“Not responsible” – This is what Aargau authorities decided on a father and his daughter Sandra when she spoke out against returning to her mother.
Aargau's chief judge wants to
send Sandra back to Brazil against her will
SF DRS - Switzerland current from May 10, 2007 and May 11, 2007
Tele M1 from May 10, 2007 , May 11, 2007 and May 12, 2007
website set up by her school colleagues
Sandra came to Switzerland at the beginning of 2007 to visit his father. The girl's mother returned with her to her home country of Brazil after the separation. This is despite the fact that the girl was born in Switzerland and lived here until she was 11 years old.
Sandra made it clear several times that she did not want to return to her mother. Among other things, there are clear, unambiguous statements that she made to Heinrich Nufer from the Marie Meierhofer Institute.
Sandra is 13 years old, which, according to clear case law, is old enough to have a say in his whereabouts.
The Aargau Higher Court is apparently not interested in any of these facts. Instead, Sandra has the Thurgau police arrest her like a criminal off the street.
Sandra has lived with a foster family in Thurgau for the last 3 months and went to school in Wil, at a facility run by the Tipiti association.
Both Tipiti and the Marie Meierhofer Institute are recognized institutions that have been dealing with children's rights for years.
However, these experts do not apply to the Aargau Higher Court - as a senior judge stated on television, they are nothing more than a "party statement" and are therefore relatively unimportant.
Conclusion: A 13 year old girl runs away from her mother. It hides from its father and asks him for help. The father reacts, takes the girl to experts and places her under professional care. He does whatever is necessary to help his daughter fulfill her wish.
And what is the Aargau state doing? He disregards the girl's wishes, he ignores the statements of recognized experts, he ignores the father's obvious commitment and hides behind dry statements such as "Custody was awarded to the mother" or "The girl cannot represent herself with a lawyer because it is not yet of legal age". Such legal maneuvers are absolutely unworthy.
The VeV has been advocating for joint custody for over 10 years. Cases like this wouldn't exist if men and women, fathers and mothers, could retain joint custody even in the event of separation or divorce.
We will stand up for this girl. As a resident of Aargau, I am ashamed to live in a canton that is obviously absolutely backwards when it comes to custody and child welfare.
{mospagebreak}Today a demonstration in favor of Sandra took place in Rheinfelden. Around 100 people took to the streets and called on the Aargau authorities to respect human rights and not stubbornly insist on previous wrong decisions.
A vigil is planned next. It is to be hoped that the authorities will go over the books again.