Norwegian Honeymoon?

Being an expatriate has its own shocks. While it may look glamorous residing in a foreign land for a length of time can cause severe hardship and many times one feels a sense of being buffeted in strong winds without an anchor to root you.
The incident of an Indian couple having their children being taken away from them by Norwegian Child Services Authorities is a great case in point. Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya lost custody of their three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter eight months ago after authorities branded their behavior inappropriate. While the authorities have remained tight lipped some of the reasons for this seemingly harsh decision are:
1. The children were fed by hand.
2. The children shared the parent’s bed.
3. The children were fed yogurt (curd) and rice.
4. The children were slapped on occasion.

None of the above would probably send a normal Indian into a tizzy and the issue has many Indian’s foaming at the mouth but Norwegian authorities view it differently. The parents have been told that they can only see their children twice a year, for an hour during each visit until the kids turn 18 when they will no longer be bound by the current restrictions under current Norwegian law. This prompted the Indian Government to intervene and the latest is that the kid’s uncle will take custody of the children and leave Norway with them. How that is a solution, is something that I fail to see.
Amidst this brouhaha one can sympathize with the Norwegians a tad. In a country with a declining population and despairing at poor birth rates, children are precious and might cause them to see fairly normal (as seen by Indian’s) parenting traits differently. However should Norway want to integrate itself into a flat and extended world and avoid bad press it would need to understand that people do things differently across nations and need to be accepted with their cultural traits?
Amidst this mess, it would be interesting to hear what support the Indian couple received from their employers, an American MNC in dealing with this trauma. Norway's Child Protective Service has come under much scrutiny in the past for excessive behavior in their handling of child cruelty. However that is how Norway is and expatriates and their masters need to sensitize folk setting up shop there.

Distant Echoes

The perils of International Business are many. A case I discuss in class deals with a Capt.Rinen and his ship the Tampa, where the good and conscientious Captain picked up a clutch of Afghan refugees off the Christmas Is.
The refugees insisted on being landed in Australia, for what they thought would be a better life. The Australian government had other ideas and it turned into a huge international incident causing much heartburn in
Australia, Norway (the ship was Norwegian), Afghanistan & Indonesia.
There is yet another recent incident involving Norway again.
An estimated 30,000 Norwegians seeking justice for the rape and murder of student Martine Vik Magnussen in London three years ago have launched a boycott against Coca-Cola products. They’re protesting Coca-Cola’s business ties with the wealthy father of her suspected murderer, who has eluded arrest by British police.

The girl was a regular fun loving youngster, who is said to have had her fair share of alcohol and drugs, tragically suspected to be butchered by her Yemenese boyfriend, who fled Britain for Yemen, post the murder, in 2008, after a night long party.
Now here comes the rub. The boyfriend’s dad is a billionaire who runs the distribution for Coca Cola in Yemen, Egypt and Libya and has ties with Xerox and Daimler Benz. Pressure built in Norway and then threatened to spread to the rest of the western world against doing business with the allegedly tainted Arab family, as they refuse to extradite the suspect to Britain.
A few days ago, finally, Coco Cola severed ties with Shaher Abdulhak the alleged suspect’s millionaire father three years after Martine was raped and murdered. The point is an event in London, involving a Norwegian miss and an Arab youth has implications across several nations and lead to business realignment.
Shaher Abdulhak lobbied hard with politicians in Norway and Yemen. He threatened to sue politicians in Norway, as well, but public pressure was a little too strong. Business, politics and ethics are all wonderfully juxtaposed as this case shows you and when it goes international the going gets complicated.
Interestingly the campaign to preesure the soft drink giant was run on Facebook. Social Networking and technology. A modern day panacea for an age old crime!
Will the dead girl get justice? Martine's family belives she will and the struggle to get the young suspect to Britian to stand trial continues.