved them to Germany for “Germanisation”; a form of indoctrination into becoming culturally German. “Eugenics-Forced Sterilisation” occurred during 1934-1975 in Sweden, where approximately 21,000 people were either forced or coerced into sterilisation. Since the 1850s, and well into the 20th century, Swiss children were taken from their parents to work on farms and the era is known as “Contract Children” between 1850-1980. The list goes on, and while these events are now in the past, they are stains that should not be ignored because without genuine reflection, history can repeat itself.""Another form of child removal in Australia was “Forced Adoptions”. This was legal from the 1950s to the 1970s. Young mothers from poor families were targeted. In 2013, the first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, officially apologised. She started her apology with, “Today, this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologises for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering.” ""The Opposition Leader at the time, Tony Abbott, added his own views on the issue, claiming “I cannot imagine a grief greater than that of a parent and a child parted from each other... This is a tragedy for them and for our nation and we must atone for it.” This gives me hope that while a nation’s history may be dark, a future government can see the devastation and apologise. If a “less” developed nation like Australia can recognise its shame, could Norway one day be as bold?"
_________________ Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net
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