Rowling to rescue of abused children -
Rowling to rescue of abused children Summary:
JK Rowling Rowling to rescue of abused children
Article:
LONDON - Rescuing friends from the dungeons of Hogwarts school is all in a day's work for Harry Potter, the magical hero of five children's books that have racked up $250 million US in sales.
But his creator J.K. Rowling has embarked on an even bolder quest - to free the disabled children who are locked in cages at care homes in eastern Europe.
Rowling was shocked by a Sunday Times report last month which focused on a five-year-old boy called Vasek Knotek.
Vasek starts screaming at 11 a.m. each day as he is returned to his cage after being let out briefly for washing and feeding at the Raby home, near Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
Like four other mentally handicapped children at the home and a toddler with cerebral palsy, he has no teddy bears or toys to comfort or console him, receives no visits and has little human contact, except when his diaper is changed.
The report was based on the observations of an undercover journalist posing as a prospective social worker
The reporter was armed with a concealed camera and the story prompted Rowling to protest to the Czech ambassador in London about the plight of many such children.
Appealing to Stefan Fule, the ambassador, as a fellow parent, she said she could imagine only too easily the "permanent damage that is being inflicted" on the children.
"I am sure that I am not alone in feeling a deep sense of shock that a fellow member of the European Union like the Czech Republic could permit such abuses," she added.
Her intervention could be critical to the outcome of a debate triggered by the article in the former eastern bloc country.
"There was a letter from Potter," said an excited official at the embassy. "Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling - that's when we realized that this was serious and was not just going to blow over."
A further letter from Rowling to her Member of the European Parliament, Catherine Stihler, left no doubt about the strength of her feelings on behalf of both children and adults confined to cages.
"I am sure that I am one of many who were horrified beyond words to read about the neglect and abuse of such very vulnerable people; indeed, the word torture does not seem too strong," she wrote.
"The idea that children as young as five are being locked in cages for the majority of their lives is nothing short of horrific; that this is happening in a relatively prosperous fellow EU state can only deepen feelings of outrage."
Rowling said last week that she would be contacting another MEP, Baroness Nicholson, who is already pressing for reform.
Describing the practice of keeping children in cages as "inhumane," Rowling added: "The very idea of being locked in a bed-sized cage around the clock is enough to give adults nightmares - far more terrifying than anything Harry Potter has had to encounter."
Czech officials find it hard to imagine a more potent symbol in the campaign than Rowling's boy hero whose battles against evil are renowned throughout the world.
Rowling, 38, who has earned a fortune estimated in the latest Sunday Times rich list at $810 million US from Harry Potter books, films and merchandise, generally keeps a low profile but has campaigned for several charities, including the National Council for One Parent Families, the MS Society of Scotland and Maggie's Centres, a cancer support service.
While staff responsible for keeping children in cages say the bars are needed to prevent the hyperactive from hurting themselves, a leading British neurologist has suggested that the practice causes anger, aggression and depression.
Rowling, who has spoken of the bouts of depression that she suffered as a single mother struggling to make ends meet as she wrote her first novel in a cold Edinburgh bed-sit, may draw on her experience of working for Amnesty International in her latest campaign.
Amnesty has condemned the use of the cages on the grounds that it breaks international law, and in her letters Rowling cites another group, Human Rights Watch, which says it is contrary to the United Nations convention on the rights of the child.
Her involvement may also spur her many fans to make their voices heard and one campaigner speculated that the children of Czech politicians, including Stanislav Gross, the 34-year-old acting Czech prime minister, could be encouraged to raise the subject.
In Potter land, those with the power to act but who stand by and do nothing would be ranked alongside Harry's evil enemy, Lord Voldemort.
Rowling's interest will boost the work begun by Nicholson, who has previously helped to transform the lives of children in Romanian orphanages and has raised the issue of the Czech cages with senior British and European politicians.
"These countries need to institute a process of deinstitutionalization, and we need to try to get these children into loving homes where they belong," said Nicholson.
"It needs to be taken head on, root and branch, and needs EU funding and massive staff retraining."
In Prague, where the social affairs ministry insisted last month that there were no plans to outlaw the cages, a different tone was being struck last week as officials responded to the growing scrutiny.
"We're working on it," said Katerina Berankova, a spokeswoman.
"This has to be stopped," said Rowling.
"Caring and more loving alternatives must be found."
Herald 
