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POLITICS

Which Swedish party leaders are boycotting Nobel ceremony over Russian ambassador?

Several Swedish party leaders said they would not attend the Nobel Prize celebrations this year, after the Russian ambassador was invited.

Published: 1 September 2023 14:44 CEST
Updated: 1 September 2023 19:39 CEST
Which Swedish party leaders are boycotting Nobel ceremony over Russian ambassador?
File photo of the Nobel Prize ceremony in 2016. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Updated following a clarification from the Nobel Foundation that the invitation applies to the prize ceremony, not the banquet.

Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar and Green Party leader Märta Stenevi said they would boycott one of the glitziest affairs in the Swedish calendar, disagreeing with the Nobel Foundation’s decision to invite the Russian ambassador to the prize ceremony.

“I can’t attend an event where a representative of the Russian regime is present. They are currently waging a bloody war of aggression, a terror war on Ukraine. Every day we’re seeing pictures of hospitals and preschools that have been bombed to pieces,” said Demirok.

Far-right Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, who was invited to the event for the first time this year, earlier in the day said he would not attend because he would be “busy” on the day. He too criticised the decision to invite the ambassadors for Russia, Belarus and Iran.

“The Nobel Foundation of course decides who they want to invite. But like many others, I was greatly surprised that Russia was being invited,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a written statement to AFP.

“I would not have done it if I were handling invites to an award ceremony and I understand that it upsets many people in both Sweden and Ukraine,” Kristersson added, although he didn’t confirm whether or not he would attend.

Christian Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch told TT she still planned to attend the festivities, adding that the guest list was up to the Nobel Foundation.

Liberal leader Johan Pehrson said the invitation was an example of “lack of judgement”, but didn’t immediately comment on whether or not he would attend.

Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson’s press secretary told public broadcaster SVT that Andersson had not yet received an invitation, but didn’t elaborate on what her answer to an invitation might be.

On Thursday, the Nobel Foundation – which organises the annual Nobel prize ceremony and banquet in Stockholm – said it would extend an invitation to all ambassadors of countries which have representation in Sweden or Norway.

In 2022, the Foundation decided not to invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors over the war in Ukraine, and the Iranian envoy over the country’s crackdown on a wave of protests.

“It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced,” Vidar Helgesen, the executive director of the Nobel Foundation, said in a statement.

“To counter this tendency, we are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies.”

The glitzy bash is held each year in Stockholm on December 10th when laureates in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics receive their awards from King Carl XVI Gustaf, followed by a gala banquet for around 1,200 guests.

A separate ceremony is held in Oslo on the same day for the Peace Prize laureate.

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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