It is currently Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:05 pm



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:02 am 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  
Redd Våre Barn
16 October 2012




Petition to the Indian National Human Rights Commission: Indians want their government to guard against western CPS


A group of Indian politicians, scholars in social sciences, people active for human rights, jurists - including two retired chief high court judges - have petitioned their National Human Rights Commission to recommend to the government that India establish a formal and permanent mechanism to assist Indian citizens abroad whose children are caught in actions by the child protective services (CPS) in various countries, mainly western.

The initiative springs from their detailed investigation of the realities of the Bhattacharya case in Norway and a similar case in New Jersey, USA, and they have understood what we in Norway should understand: These cases are not solitary, unfortunate mistakes, they are the regular practice of our social services.

The co-ordinator of the petition is the lawyer Suranya Aiyar, who has taken energetic part in going behind the propaganda and allegations of Stavanger 'barnevern' (CPS) and finding out the truth. She has followed up by making contacts and familiarising herself with a lot of the literature concerning child 'protection' in western countries.

The petition is very, very good. Those of us who are used to the weak, superficial and state-subservient way the ordinary press presents CPS cases, are immediately struck by the unusual quality of this petition: the way it presents the realities of what goes on (p 1 and 2 of the petition), and the way the petitioners see that really serious counter-action is needed: they recommend that every embassy, every consulate and other mission abroad should be informed properly about the menace and instructed to give Indian citizens effective assistance and to gather information about "lawyers, activists, language interpreters and other persons who can be of assistance", that the Indian government should issue a warning to all Indians travelling or settling abroad about the dangers from CPS (p 7), that the Indian government should commission a legal and statistical study on "the functioning of confiscatory child protection" (p 7).

Read it! And spread it further! Reprint and circulate!

The petition:
Humanitarian Crisis for Indian children and their families in confiscatory child care proceedings abroad
India, 12 October 2012

Press release:
Save Indian Children From Confiscatory Proceedings Abroad
India, 12 October 2012

News reports, other articles, reports concerning political initiatives for reform:
Materials Filed with Petition to NHRC
India, 12 October 2012


Suranya Aiyar's speech at the launch of the petition follows below.

  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Indians want government to guard against western CPS
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:13 am 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
 
Redd Våre Barn
16 October 2012




Suranya Aiyar, Lawyer & critic of foreign confiscatory child care regimes
At Press Conference held on 12 October 2012 at the Women’s Press Club, New Delhi


*
Good Afternoon. Thank you for coming to our launch. I am the co-ordinator of this campaign. I am a lawyer, but my vocation - is motherhood. I have two little children – 3 ½ and 1 years old. My involvement in this campaign is first and foremost - a defence of my turf as a mother.

We will have the honour of being addressed today - by a distinguished panel of speakers.

Justice AP Shah - retired as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. In the course of his career he delivered many bold judgments - upholding human rights for women prisoners and their children and disabled access to public transport. He became a hero for human rights activists with his imaginative defence of gay rights - in reading down certain archaic homophobic laws -in the Indian criminal code.

Justice Mukul Mudgal - became an institution in himself - in the Delhi High Court before being appointed Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court - from where he retired. In the course of his career - he has championed prison reform, environmental rights and gender justice. He comes from a family of distinguished classical musicians. And though he chose the more prosaic path of the law, he has brought to his judgments much of the verve and flourish of his artistic heritage.

The indomitable Brinda Karat - needs no introduction. Having completed her last term as a Rajya Sabha MP, the lion is now unleashed on the world! Mrs Karat has been one of India’s most effective advocates - for women’s rights. Her latest triumph - has been the passage of an Act in parliament - to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. It was Mrs Karat - who brought the plight of Indian children - confiscated in foreign care proceedings to the national attention. And she was instrumental - in the return of two children earlier this year - who had been confiscated by authorities in Norway.

I will begin with a few words on our campaign.

It is said - ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’. Something of the kind - seems to have happened - with child protection - in the developed world. There are questions - about whether State confiscation of children - is at all the right response - to abuse or neglect in the family. There are questions - about whether - it is sound public policy - to make the State responsible - for pre-empting abuse and violence in the family. There are questions - about whether it is the duty of the State - to manufacture new families for children - when the biological family - is in trouble. These are complex issues.

But right now the problem is simple and obvious. We have - in these countries - a system that operates contrary - to every principle of the rule of law. That flies in the face - of centuries of experience - with what happens - when public power is unchecked.

• Children are being snatched from their families - for no good reason at all.
• Parents are condemned as unfit - on the flimsiest of grounds.
• There is no presumption of innocence - until guilt is proven.
• There is no due process.
• There are no safeguards against conflicts of interest.
• Confidentiality laws are only protecting care workers and judges - from being accountable.
• Worst of all - is the disregard - of filial love - when assessing family situations.
• Siblings are separated and sent to different homes.
• Children are fast tracked to adoption - so that even if their parents - eventually win in court,- they cannot be united with their children.

