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14 February 2016




Jan Simonsen:

Strong reactions to statement from the Foreign Ministry concerning Barnevernet



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This article was originally published on 14 February 2016 in Norwegian as "Sterke reaksjoner på uttalelse fra UD" on Frie Ytringer, Jan Simonsens blogg.

It is published here in English by the author's kind consent.
Translation: Marianne Haslev Skånland
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Czech member of the EU parliament Tomas Zdechovsky reacts strongly to a statement coming from the communications representative of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, in an article in the newspaper VG last week and repeated by VG today. In this statement, the representative of the Foreign Ministry criticised the foreign politicians and the supporters of a Romanian family that has been robbed of their children, and accused them of misrepresenting the facts deliberately.

"We have tried to come out with factual information about how the Norwegian child protection services function and about the set of rules they work under. That is no easy task, as long as the campaign is based on argumentation in which facts are deliberately distorted", communications representative Frode Andersen said to VG.

Tomas Zdechovsky will tomorrow contact the Norwegian Embassy in Brussels and ask for an explanation of the accusations that he and the other leaders of protests against the Norwegian child protection are deliberately lying. He will also address the Norwegian Foreign Ministry's statement at a cooperative meeting with Romanian and other politicians tomorrow night, at which meeting the further actions against the Norwegian CPS are to be coordinated, he says to Frie Ytringer.

Zdechovsky's opinion is that both he and other critics of the Norwegian child protection system (Barnevernet – the CPS), the way it functions today, have obtained thorough information both about Barnevernet in general and about the cases they are particularly working on, a case concerning a Czech mother deprived of her two children and a Romanian family whose five children were taken in November of last year.

These two cases in The Czech Republic and Romania have started large protests against Barnevernet around the world. The Czech Christian Democrat politician emphasises that the protests are not directed at Norway as a nation, but at Norwegian child protection.

This weekend too there have been demonstrations in several cities around the world, e.g. in San Francisco. So far this year, around 70,000 people have demonstrated against Barnevernet in a lot of cities around the whole world, Zdechovsky says.

Here from a demonstration in San Francisco.




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