by Dr. Johan BÄCKMAN (Finland)
Speech at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Warsaw, 24.9.2013 (Working Session 2)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Finnish and Russian
media have for years been covering shocking materials about severe human rights
violations against mothers and children in Finland. The Finnish government
cannot deny the fact that the United Nations Committee of the Rights of the
Child criticizes every year Finland of severe violations of the rights of the
child, but without any reaction from the Finnish officials. In addition, the
United Nations Committee against Torture is constantly criticizing Finland of
inhumane psychiatric treatment. Many Finnish human rights activists are talking
about trade with children: the private children’s homes and foster families are
utilizing a corrupt system to gain maximum profit with seizured children. The
Finnish government cannot deny the fact that nobody is controlling private
children’s homes in Finland. The Finnish officials provide no reliable
statistics about the number of seizure children or private children’s homes. A
recent number says there are approximately 17,000 seized children in Finland. The
new Finnish law on “child protection” gives the authorities right to seizure
children without court order or evidence. The private children’s homes are
using various kinds of punishments, including “carpet therapy”, meaning
wrapping the child into a carpet. The Finnish government cannot deny the fact that
the “carpet therapy” is officially accepted means of co-called child protection
in Finland. In addition, the private children’s homes are using prison chambers
to punishing children. A Finnish human rights activist Mr. Lari Kunnas posted
into YouTube a shocking video showing 2 Finnish social workers and 2 police
fetching his children from home without showing him any court order or written
document. Recently A group of Finnish human rights activists (Mrs. Tiina
Liljeberg, Mrs. Birgitta Wulf-Luhtanen, Mrs. Sirpa Aho, Mrs. Solveig Holmström
and Mrs. Ani Leikonniemi) wrote a letter to the Russian children ombudsman Mr. Pavel
Astakhov demanding for help, because the Finnish children’s ombudsman Mrs. Maria
Kaisa Aula has never done anything to improve the situation. Recently the
inhuman treatment of children in Finland has become an issue of concern for
Russian Federation. The Finnish government cannot deny the fact that Finnish
diplomats assisted in illegal abduction of under-aged Russian citizen Anton
Salonen, who was smuggled in a trunk of a Finnish diplomatic vehicle from Russia
to Finland. Finnish government cannot deny the fact that Finnish diplomats did
not have any legal rights to assist in the abduction or contraband in the trunk
of the Finnish diplomatic car of a Russian child Anton Salonen. In Finland, the
illegally abducted child Anton Salonen was then prohibited to speak his mother
tongue Russian or carry out any actions in relation to his Orthodox religion,
including a prohibition to pray. Another example discussed between Finland and
Russia is the seizure of four children from a Russian mother Anastasiya
Zavgorodnyaya in Finland, including the seizure of a newborn child, with a
prohibition to brest-feed the newborn. The Finnish government cannot deny the
fact that the Finnish authorities did not have any clear motivation to this
inhuman action. Very often the Finnish officials are misusing psychiatry
against mothers or human rights activists, who are trying to protect the rights
of the child against the private child trade industry. In the case of Kauko
Oranen, the Finnish father has lost the contact to his two Russian daughters
and the Russian wife Oksana Loginova for more than 10 years, all of whom are
institutionalized, without any clear motivation or proper court order. An Asutralian
father Mr. Warren McLachlan has lost 2 children to the Finnish private child
trade industry. The boys, holding Australian citizenship, are drugged in
Finnish private children’s homes already for more than 10 years without any
right investigate the situation. For preventing future violations, the Russian
Federation has tried for years to establish a mutual expert commission for
family rights with Finland. The Finnish government cannot deny the fact that
Finland has constantly refused to establish the commission or to have any
co-operation in the field. We should confront the fact that the modern private
child trade industry, with uncontrolled seizure of thousands of children with
unclear grounds, is a sign of a new ideology of hate: the hate against families
and hate against children. We should remember that anti-semitism, xenohobia or
neo-nazism are not the only nor principal means of hate. You have just to read
the writings of the French feminist Simone de Beauvoir to understand that the
modern feminism has transformed into an ideology of hate against women and
children. The Finnish government cannot deny the fact that today they are one
of the main advocates of that hate against women and children. Thank you for your attention.
