Thousands of Romanians have expressed anger at a decision by the Oslo authorities to take five children away from their Romanian-Norwegian parents over allegations of mistreatment. Over 62,000 people in Romania have signed a petition in recent days asking for a fast and fair solution in a sensitive case involving a Romanian-Norwegian family whose five children were taken into care by the Norwegian authorities because of alleged mistreatment.
The petition, initiated by two well-known Romanian journalists, accuses the Norwegian authorities of “breaching human rights”.
The case, which involve Romanian IT engineer Marius Bodnariu, his Norwegian wife Ruth Johanne Bodnariu and their children, has sparked a protests in Romania.

Thousands of people took to the streets over the weekend in Romania’s major cities, as well as in other European and American cities, in support of the Bodnariu family.

The Romanian government has said that the country’s ambassador in Norway will meet the Norwegian Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

“We want to get a clearer picture of the case… Of course, we understand that Norway has strict laws in regard to child protection, and its institutions are working independently, but we also have the obligation to protect the interests of Romanian citizens,” government spokesperson Dan Suciu said on Tuesday.
“The Romanian government hopes for a rapid solution in this case, which will only take into consideration the children’s best interests,” Suciu added.

In November, the Norwegian child protection service, Barnevernet, took the Bodnariu family’s five children into care after receiving a complaint from the principal of the school that the elder children attended.

Barnevernet has given no information about the reasons for its decision, but media reports said the parents allegedly abused their elder daughters and were also suspected of religious indoctrination.

The only official reaction came from Norwegian embassy in Bucharest.
“A care order is issued only when the child is subject to serious neglect, maltreatment or abuse. Additionally the care order must be necessary and in the best interest of the child… Placing a child outside the home without the parents’ consent is always a measure of last resort,” said a press statement frm the embassy.

The Bodnariu family – who are Baptists – have said that the Norwegian child protection institution overreacted to the “children’s religious upbringing” or to “the way they are disciplined at home”.
They denied beating the children, but admitted they smacked them on occasions.
They added that Barnevement considers them to be fundamentalist Christians, “which is not the case”.
The children – aged between four months and ten years – are being cared for by three foster families while the Norwegian authorities open an international adoption procedure for them, according to media reports.

In Romania, many have accused the Norwegian authorities of cultural insensitivity at best and child abduction at worst.

“I can’t believe that the Bodnariu parents are able to physically abuse their children. Of course, they should slap them or apply minor corrective discipline, but only as a way to educate them. What is wrong with this?” asked 31-year-old Daniel Balanescu.

Official data confirms that domestic violence against children remains a problem in Romania.

Around 63 per cent of Romanian families use physical correction, such as slapping or pulling hair, as a way of educating their children, according to data from the international organisation Save the Children.

More than half of the domestic violence cases against children are registered in rural areas.

Experts say this reflects the endurance of traditional values.

“The problem in Romania is not that we don’t have laws on the subject, but the way they are enforced,” said Diana Stanculescu, an expert on child abuse.

“While Norway has no tolerance for any form of abuse, in Romania the norms are different,” she added.

(balkaninsight)

According to national broadcaster NOS, around 2,000 people joined the protest in a town of 27,000. Two police officers were among those hurt late on Wednesday when demonstrators began throwing stones, bottles and firecrackers to protest against a planned center for 1,500 migrants in the small Dutch village of Geldermalsen.
In a press conference following the incident, Geldermalsen Mayor Miranda de Vries announced that the municipality would table the discussion about the migrant center until January. Warning shots When it looked as though the police lines might be overrun, armed officers fired warning shots over the heads of the crowd and used megaphones to order them to leave the town centre, where there was considerable damage to shops and business premises. Thousands of refugees have entered the Netherlands this year as part of the massive influx of people arriving in Europe.
The coast guard says a large search-and-rescue operation with the European Frontex border agency was underway late Wednesday, searching for other survivors or victims. The two dead were identified as a man and a young girl. Greek and European border authorities have launched a search and rescue operation in the eastern Aegean Sea after reports that a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank off the island of Lesbos leaving two dead.

