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Late yesterday evening, the responsible minister, Maria Larsson, announced (here, here, here, here, here) that the victims of systematic abuses and neglect of the Swedish foster care system over many decades will, after all, receive compensation. The decision followed an agreement with the political opposition, after a former decision not to compensate had received massive criticism. My posts on that are here and here.
As the minister notes, the manner of compensation will be different than usual, e.g., by every victim being awarded a standard sum (250 000 Swedish kronor ≈ € 25 000). To some readers, the sums may look modest, but they are not in the Swedish legal tradition on monetary compensation for personal harm. Maria Larsson also notes that the decision is unique in that the state in this way is taking responsibility for activities run by local county authorities. However, at the same time, the solution is not very different from the one applied regarding compensation to victims of the forced sterilisation policy, where the notion of making a compensation that is proportional to each individual harm was rightly abandoned in view of the fact that such a requirement would make a compensation scheme practically impossible. True, such a solution departs somewhat from normal notions of justice in the area of compensating victims of unjust harm. However, as I see it, it errs on the right side, since it means that all victims receive a compensation rather than no one.
As harshly as I criticised Maria Larsson for her original decision, I must now congratulate her for having the political courage to change her mind and to reach an agreement with the opposition so swiftly.
Showing posts with label compensation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compensation. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Swedish Government Apparently Doing a 180° Turn on Compensation for Victims of Foster Care Abuse
Well, well, I'm not surprised....
As previously reported, the Swedish government this weekend decided not to implement the recommendation by a governmental committee to economically compensate the victims of a deeply repugnant pattern of abuse and mistreatment within the national foster care system. And I was far from the only one reacting against this uncommonly ill-considered decision and the so obviously empty rhetoric with which it was presented. On the contrary, it would appear that ministers Maria Larsson and her colleagues in the government were the only ones in the country actually being in favor of the decision. The storm of criticism has been massive and coming from all angles, from grass-root voters of all political shades to important and influential national politicians of all parties besides the ones presently trying to run a minority government.
It's not very surprising, therefore, that the responsible minister yesterday (joined by the prime minister today) went public expressing her willingness to reconsider the decision. Larsson couldn't quite entirely face up to the fact that she and her mates had made a colossal political blunder – surrounding her statement with conditions about "the entire opposition" having to present an alternative proposal. But these are just empty words. Larsson and her boss Reinfeldt know very well that if they don't roll over, they will be humiliated by parliament and will have to go back to square one to do the job that parliament had decided to have them do in the first instance.
In comments in the Swedish media, representatives of the opposition either laugh off this childish behaviour, or express surprise at the so obviously politically stupid formulations by a responsible minister. So, as it looks right now, the compensation will be forthcoming, regardless of how much that hurts the pride of a minister who should indeed have known better in the first place.
As previously reported, the Swedish government this weekend decided not to implement the recommendation by a governmental committee to economically compensate the victims of a deeply repugnant pattern of abuse and mistreatment within the national foster care system. And I was far from the only one reacting against this uncommonly ill-considered decision and the so obviously empty rhetoric with which it was presented. On the contrary, it would appear that ministers Maria Larsson and her colleagues in the government were the only ones in the country actually being in favor of the decision. The storm of criticism has been massive and coming from all angles, from grass-root voters of all political shades to important and influential national politicians of all parties besides the ones presently trying to run a minority government.
It's not very surprising, therefore, that the responsible minister yesterday (joined by the prime minister today) went public expressing her willingness to reconsider the decision. Larsson couldn't quite entirely face up to the fact that she and her mates had made a colossal political blunder – surrounding her statement with conditions about "the entire opposition" having to present an alternative proposal. But these are just empty words. Larsson and her boss Reinfeldt know very well that if they don't roll over, they will be humiliated by parliament and will have to go back to square one to do the job that parliament had decided to have them do in the first instance.
In comments in the Swedish media, representatives of the opposition either laugh off this childish behaviour, or express surprise at the so obviously politically stupid formulations by a responsible minister. So, as it looks right now, the compensation will be forthcoming, regardless of how much that hurts the pride of a minister who should indeed have known better in the first place.
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Goverment Decision not to Compensate Abused Swedish Foster Care Children: Hypocritical and Invalid
Early this year, a Swedish government committee revealed a scandalous rate of long-standing and severe abuse of children enrolled in the public foster care system (here, here, here, here, here, here). The deeply repugnant pattern of mistreatment goes way back in time, as far as the 1920's, and is, the committee reported, still ongoing. The committee recommended that the government, besides the obvious task of putting a halt to ongoing abuse and express an official apology to past victims, should offer substantial economic compensation to victims of abuses in the past.
