Democracy and human rights

Statement during the Informal Meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, by Chair of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, H.E. Ambassador Olof Skoog, 8 February, United Nations, New York.

The need for peace in the world is greater than it has been for a long time. The number of conflicts in recent years has increased. Violence in countries such as Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan has turned back decades of economic, social and political development. Climate change, with the accompanying droughts, flooding or lack of freshwater, is accelerating and aggravating the challenges that already exist in fragile states.

250 years ago today, Sweden introduced the Freedom of the Press Act, the first legislation of its kind in the world. However, as we highlight this important landmark, the fundamental rights and freedoms the Act sets out to defend are increasingly under threat around the world. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has therefore produced a short film, #FreetheSpeech, on the silence that would appear in a world without free speech.

Within the framework of this strategy, Swedish development cooperation with Colombia will contribute to peacebuilding and state building, as well as sustainable development.

This results strategy governs the use of funds under appropriation item 17 ‘Middle East and North Africa’ in the appropriation directions for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for each budget year. The strategy is to apply for the period 2015–2019 and amounts to approximately SEK 1.5 billion.

The Government has commissioned the Public Health Agency of Sweden to carry out a population-based national survey study on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The purpose of the study is to improve the effectiveness of public health efforts in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Within the framework of this strategy, Swedish development cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa is to contribute to increased regional integration and strengthened capacityto face cross-border challenges and opportunities at regional level.

The number of children who are wrongfully removed or are retained in a country other than the country where the child is resident has increased in recent years. This booklet aims to give you as a parent in this situation some practical support by offering information about what you yourself can do as a parent, what help you can get and where you can turn. At the same time, it contains information about what help is not available to you. This information is also important to keep your expectations realistic.

This fact sheet contains a brief presentation of the Swedish law-making process.

Within the framework of this strategy, Swedish development cooperation with Liberia will contribute to peacebuilding and statebuilding. The aim is to help strengthen Liberia’s public services and create the conditions for peaceful, inclusive and sustainable development.

Within the framework of this strategy, Swedish development cooperation with Kenya is to contribute to a better environment, limited climate impact and strengthened resilience, the democratic development of society and improved opportunities for poor people to support themselves.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, list of issues in relation to the sixth periodic report of Sweden.

On Monday 11 April, an adaptation of the organisation and working procedures of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs enters into force to better enable the Ministry to address the challenges facing Sweden’s foreign, security and development policy in terms of rapid and complex changes around the world.

Presented by Mrs Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Parliamentary Debate on Foreign Affairs, Wednesday, 24 February 2016.

This Communication provides an account of the measures the Government has implemented to safeguard democracy against violent extremism. The aim of these measures is to improve our knowledge of violent extremism and develop preventive initiatives and methods. These measures will enable authorities, municipalities and civil society organisations, including faith communities, to contribute in a more coordinated and effective manner to safeguard democracy against violent extremism.

This year Sweden and Afghanistan celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations. The excellent relations were reaffirmed during the visit of H.E President Ashraf Ghani to Stockholm on 4 December 2015.

The aim of the activities within the scope of this strategy is to contribute to strengthening the resilience of the Syrian population and of vulnerable groups in Syria's neighbouring countries that are being severely affected by the conflict. The strategy will also contribute to strengthening democracy and gender equality and to greater respect of human rights in Syria and for refugees from Syria in neighbouring countries. The strategy will apply to the period 2016–2020 and will comprise a total of SEK 1.7 billion. The initiatives encompassed by this strategy are expected to contribute to:

The conflict in Syria will soon enter its fifth year. At least 6.5 million Syrians are displaced in their own country and over 4 million have fled from Syria. This corresponds to more than half of the Syrian population.