Boats from the European Frontex border agency were assisting. State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff said on Dutch TV, “Finding shelter for asylum seekers poses hard questions but there is a limit when it comes to expressing your opinion”, the BBC reported.

Lesbos is the main destination for migrants seeking a better life in Europe who cross over from nearby Turkey in flimsy boats provided by Turkish smuggling gangs. Sylvi Listhaug of the right-wing Progress Party – the junior partner in the ruling right-leaning coalition – on Wednesday became new minister for immigration and integration.

Oslo hangs in the balance. But, the xenophobic right is fairly and squarely defeated. Norway’s local elections on Monday produced “a hung city,” with the right coming first with 28 seats in the 59 member city council and the left 26. The kingmaker is the MDG party, with five seats and of green convictions.And the price for the prize of Olso may be the position of the Mayor. And the most motivated to accept the deal is the left since the right has held onto Oslo for 18 consecutive years.
But, if the Mayor of Oslo were to be a member of the Greens, Oslo would not just end up with “another Mayor,” but with another kind of a Mayor. The Green party’s candidate is Shoaib Sultan, a 41 years old migrant, from Pakistan, an environmentalist, and a former secretary of the Islamic Council of Norway. He came to Norway when he was one-year-old.

No society in Europe is neatly xenophobic or open and welcoming. Norway is no exception. There is a cleavage, which is now accentuated by a migrant crisis. But, unlike Denmark, Norway had a principled Labour Party opposition that did not succumb to the temptation of xenophobia and is now reaping the benefits of a swing in electoral mood.

The anti-immigration Progress Party — favoured by Anders Breivik — had its worst election results in 22 years, following its opposition to Syrian refugees that many voters condemned. In Olso, the following of the Progress Party has evaporated. It is nowhere to be seen. For the first time in years, xenophobic rhetoric does not make sense in electoral terms. In many respects, Norwegians argue, the game changer was the picture of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose body was found on the coast of Bodrum in Turkey.

The government’s junior coalition partner gained 10% merely of the national vote, that is, their worst result since 1993. That is a blow to the Conservative Party government, which beyond criticism on the handling of the Syrian crisis, it faces rising unemployment and the consequences of tumbling oil prices. The big winner of these elections was the Labout Party of Norway, not merely electorally, but also in gaining the moral high ground.

(neurope)

60 years after the Nordic Passport Union was established, Norway again introduces border control between the kingdom and neighboring countries. The Nordic Passport Union, established in 1955, allows citizens of the Nordic countries — Denmark (Faroe Islands included), Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland — to travel and reside in another Nordic country without any travel documentation (e.g. a passport or national identity card) or a residence permit.
All Nordic countries have since 25 March 2001 also been within the Schengen Area; and Denmark, Finland and Sweden are also members of the European Union.
Essentially Nordic citizens are treated like local citizens in all these countries, at least for travel purposes. No identity documentation is formally needed in any Nordic country. Since 1955.

But now, 60 years later, the threat of Islamic terror is so severe that Norway again requires a passport to leave or enter the country – to or from Sweden.

– Anyone going in or out of Norway, either by ferries or on at Swedish border, must from tomorrow morning have valid identification, mainly a passport, said the Police Directorate, as they currently informed that from tomorrow at 08.00 there will be stricter border controls to Norway.

The control is primarily to check foreign nationals, but also Norwegians must be prepared to show identification papers.

– The same obligations apply regardless. Everyone must carry valid travel documents. Travelers must be prepared for vetting and to show identification papers when traveling to Norway, and the best proof is a passport. Nordic citizens returning with ferry to Norway, and brought no valid identification documents along, the police will exercise flexibility. But we ask that people bring their passport and travel documents, said Deputy Director of the Police Directorate, Knut Smedsrud.

The control is tightened at border crossings in Hedmark and Østfold and also at the ferries from Denmark, Sweden and Germany, and will initially last for ten days.

