Greek couple arrested as Irish police return Roma children
A Roma couple are arrested in Greece on suspicion of abducting a child, as Ireland moves to investigate why two Roma children were wrongly taken by authorities.
Police in Greece confirmed that a man and woman on the island of Lesvos were charged with child abduction after a two-month-old baby was found living with them.
They have confirmed that “initial evidence strongly indicates that they are not the parents of the baby”.
The couple had tried to get a birth certificate for their baby with a signed statement and no hospital records, which made municipal employees suspicious.
Prosecutors across the country are under order to be alert for discrepancies in birth certificates after a blonde, blue-eyed child was found during a raid on a Roma camp last week.
Police say they have evidence the couple used false IDs to register the child as their own and DNA tests show they are not her biological parents.
The 40-year-old woman and 39-year-old man, who say the girl was given to them by her mother who could not look after her, have been charged with abducting a minor and detained pending trial.
Interpol ‘yellow notice’
Interpol has now issued a “yellow notice” with a picture of the girl urged all 190 member countries to test her DNA profile against their national database.
Ireland‘s Ombudsman for Children is to launch an investigation to find out why two Roma children were taken from their families and put into care this week.
Irish police in Dublin and Athlone took children from their homes for DNA tests, but later returned them to their parents after a national outcry.
Justice minister Alan Shatter has called on the Garda Commissioner to prepare a report explaining why two children were taken from their parents.
“I’ve no doubt that in these two cases the gardai acted in good faith,” Mr Shatter said.
I would like to know what was the immediate and serious threat to their health or safety. Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s deputy prime minister
“Fortunately it turned out that the concerns that arose in these cases were unfounded and I’m very keen to ensure that any lessons that need to be learned are learned.
“As I said, any procedural changes that have to be implemented that they are implemented and that we have a comprehensive approach to this in the context of the connectivity between An Garda Siochana and the HSE.”
The Roma family of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed schoolgirl removed by Irish police support calls for an independent investigation.
Deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, said the ordeal must have been “distressing” for those involved, calling for the Children’s Ombudsman to review the cases.
“I would like to know what was the immediate and serious threat to their health or safety, which was considered to justify their removal from their family,” Mr Gilmore said.
“I would like to know how the decision was made, by whom it was made and I would also like to know if there were other ways short of the children being removed from the family home and the family setting.”
Profiling fears
The Roma Integration Association Ireland has asked the Irish government to immediately outline what procedures are in place to prevent racial profiling across public services.
The group has raised questions over whether minorities are subjected to excessive attention from police and other public services.
Stelian Ciuciu, National Coordinator of the Roma Integration Association noted: “Ireland has already been warned by a Council of Europe report in February about the need to prevent racial profiling.
“The events of the past week have done little to reassure migrants that this has taken place.”