NORWAY – Oslo, the capital of Norway, which is one of the most progressive countries in the world and also has a proud record of protecting children.
Report by Julius Konton, Contributor
However, the country appears to have a dark secret that is tearing parents apart as they on a daily basis are seen going against the state in fighting for the rights to raise their biological children which is so far a nightmare for them.
In 2017, according to a BBC program: Our World, parents stormed the streets of Oslo and other areas campaigning and accusing the state of brutally and aggressively taking their children into care for no good reasons.
Currently hundreds and thousands of parents in Norway are feeling the pinch of this nightmare but are afraid to speak out for fear of exit from the country mainly Africans but this is not the case of a courageous Liberian mother Leona Konah Urey who for the past six years is yet to set her eyes on her four children.
Narrating in tears and pain via telephone, Leona said she sometimes feel empty and wants to commit suicide only because of the absence of her children, especially as an African mother.
She explained that in 2013 and 2016 respectively, she attempted pursuing her children’s case but got arrested and placed behind bars for eight months but due to the pressure and advocacy from her husband including her lawyers she was set free from the false accusations.
She said they also demanded her DNA but she refused on grounds that her charge or crime was not disclosed to her, something she noted and claimed that they had a different intent and or sinister motive.
Due to her persistent advocacy for her children, she claimed a false crime was placed on her by local law enforcers though the crime was not documented, neither disclosed to her.
Leona indicated that she was restrained from seeing her children as they alleged that she beat on them and also ill-treated them for which they were taken away from her.
As desperate as they were to take her children from her, Madam Urey pointed out that some Norwegians prepared fake papers claiming that her children were malnourished though a record from the Gronland Helse Station, a health center where the children normally receive treatment disclosed that they were all healthy and strong.
Her story, she noted began when her son Andreas went to Kempen School and was called “African Monkey” which provoked him into a fist fight with the other student.
According to Leona, while pursuing her case, she was branded as mentally ill because she is from a war-torn country – a situation she claimed they took advantage of to violate her rights.
She said though her four children are living in Norway, they’re in separate locations. This, according to her, is intended to make it difficult for parents to trace their children.
Her children are, Andreas who lives in Kongsvinger, Anne in Grimstad, Maria in Jaren-Gran and Clement who lives in Versby are all between the ages of five and above while the oldest this year will be 17 years old.
She said she complained the case to the Liberian embassy in Brussels but has not seen any tangible steps being taken to reunite her with her children.
“My latest move is to complain the state to the European Human Rights Court in Amsterdam to ensure that my rights and that of my children are protected,” she added.