– Everyone should expect being stopped. It can be problematic not to carry valid ID, says Smedsrud.

But he stressed that the police will exercise flexibility towards Nordic citizens.

The Hague Conference has, for more than a century, concerned itself with the protection under civil law of children at risk in cross-frontier situations. During the last part of the 20th Century, the opening up of national borders, ease of travel and the breaking down of cultural barriers have, with all their advantages, increased those risks considerably. The cross-border trafficking and exploitation of children and their international displacement from war, civil disturbance or natural disaster have become major problems.There are also the children caught in the turmoil of broken relationships within transnational families, with disputes over custody and relocation, with the hazards of international parental abduction, the problems of maintaining contact between the child and both parents, and the uphill struggle of securing cross-frontier child support. There has also been an upsurge in the cross-border placement of children through intercountry adoption or shorter term arrangements, with the risks inherent in a situation where some countries find it difficult to ensure family care for all of their children while in others the demand for children from childless couples grows.
Three Hague Children’s Conventions have been developed over the last twenty-five years, a fundamental purpose being to provide the practical machinery to enable States which share a common interest in protecting children to co-operate together to do so. The first of these modern Hague Children’s Conventions is the 1980 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction under which many States now co-operate together to protect children from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention abroad. The 1993 Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, designed to regulate intercountry adoption to protect the interests of the children concerned, is now in force in all major receiving countries and many countries of origin.

The 1996 Convention
The third of the modern Hague Conventions, the Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, is much broader in scope than the first two, covering as it does a very wide range of civil measures of protection concerning children, from orders concerning parental responsibility and contact to public measures of protection or care, and from matters of representation to the protection of children’s property.
The Convention has uniform rules determining which country’s authorities are competent to take the necessary measures of protection. These rules, which avoid the possibility of conflicting decisions, give the primary responsibility to the authorities of the country where the child has his or her habitual residence, but also allow any country where the child is present to take necessary emergency or provisional measures of protection.

The Convention determines which country’s laws are to be applied, and it provides for the recognition and enforcement of measures taken in one Contracting State in all other Contracting States. In addition, the co-operation provisions of the Convention provide the basic framework for the exchange of information and for the necessary degree of collaboration between administrative (child protection) authorities in the different Contracting States. The following are some of the areas in which the Convention is particularly helpful –

Parental disputes over custody and contact

The Convention provides a structure for the resolution of issues of custody and contact which may arise when parents are separated and living in different countries. The Convention avoids the problems that may arise if the courts in more than one country are competent to decide these matters. The recognition and enforcement provisions avoid the need for re-litigating custody and contact issues and ensure that decisions taken by the authorities of the country where the child has his or her habitual residence enjoy primacy. The co-operation provisions provide for any necessary exchange of information and offer a structure through which, by mediation or other means, agreed solutions may be found.
Reinforcement of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention

The 1996 Convention reinforces the 1980 Convention by underlining the primary role played by the authorities of the child’s habitual residence in deciding upon any measures which may be needed to protect the child in the long term. It also adds to the efficacy of any temporary protective measures ordered by a judge when returning a child to the country from which the child was taken, by making such orders enforceable in that country until such time as the authorities there are able themselves to put in place necessary protections.

Unaccompanied minors

The co-operation procedures within the Convention can be helpful in the increasing number of circumstances in which unaccompanied minors cross borders and find themselves in vulnerable situations in which they may be subject to exploitation and other risks. Whether the unaccompanied minor is a refugee, an asylum seeker, a displaced person or simply a teenage runaway, the Convention assists by providing for co-operation in locating the child, by determining which country’s authorities are competent to take any necessary measures of protection, and by providing for co-operation between national authorities in the receiving country and country of origin in exchanging necessary information and in the institution of any necessary protective measures.

