site.btaBulgarian NGOs Urge for Immediate, Unconditional Release of Children Taken Away from Bulgarian Families in Norway

111 POLITICS-NORWAY-CHILDREN-STATEMENT

Bulgarian NGOs Urge for Immediate,
Unconditional Release of Children
Taken Away from Bulgarian Families in Norway


Sofia, September 5 (BTA) - Two Bulgarian non-governmental organizations: the Association of Fathers in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Community in Norway, presented a protest statement about Bulgarian children taken away from their parents by the Norwegian Child Welfare Service Barnevernet. The statement was read out by Valentin Zhelev of the Bulgarian Community in Norway at a BTA-hosted news conference on Wednesday.

"We will do the impossible to return the Bulgarian children who were forcibly taken away from their biological parents," the statement says. The NGO claims that Barnevernet has forcibly taken away the children of ten Bulgarian families living in Norway.

The two organizations insist on the immediate and unconditional release of the children of the ten Bulgarian families, the closure of all files "in which Bulgarian families and their children are monitored and harassed," as well as allowing them to leave Norway without consequences. Zhelev said the NGOs will launch a campaign to unite all ethnic groups who have children taken away in Norway.

The NGOs urge Bulgaria to apply "heavy diplomatic pressure" on Norway.

In early June, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Norwegian Ambassador Lise Nicoline Kleven Grevstad, accredited to Bulgaria, met in Sofia. The meeting was occasioned by cases of Bulgarian mothers resident in Norway whose children had been taken away by the Norwegian child welfare service. In July, bilateral consultations were held on the application of the effective international treaties and the applicable national legislation regulating children's rights and protection. RY/ZH/DD

/СН/