MINSK, November 11. /TASS/. Russia plans to refer to the United Nations the problem of removal of Russian children from their families in foreign countries, first of all in Norway, Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said on Tuesday.

“This issue should be referred to the United Nations committee for the rights of the child, to a special envoy of the United Nations secretary general in order to consider the vicious practice of separation of children from their parents, first of all in Norway,” said Astakhov, who arrived in Minsk to take part in a UNICEF conference. He said that Norway should be compelled to observe international norms and bilateral agreements in this area.

Thus, the Russian children’s rights ombudsman recalled an episode with a Russian five-year boy Oskar, who had been removed from his Russian family by Norwegian child protection services under far-fetched pretexts. “We hope to be able to prove that the parents did nothing of what they are accused of and the boy will be returned to his parents,” Astakhov said, adding that Norwegian children’s services remove about 2,000 children from their families. “It look like they are seeking to solve the problems of a demographic slump this way,” he noted.

“We cannot stand aloof,” the Russian children’s rights ombudsman said. In his words, the Russian Foreign Ministry planned to organize a conference that was expected to decide was kind of proposals to make to the Norwegian side. Apart from that, the ministry would insist on bilateral consultations to get explanations why the Norwegian side was not observing the child’s rights, he said.