An 11-year-old boy manages to send a message to someone he trusts in Norway. “I’m in Somalia I need help”. According to the boy, he was left behind in Somalia, and went to a Koranic school. news has not been able to trace where he is now. Neither do friends and acquaintances in the Norwegian town where he lived, who are worried about the boy. A cry for help from the 11-year-old boy in Somalia. Photo: Terje Haugnes / news – Simply married for integration This is just one of several stories news has told in recent weeks, and which is now leading to reactions in the largest government party. – These are strong issues. There is potential deprivation of liberty, there is neglect, there are children who are put in an extremely difficult situation, says Hadia Tajik, who is a spokeswoman for justice policy. Integration policy spokesperson Lene Vågslid agrees. – I believe this is an example that we have not succeeded with the integration policy in some areas. This practice is simply poison for integration, she says. Hadia Tajik and Lene Vågslid from the Labor Party look at news’s reports on involuntarily left behind children and young people. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news Tajik believes that the tools we have today are not good enough. Neither to prevent young people from being exposed to this, nor to help those who have already been affected. – There is reason to believe that there are significant hidden figures, and that many suffer this fate without either child protection or the police in Norway being aware of it. As a society, we simply cannot live with that, says Tajik. – We must get more of these cases into the criminal track news has told that there are a record number of children and young people who ask the Norwegian embassy in Kenya for help to get home because they have been left behind involuntarily. All the cases concern Norwegian-Somali children and young people. In 2023, there were 99 children and young people who the embassy in Kenya believed were involuntarily left abroad. news has also reported that very few parents have been investigated and convicted for having left their children abroad involuntarily. A boy from Elverum, on a chair in Africa with a chain between his legs. According to the police charge, he was detained at a Koranic school. The father denies criminal guilt. Photo: private Tajik says it is disturbing, despite the fact that it could be a matter of deprivation of liberty and gross abuse. – We must get more of these cases into the criminal justice system where they belong, this will also have a preventive effect. In addition, I believe we must consider legislative changes that also make it a criminal offense to plan to send one’s children on this type of involuntary stay abroad, says Tajik. – They feel let down by their loved ones But what happens to those who return home from an involuntary stay abroad? The outdoor section in Oslo, which helps young people struggling with social problems and drug addiction, assists some of them on the streets of Oslo. – They feel let down by their parents who may have lied about why they have traveled somewhere, and lied about how long they will be there, says Stine Marit Sundsbø Hollerud. She is a team leader in the Outdoor Section. – Some have experienced absolutely horrible things where they have been. They have been exposed to violence and punishments that greatly affect them, and which are difficult to deal with afterwards, she says. Stine Marit Sundsbø Hollerud is team leader in the Outdoor Section in Oslo. Photo: Trond A. Stenersen / news The team leader in the Outdoor Section says that they see that the problems they had before they were sent out often become bigger and more difficult to deal with when they return home. She says those who are left involuntarily miss out on important years at school and a network, which means that you easily end up outside when you are back in Norway. – For those who struggled with drugs or connections to criminal circles, we see that those problems often only escalate and become bigger when they return. They have a lot of bad experiences with them and a soreness that is a result of what they have experienced outside, says Stine Marit Sundsbø Hollerud. A young Norwegian-Somali boy managed to send this e-mail to the Norwegian embassy in Nairobi Photo: Terje Haugnes / news Part of the reason why Norwegian-Somali parents send their own children on disciplinary stays in Kenya and Somalia may be that the children have been in contact with criminal circles. This is according to news’s sources, including Sahfana Ali Mubarak, special envoy for integration at the Norwegian embassy in Kenya. Sahfana Ali Mubarak is special envoy for integration at the Norwegian embassy in Nairobi. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom Integration policy spokesperson Lene Vågslid in the Labor Party is very keen to ensure that young people receive follow-up when they return home, so that they do not end up in ostracism and crime. – We must ensure that those who come home have a place to live, and that they get the follow-up they need, says Vågslid. The government has recently launched a trial scheme with housing and support offers for people returning from involuntary stays abroad. – The goal must be to put in place a permanent system that looks after this group better than today, says Vågslid. Integration policy spokesperson Lene Vågslid in the Labor Party believes that we must ensure that those who return home receive follow-up. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – Withdrawal of child benefit Hadia Tajik believes that it will also be preventive if parents know that they risk being financially punished if they send children on such stays abroad. – That is why we want to change the law so that parents who systematically and deliberately prevent their children from compulsory primary school education are sanctioned financially through daily fines and deductions from the child benefit for the entire period the child has an undocumented absence from school, says Tajik to news. news exposed Koranic schools in Somalia and Kenya in 2017, and the cases received a lot of attention. Now news’s revelations in recent weeks show that much seems to be the same. – What responsibility does the Labor Party have for the fact that this is still obviously a big problem? – All parties that have been in government and helped govern this country are of course responsible for the situation we are still in, says Hadia Tajik. .
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Daily fines for parents who send children to Koran school – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