Cross-frontier placements of children

The Convention provides for co-operation between States in relation to the growing number of cases in which children are being placed in alternative care across frontiers, for example under fostering or other long-term arrangements falling short of adoption. This includes arrangements made by way of the Islamic law institution of Kafala, which is a functional equivalent of adoption but falls outside the scope of the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention.

Other features of the Convention

An integrated system

The Convention is based on a view that child protection provisions should constitute an integrated whole. This is why the Convention’s scope is broad, covering both public and private measures of protection or care. The Convention overcomes the uncertainty that otherwise arises if separate rules apply to different categories of protective measure when both may be involved in the same case.

An inclusive system

The Convention takes account of the wide variety of legal institutions and systems of protection that exist around the world. It does not attempt to create a uniform international law of child protection; the basic elements of such a law are already to be found in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The function of the 1996 Hague Convention is to avoid legal and administrative conflicts and to build the structure for effective international co-operation in child protection matters between the different systems. In this respect, the Convention provides a remarkable opportunity for the building of bridges between legal systems having diverse cultural or religious backgrounds. It is of great significance that one of the first States to ratify the Convention was Morocco, whose legal system is set in the Islamic tradition.

Monitoring and review

The Hague Conference has developed a unique system of “post-Convention services” in respect of its Children’s Conventions. The aim is to promote widespread ratification, to assist Contracting States to implement the Conventions effectively and to promote consistency and the adoption of good practices in the daily operation of the Conventions. Contracting States are both beneficiaries and partners in this continuing enterprise.

(NADARAJAH SETHURUPAN)

Jonas Gahr Store was Saturday elected leader of Norway‘s opposition Labour Party, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg who later this year takes over as head of NATO. Store, 53, was foreign minister from 2005 to 2012 under Stoltenberg, and then served as minister of health until last year‘s general elections when the Labour Party and its coalition partners were voted out of office. He was the sole candidate for the leadership post.Store said on the eve of the elections that there were no major political differences between him and Stoltenberg, and that he wanted to be “leader for a great team.”
Stoltenberg was Labour Party leader for 12 years, and served as prime minister for more than nine.

Stoltenberg said Store had “a lot of knowledge and was good at formulating new ideas, and also had broad experience, not only from politics.”

After studying political science at the Institute d‘Etudes Politiques de Paris, Store worked as an aide for former Labour Party leader and prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.

He has also held positions at the World Health Organization and was head of the Norwegian Red Cross until he was named foreign minister.

In his farewell speech, Stoltenberg said “it was not easy to be elected Labour Party leader, and it was not easy to resign either.”

Stoltenberg also touched on the twin bomb and shooting attacks that killed 77 people on July 22, 2011, saying it was important to honour the memory of the victims.

The new Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, presented Norway new government Wednesday afternoon. The new government consists of 11 representatives from the Conservative Party (Høyre) and seven representatives from the Progress Party (FrP). “This is a government with a very strong mandate. There are 96 mandates for change. We wish to manage the majority that we achieved together with the Liberal Left Party (Venstre) and the Christian Democrats (KrF). I want to thank Knut Arild Hareide and Trine Skei Grande,” said Solberg.Børge Brende (48) from the Conservative Party was a member of parliament from 1997 to 2009, and was previously Minister of Environmental Affairs from 1997-2009, and then Minister of Trade from 2004-2005. He has also held the position as CEO of the World Economic Forum.
Bent Høie (42), also from the Conservative Party, has been appointed Minister of Health. He has been a member of parliament since 2000.

Siv Jensen (44), leader of the Progress Party, will be Norway’s new Minister of Finance. She has been leading the Progress Party since 2006, and has a diploma from Norways School of Economics.

The Conservatives took 11 of the 18 Cabinet seats, including the foreign and defence minister posts, while Progress — the junior partner — got finance, oil, justice and four other portfolios.

Solberg, 52, is one of only three ministers in the 18-member Cabinet who are over 50. The average age is 44. Half of the ministers are women.

The youngest minister is the 35-year-old Education and Research Minister Torbjoern Roee Isaksen, who comes from the Conservative party.