Today, however, Sweden's current minister of children and the elderly, Maria Larsson (Christian Democrat), to big surprise reported that the government will not follow the recommendation of the committee (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) The given reason is that a compensation scheme would be impossible to implement in a fair and legally secure way. This reason, however, appears to be completely invalid and, in addition, incoherent with established policy.
The suggestion to economically compensate victims of past abuse is consistent with the way that Sweden eventually came to handle victims of the compulsory sterilisation policies that were in operation between 1935 and 1975. These were offered economic compensation (besides an official apology) and this was swiftly implemented. So, obviously, it is possible to set up a satisfactory system for compensating victims of mistreatment resulting from official policy. Maria Larsson is simply not telling the truth here. Even worse: since she is well aware of the compensation in the sterilisation case, she is deliberately holding out a pretext as good reason.
To this may be added that the compulsory sterilisation program, when it ran, was part of officially condoned policy, enjoying broad support all across the political and religious board. It was also accepted as a part of acceptable professional practice by medical doctors. The decision to compensate thus was an ethical decision, based on the assessment that although no formal error had occurred, a serious moral mistake had been made. In the case of the abuse of foster children, however, it is obvious that formal errors have been made. Not least, official agencies responsible for the administration of the system have obviously committed serious errors of neglect. So, here we have something which is both a moral and a formal fault, but then the government decides not to compensate. This is official hypocrisy at the highest level.
And allow me to become a bit personal: Maria Larsson is supposed to represent a political party the stronghold of which is held out to be politics on the basis of christian ethics, with the interests of the weakest and most vulnerable at the center of attention. How she manages to look at herself in the mirror with a straight face when making the decision revealed today is beyond me: the hypocrisy apparently goes far beyond just inconsistent and ill-considered official policy making. This shakes the very fundamentals of our country's supposed "ethical" party.
But it doesn't stop there. At the same time as Maria Larsson deliver her deeply unethical, formally erroneous decision under the smokescreen of an obviously bogus reason, she has the extremely bad taste of offering the victims of the abuses for which Swedish public institutions are both morally and formally responsible a "ceremony" where an official apology is extended, to which the victims will be invited. In short: spit in their faces and make a ceremonial bow.
Shame, shame shame!
Today, however, Sweden's current minister of children and the elderly, Maria Larsson (Christian Democrat), to big surprise reported that the government will not follow the recommendation of the committee (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) The given reason is that a compensation scheme would be impossible to implement in a fair and legally secure way. This reason, however, appears to be completely invalid and, in addition, incoherent with established policy.
The suggestion to economically compensate victims of past abuse is consistent with the way that Sweden eventually came to handle victims of the compulsory sterilisation policies that were in operation between 1935 and 1975. These were offered economic compensation (besides an official apology) and this was swiftly implemented. So, obviously, it is possible to set up a satisfactory system for compensating victims of mistreatment resulting from official policy. Maria Larsson is simply not telling the truth here. Even worse: since she is well aware of the compensation in the sterilisation case, she is deliberately holding out a pretext as good reason.
To this may be added that the compulsory sterilisation program, when it ran, was part of officially condoned policy, enjoying broad support all across the political and religious board. It was also accepted as a part of acceptable professional practice by medical doctors. The decision to compensate thus was an ethical decision, based on the assessment that although no formal error had occurred, a serious moral mistake had been made. In the case of the abuse of foster children, however, it is obvious that formal errors have been made. Not least, official agencies responsible for the administration of the system have obviously committed serious errors of neglect. So, here we have something which is both a moral and a formal fault, but then the government decides not to compensate. This is official hypocrisy at the highest level.
And allow me to become a bit personal: Maria Larsson is supposed to represent a political party the stronghold of which is held out to be politics on the basis of christian ethics, with the interests of the weakest and most vulnerable at the center of attention. How she manages to look at herself in the mirror with a straight face when making the decision revealed today is beyond me: the hypocrisy apparently goes far beyond just inconsistent and ill-considered official policy making. This shakes the very fundamentals of our country's supposed "ethical" party.
But it doesn't stop there. At the same time as Maria Larsson deliver her deeply unethical, formally erroneous decision under the smokescreen of an obviously bogus reason, she has the extremely bad taste of offering the victims of the abuses for which Swedish public institutions are both morally and formally responsible a "ceremony" where an official apology is extended, to which the victims will be invited. In short: spit in their faces and make a ceremonial bow.
Shame, shame shame!
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