Suppose you give birth to a child. At the moment he is the most beloved man in the world to you. But soon after birth, your child was forcibly taken away or stolen. What will you do? You must take the help of law, because you believe that the law of the country will protect your child, no matter what country you are a citizen of. But if you see that the law that was responsible for the safety of you and your child, that law is taking away your beloved child? What will you do? Who to go to?
You may not be able to imagine exactly this, or it may not be possible. But that is exactly what has happened in Australia, the country we all know, year after year.
Australia, the country that is currently being judged as the best country in the world by countless people, also has some dark history. There is a ‘lost generation’, whose families and nation are still carrying the burden of suffering. They are called 'Stolen Generation'.
What is Stolen Generation?
Between 1910 and 1970, the then Australian government introduced a strange law for Indigenous peoples in Australia. Under the law, indigenous children were forcibly or secretly removed from their parents as soon as they were born, and sent to a "white" family or NGO. This has been going on for a long time, as a result of which many tribal families have lost their children, many children have lost the love of their parents, their childhood. Children who are separated from their families under this law are later renamed the 'Stolen Generation'.
The reason for such a law-
If you look at the history of any country in the world, you can see many knots of caste discrimination. Australia is no exception. The arrogance of the whites to think of themselves as the best has brought misery to many countries. Today's Australia, well-known as a safe haven for people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures, was once only aimed at creating a distinct "white" Australian culture. The main obstacle in this way was the Australian Aborigines, who really represented Australia, because they had their roots in that country.
Indigenous peoples are seen as a problem and ways to get rid of this problem. Descendants of whites from Europe came to the country of the aborigines and considered them uninhabitable. The fault of the aborigines is that they are wild, their skin color is black; Their culture, education and initiation are different than whites. Their fate is determined by this fault - extinction and it is hoped that once they die in the natural way of nature, they will become extinct!
But this method is hindered from being effective when many indigenous women become pregnant by whites. White people used to rape indigenous girls or have sexual relations with them. At one time, the number of such children increased. Since the fathers of those children were not interested in taking care of the children, they grew up with the tribals, which increased the number of tribals. At the same time, the number of indigenous children was increasing. Both these situations were going against the government's abolition of indigenous peoples. The combined children of whites and tribals were called 'half caste' and the government formulated an 'assimilation policy' with plans to affiliate them with whites.
It is a hateful law that is enacted through this policy, which takes a generation away from their families, their future. To justify this heinous act, lawmakers argue that indigenous families cannot afford to give their children a prosperous life, let alone neglect; Where they themselves pushed the children in the face of uncertainty.
Consequences of Stolen Generation Children-
Children who were separated from their families were sent to an ashram or to a white family for adoption. Attempts were made to make them forget the indigenous traditions and to force them to master the culture of the whites. Almost all children grew up with little or no education.
Most of the time their names were changed and they were forbidden to speak their own language. Some half-caste children may have been adopted by some white families. But most of the places were in some institutions, where neglect and oppression were very common. Another underlying cause of the abduction was the low demand for station workers and domestic workers. As a result, these children, separated from their families, had to live a miserable life.
Its impact on Indigenous children and their families-
Many of the Stolen generation were subjected to physical, mental and even sexual abuse. As a result, many people lost interest in life at an early age. They also suffered from identity crisis due to being deprived of their own culture and language. Feeling ashamed of their own traditions. Many were told that their parents had died or that they had left them on purpose. Deprived of the strict discipline, torture and parental care of the ashram, these children experienced high levels of depression, anxiety and various mental illnesses that they had to carry throughout their lives. Many of those who lost their children in indigenous families would never be able to cope with this grief. Many family members became addicted to alcohol to forget their grief. Thus many families have been destroyed because of this hateful law.
Number of children separated from family-
A report by the Australian Human Rights Watch found that between 10 and 33 per cent of all Indigenous children born between 1910 and 1970 were separated from their families. In addition, a 1994 survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that one in ten Indigenous people aged 25 or over were separated from their families in childhood.
The steps that are taken-
In the 1970s, the government's biased treatment of indigenous peoples came to the notice of some welfare agencies, which later changed its policy of eviction. In 1960, Link-Up Aboriginal Corporation was formed in New South Wales to search for and reunite lost families.
In 1995, the Australian government decided to investigate this policy of forced child removal. The investigation report was tabled in Parliament on 26 May 1997. The report concludes that the issue of child removal violates basic human rights. This report, titled Bringing Them Home, provides a wide range of information on the subject. But the government that launched the investigation said goodbye to the report. Subsequent governments expressed skepticism about the report and ignored its recommended measures. When Kevin Rudd came to power in 2007, he took the matter seriously. He vowed a national apology to those included in the Stolen Generation. The pledge was kept on February 13, 2008, and a national apology was made for the deeds of the ancestors.
The situation of 'Stolen Generation' in some other countries of the world-
Although not so widespread, forcible separation of children has taken place in different parts of the world at different times. Before the unification of East and West Germany in 1969, the Democratic Republican Intelligence Service, Stasi, snatched children from parents trying to flee the communist state. Those unfortunate parents may have spent half or all of their lives looking for a child.
Everyone knows about China's one child policy. But what remains hidden from the public eye is how many families have to abandon their children because of this policy. Almost every city in China has a birth control department whose job is to issue orders for abortion and infertility. They can fine any family six times the annual income for more than one child. Their children were taken away from those families for non-payment of fines and sent to another country for adoption.
Between 1928 and 1973, the Swiss government enacted a quasi-government policy requiring Yenich parents to adopt their child as a compulsory "normal" Swiss citizen. Although the reason for this policy was shown to be the cultural development of the Yenich, the main purpose of this policy was to destroy the Yenich culture. About 600 children are separated from their families and placed in orphanages, mental health facilities and even prisons. The Norwegian Child Protection Service, known as the Barnevernet, separated children from their parents, saying they were incapable of raising children. Most families attribute this to racial discrimination.
Sad but true, forcible abductions have not stopped completely, perhaps because they do not happen on a large scale, they are now hidden from public view. There can be nothing more important for a child than a parent and his family. No matter how much the government of a country may say that they can provide more security than the family, but the family is undoubtedly the highest safe place for the child. Children of all these Stolen generations will carry this wound for the rest of their lives, because family is something that cannot be filled with anything.
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