Boerge Brende, Ine Marie Eriksen Soereide and Monica Maeland were appointed as the foreign minister, the defense minister and the trade and industry minister respectively.

The new prime minister wants a stronger education system and better student performance especially in mathematics and science subjects, and more efficiency in the public services through more participation of the private sector.

Progress Party (FrP) youth branch leader Himanshu Gulati becomes Deputy Minister at Justice Ministry. 25-year-old Indian background politician says he understands why people might react to Progress Party’s asylum and immigration policy.

Acording to NRK’s report, Gulati says they are going to follow a policy they believe is right. -We understand that people can react to it, but our job is to do what we think is right, says he.

Tough immigration and asylum issues await the 25-year-old politician and he will speak on those issues on behalf of the Government. One of the most controversial issues in the new period is closing of reception centers for the asylum seekers who refuse to cooperate with the authorities.

– I think many people already notice that there is a new government. We will work to close the reception for those who will not cooperate with the authorities, and for faster transmission of such criminal asylum seekers, says Gulati.

About Gulati

Born in Norway to an Indian family who immigrated to Norway from New Delhi during the 1970s, his father is a physician, and his mother is a physiotherapist. He grew up in the rural village of Lavik, Høyanger where his father worked as a general practitioner before relocating to Lillestrøm, Akershus at the age of fourteen. Parallel to his involvement in politics, Gulati for a time studied medicine before deciding it was not for him. He later received a bachelor degree in Economy and Leadership from BI Norwegian Business School, as well as having attended a six-month course in filmmaking at an academy in India.

After taking an early interest in politics, he joined the FpU, or the youth organization of the Progress Party at the age of fifteen. He was elected chairperson of the Progress Party’s Youth, on 24 March 2012 after previously having been vice-chairperson for two years. Apart from this he is also currently serving as a deputy member to the Storting. On a local level he has since 2007 been a representative on the Skedsmo municipal council, representing FrP. He was an outspoken critic of the Red-green coalition, especially on issues of foreign policy, immigration and taxation.

Siv Jensen, leader of Norway`s Fremskrittspartiet (Progress party) speaks to party members in Oslo, on September 9, 2013, while waiting for the result in the general elections. Norway shifted right in elections Monday, setting the stage for a new Conservative-led government with the anti-immigrant Progress Party, two years after Muslim-hating Anders Behring Breivik’s deadly rampage. AFP Photo / NTB scanpix /Gorm Kallestad (Photo credit should read KALLESTAD, GORM/AFP/Getty Images)

Prospects of Oslo’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics going ahead could depend on the outcome of the National Congress of the Progress Party, the junior coalition partner of the Norwegian Government, this weekend. The Progress Party, a conservative-liberal group on the right of the political spectrum, are currently only the third largest in the Norwegian Parliament behind the Labour and Conservative Parties. But since October 2013 they have also been the junior partner in a governing coalition with the Conservatives, thus giving them vital importance in Government decisions such as whether to endorse the 2022 bid.Although the views of party leader Siv Jensen, also the Norwegian Finance Minister, remain unclear, there is a gathering wave of opposition within the party and it is thought the Congress will be used to force the leadership to oppose the bid.
This was something implied by leading party member Frank Willy Djuvik when he told NRK that he was “pretty sure that the Progress Party Congress will agree that this is a misuse of public funds, and that the majority will support the resolution that Progress will oppose the Olympics”.

In what is considered the major stumbling block to a application which went ahead after a referendum over whether to bid was narrowly passed in Oslo last September, the Norwegian Government are yet to officially endorse the bid amid doubts over public support beyond the capital city.

The Progress Party could put pressure on their Conservative cabinet colleagues, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg, to decide against doing so.

This would certainly lead to Oslo’s withdrawal, as it did to Stockholm’s 2022 bid in January when the Swedish Government refused their support.

But Oslo 2022 played down this concern when outlining how it is “quite natural that there is a debate around a national convention”.