*

After children,- the greatest victims of this system - are mothers. Since she is typically the main care giver,- in almost every confiscation - the mother is blamed.

• Her handling of her children - is subjected to an inquisition - out of which - it is almost impossible - for anyone to emerge innocent.
• She is subjected to investigation - in her home,- her kitchen, - her nursery and - her bedroom.
• She is vulnerable to attack from the very people - she relies on most - in raising her children –--- her kids’ doctors and teachers. All are potential informers - against her.
• If she should crack- under the strain of the accusations. If she should lose her temper- or break down in tears,- she is immediately condemned - as being temperamentally unfit -to raise her own children.

**

There is no child protection here. Only folly - and inhumanity. India must speak out - against this humanitarian crisis.

We will endeavour - to make our campaign - reach all the countries of South Asia and beyond. Already - there are reports of other governments taking up the cause. The Slovakian government has threatened to take the UK to court for snatching children of Slovak citizens in England.

I am delighted that we have here in the audience representatives from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Brunei, Russia & Slovakia. Like-minded peoples around the world must join hands in this cause.

So far as Indian children are concerned, - our petition to the National Human Rights Commission - sets out the legal basis - on which these children can be returned - to their relatives in India. These children have a right of return to India - under international treaties to which most countries of the world are party. And having made such a robust intervention in the Norway case,- the Government is constitutionally bound by its duty to act equally in equal cases - to similarly intervene in the case of other families facing confiscatory care proceedings abroad. Our petition asks the National Human Rights Commission to recommend that instead of leaving people to rely on ad hoc intervention,- the Government institutes a formal and transparent mechanism - for intervention in these cases.

Thank you.


*


  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:21 pm 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  

Press coverage of the launch of the petition


Campaign for return of children held under draconian laws
Business Standard / Press Trust of India / New Delhi, 12 October 2012

Campaign for return of Asian kids under custody in the West
The Statesman, 12 October 2012

Brinda, ex-CJs call for mechanism to ensure repatriation
The Indian Express, 16 October 2012

Government intervention sought for return of Indian children
The Hindu, 13 October 2012

Activists Want India to Bring ‘Confiscated’ Kids Home
The Wall Street Journal | India, 12 October 2012

Suranya Aiyar and Marianne Haslev Skanland
have both commented on the Wall Street Journal's article
here.

‘Ensure return of kids from West’
The Asian Age, 13 October 2012

Campaign for return of children held under draconian laws
Zeenews, 12 October 2012

Campaign for return of children held under draconian laws
I4U News, 12 October 2012

Campaign for return of children held under draconian laws
TV Balla, 12 October 2012

‘Save Indian kids abroad’ campaign
The Hans India, 12 October 2012

*

Several of the articles carry boxes for comments (although it is not always easy to get a comment through, in which case one can send it to the editorial office instead, with a request that they post it under the relevant article).

*

There has also been press coverage at the following addresses, but due to links changing content when new stories are published, I have not succeeded in recovering it:

http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/12oc ... nal.htm#10
http://epaper.mathrubhumi.com/epapermain.aspx


  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:59 pm 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  
There has been a demonstration against Norwegian CPS practices outside the Norwegian Embassy on Sri Lanka.

Here the the Norwegian answer – Norway is of course "in denial" about everything they do:
Child welfare case involving families in Norway of Tamil origin
Norway News, 5 October 2012

I admit I in my heart wish someone would find a polite word for "Lies!" and say it to the embassy people's face.

The background has perhaps something to do with this story, although it is now half a year old:
Mother wants custody of her children
Norway News, 7 April 2012

Far more recent is this:
25 Tamil families in Norway stage hunger strike
Lanka Newspapers.com, 3 October 2012
  


   

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:22 am 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  

A bit more press about the launching of the petition in Delhi:



Indian Activists Mobilize against Norwegian Barnevern
The Nordic Page, Oslo, 15 October 2012

Activists Want India To Bring "Confiscated" Kids Home
News Bharati, 12 October 2012

'Ensure return of kids from West'
Deccan Chronicle, 13 October 2012


  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:53 am 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  
  
Here is Christopher Booker in The Telegraph - it will certainly have many readers and Booker has very good insight into the horrors of child 'protection' in Britain!

Indians join Slovaks in protesting against UK child snatchers
By Christopher Booker
The Telegraph 27 October 2012

  
  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:17 am 
Offline
Superposter
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:48 am
Posts: 6857
Location: Oslo
  

Here is an article about the Indian case in New Jersey in the USA which the petition also takes up:

Norway déjà vu: Indian couple has son taken by US welfare officials
By Uttara Choudhury
Firstpost.world   11 September 2012


There are also two links to articles from back in January about the Bhattacharya case in Stavanger:

Norway: Cultural ignorance or cultural arrogance? Nay, it’s cruelty
By Akshaya Mishra
Firstpost.world   23 January 2012

Poser from Norway: Do Indians make bad parents?
By R Jagannathan
Firstpost.world   25 January 2012

  





  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Theme designed by stylerbb.net © 2008
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
All times are UTC [ DST ]