The
NCHR celebrates Human Rights Day - 2009
1948 - 2009. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights commemorates its
61 st anniversary on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2009.
|
Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon |
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, which has
become the universal standard for defending and promoting Human Rights.
Every year on December 10, Human Rights Day is celebrated all over the world in
commemoration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration. On Human Rights Day
we celebrate around the globe that "All human beings are born with equal
and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms". Article 16, section 3 of
the UDHR reads: "The family is the natural and fundamental group
unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State."
Everyone is guaranteed protection by the law for the right not to be subjected
to arbitrary interference with one's privacy, family, home or correspondence,
or to attacks upon one's honour and reputation, Article 12 UDHR. These rights
are confirmed in the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR, and fundamental
freedoms, (Article 8) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNCROC,
(Article 16).
"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status.
"Furthermore,
no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether
it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of
sovereignty," Article 2 UDHR.
December
10, 2008 marks the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
In Sweden, December 10 is celebrated as
the Nobel Prize Day, but not as Human Rights Day.
The theme of Human Rights Day 2009 is non-discrimination. In Sweden, Denmark,
Finland and Norway, we have laws that discriminate against and undermine the
family - the biological family - which of course is the corner stone of society.
All the Nordic countries have signed and ratified the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which prohibits
discrimination. In addition, the European Convention is embedded in our Constitutions,
and our Constitutions contain non-discrimination laws. But, nevertheless, parents
and relatives of children who are forcibly taken into care and placed in foster
homes are discriminated against systematically. The result has been that
several tens of thousands of children have been taken into care and placed in
foster homes among total strangers, even though for eg Sweden as late as 1997 -
which should be the record for the recognition of the value of relatives for
each other in a Western democracy - introduced a law that gives relatives equal
rights to care for their relatives' children in competition with the strangers
that the authorities routinely choose.
Our countries, the governments of Sweden,
Denmark, Finland and Norway are always quick to condemn Human Rights violations
in other countries. While we deem it important and necessary to criticise
others, we are appalled that they ignore the serious Human Rights violations
that are taking place on a daily basis in our own countries. Our parliaments
and governments have passed laws that undermine The Family, the cornerstone of
society in favour of the institutions put in place by the welfare states -
"in the best interest of the child", they claim. By using the term
"the best interest of the child" they seem to comply with the
pre-requisites of Article 3 of UNCROC. However, the history of our Nordic
welfare states show that several tens of thousands of children have been taken
into care and placed in foster homes and institutions - on
arbitrary grounds.
Christmas is fast approaching and Christmas time is Family time.
Families, whose children have been taken into compulsory care and placed in
foster homes, are very often subjected to rigid restrictions on their visiting
rights. Often the parents and relatives of the children in "care" are
not allowed to see the children at Christmas or to even deliver their presents
in person on Christmas Eve. The social services' staff require the parents and
relatives of the children in compulsory care to deliver the Christmas presents
to them for them to be handed over to the children - when it suits the foster
homes.
Every year the NCHR/NKMR sends Christmas Appeals to the rulers of our
respective Nordic countries requesting them to release the children so that
they can spend Christmas with their loved ones. So far, our appeals have fallen
on deaf ears, but once again we encourage parents and grandparents and other relatives
to demand visiting rights with their children in compulsory care.
Ruby Harrold-Claesson
Lawyer
President of the NCHR/NKMR
Human
Rights Day, 2008