New Delhi: Delhi-based lawyer Suranya Aiyar has been honoured as a 2018 Laureate by the Nordic Committee for Human Rights (NCHR) for “outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement, not only for Indian children and families in Norway, but also for children and families in her home country and internationally”.
The award makes special mention of the reports and analysis that have been published for the last year in The Sunday Guardian (Global Child Rights and Wrongs column) by Aiyar and commentators engaged by her from around the world on the protection of children against state-sponsored family separation without just cause. The Global Child Rights and Wrongs column has garnered international attention and commendation. It has received contributions from Members of Parliament, journalists, doctors and academics from Norway, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The NCHR is an international, non-governmental organisation. It was founded at Christiansborg, Copenhagen, on 30 November 1996. It aims to increase the rights and freedoms of private individuals and their families; and strengthen respect for basic human rights and fundamental freedoms in Nordic countries.
On receiving the award, Aiyar thanked The Sunday Guardian for giving space to this issue. She said: “This endorsement from people abroad of my work criticising their own systems means a lot to me. I hope this award will encourage others in India, especially those in the child rights field, to question the system of child protection which has created so much suffering in the West and which is being implemented today in India. We need a different approach that will be better at identifying children who are really abused and guard against unjust and biased abuse allegations.”