“We have also noticed that there are several politicians in the Progress Party that are in favour of the Olympics”, they added before insisting they are “now working to fully prepare the candidature procedure and questionnaire demanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”.

Oslo 2022 are hoping the Government decision will be made before the Executive Board meeting of the IOC from July 8 to 9 during which an unspecified number of candidates will be chosen to go forward to the next stage of the contest.

Oslo is locked in a five way contest with Almaty, Beijing, Kraków and Lviv in a race which has been riddled with problems for the majority of the contenders.

Following the announcement of the Candidate cities, visits will be made to each by the IOC Evaluation Commission before the winning city is revealed at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia on July 31 2015.

(inside the games)

Erna Solberg, the new Prime Minister of Norway, has pledged to establish a NOK100 billion (€12.4 billion), five-year infrastructure fund, paid for by oil revenues. The fund would be used to boost the construction of roads, railways, broadband internet and other infrastructure, including renewable energy and natural gas. Investments would be made through a state-owned company that would be funded by the government, but would also be allowed to borrow abroad with the government backing the loan.Solberg and the Norwegian Conservative Party won the 9 September election in coalition with Norway’s Progress Party.

“Infrastructure investments are as important as the fiscal rule and it’s important for the government to invest for the future and help our children to inherit a society with equal welfare,” Solberg said, adding, “We need to strengthen our competitiveness and secure Norwegian jobs.”

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Monday announced his government‘s formal resignation after it presented its last budget to parliament. Stoltenberg‘s government will stay on as caretakers, pending the formation of a new government led by Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservatives, who won elections last month. The outgoing premier was later Monday to meet King Harald and inform him of the decision to resign and recommend that he task Solberg with forming a government. Solberg was set to form a new right-leaning government with the populist Progress Party.Progress Party leader Siv Jensen was tipped to be finance minister.
The incoming government lacks a majority but has signed a cooperation agreement with two smaller centrist parties that opted not to join the government.

Stoltenberg, 54, said the outgoing government‘s budget proposal was “tight and responsible” but told broadcaster NRK that “a new government is free to do what it likes.”

Outgoing Finance Minister Sigbjorn earlier said that Norway has “strong finances” and low unemployment.

The outgoing coalition took office 2005, was re-elected 2009, and comprised Stoltenberg‘s Labour Party, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left Party.

Norwegians voted in a Conservative ruling party led by Erna Solberg, ending an eight-year tenure for Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg that was marked by economic stability and an unprecedented domestic terror attack. The Scandinavian nation’s voters, who were casted their ballots at polling stations from the Arctic north to Oslo 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) further south, Significantly, one of the top election issues has been the proper use of Norway’s oil fund, which at $750 billion (570 billion euros) is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.
Erna Solberg, a former girl scout leader who has overcome dyslexia, the Conservatives promise to diversify the economy away from oil, privatize state firms, and reduce some of the world’s highest taxes rates to give the private sector more breathing room.
Solberg, 52, will become Norway’s second female prime minister, as well as its first Conservative prime minister since 1990. At least the top two cabinet posts – and possibly the top three – are likely to be filled by women.

“We will contribute to a change (of government)” Christian Democrat party leader Knut Arild Hareide said. “We’ve been guaranteeing that a change will take place, and we will keep that promise,” he said without committing to entering cabinet.
‘In accordance with Norwegian parliamentary tradition, I will seek the resignation of my government after the presentation of the national budget on October 14, when it’s clear that there is a parliamentary basis for a new government,’ Jens Stoltenberg told supporters in Oslo.

Solberg – nicknamed ‘Iron Erna’ for her tough image – will become Norway’s new prime minister, as the leader of a centre-right coalition government.

Solberg thanked the voters on Monday for a historic victory in the oil-rich Nordic in a parliamentary election that yielded the best result for the conservatives in 28 years.
‘The voters had the choice between 12 years of red-green government or a new government with new ideas and new solutions,’ Solberg said at her party’s election night party.