do nothing, but KrF and SV demand answers.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
A few weeks ago, American Matthew Connelly's acclaimed book Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World was published
Population. There, Norway's controversial population assistance to India is presented for the first time internationally.
Much is based on researcher Sunniva Engh's doctoral thesis on Norway's funding of 1500 sterilization clinics in India. She believes up to five million Indians may have been sterilized with Norwegian money.
Connelly talks about Norad's collaboration with the Indian project Post Partum Program (PPP) through 24 years. PPP mainly sterilized Indian women. This was achieved through the use of incentives that rewarded those who chose sterilization over other contraceptive methods. In addition, sterilization took place under pressure, especially during Indira Gandhi's state of emergency during the period 1975- 77. Sweden withdrew in 1980, Norad first in the middle of the 90 century.
– This was something that happened a long time ago. Norad's collaboration with India was terminated in 1994. Therefore, Norad has no plans to do anything in connection with this today, says senior adviser Marit Berggrav at Norads
Department of Health and AIDS.
However, in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Storting, which Engh believes was inadequately informed about what the Norwegian support of NOK 500 million went to, the reactions are stronger.
- This seems like a violation of human rights, and that someone has to answer for it in Norway, is obvious, says Ågot Valle, SV's faction leader.
Solheim-case
Party leader Dagfinn Høybråten (KrF) is more critical:
Forced sterilization as part of family planning raises a number of ethical issues. I am very critical of such a practice. I want to discuss with Minister Erik Solheim how this relates today and which
guidelines he wants to follow, says Høybråten.
Minister for Development Aid Solheim was not available for comment when Ny Tid
went into print.
Norad's assistant director Ingunn Klepsvik informs Ny Tid that they received support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for population assistance to India. But the decision-making authority lay in Norad.
After Ny Tid got in touch, a Norad answer was posted on Tuesday on the website of the research magazine Apollon, which has previously mentioned Engh's research. Both Klepsvik and department director Paul Richard Fife say that they
is aware that during the state of emergency in 1975-77 there was an aggressive sterilization campaign, mainly in sterilization camps set up in rural areas. During this period there were serious violations of the national
guidelines. Still, they believe that PPP was not involved in the brutal sterilization campaign.
Not alarming
– There is no documented rule violation or forced sterilization associated with PPP. But the number of men who were sterilized increased at the Post Partum clinics during that period, so the program was affected by the campaign, admits
of.
The Norad directors accuse Indian authorities of having a stronger focus on sterilization than strengthening health services for mother and child.
-The Indian authorities also circumvented the Norwegian reservations against the use of incentives, by introducing so-called modest compensation for transport and lost earnings. Norway expressed concern that this could lead to undue pressure and was repeatedly raised. Norway tried to influence, but the Indian authorities decided, says
Norad directors.
However, in Connelly's book it says the opposite, namely that it was India who first focused on increasing the life of the children: “India asked several of the contributors for more money for health measures for mother and child, based on the argument that if children lived longer the parents would not get so many of them. But even Norway turned its thumb on this, even though the country was otherwise a leader in "the integrated approach" to aid ".
Swedish criticism
Ny Tid has received an assessment from Staffan Bergström, professor of International Health at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He started the Swedish debate when he refused to sign the child restriction agreement in India in
1979, since it had nothing to do with health. – I have no clear idea why Norway continued its support
such projects right up to 1995. But I did note that Norway was far behind Sweden in the view of this when I lived in Norway in the 90's. It may be that Norway put pressure on India for everything I know, says Bergstrøm.
He points out that historically it is important that in Scandinavia, until very recently, emphasis was placed on sterilizing and limiting the number of children to reduce poverty.
- In Norway, there was a belief in child restraint much longer than in Sweden, he points out.
In Connelly's book, Norway and Sweden's pioneering role for birth control explains that both had practiced birth control at home. From the 1930s to the 1970s, over 44.000 people were sterilized in Norway, many of them
those single women and those from the space people.
