Response to interpellation 2023/24:355 on children's perspectives in aid
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the government's reform agenda highlights children's freedom and rights and that increased efficiency means that more children can be reached 1. M believes that the reduction of aid does not worsen the conditions for children but creates a predictable operation 1. M wants to focus on quality and efficiency 2 as well as cooperate with trade and entrepreneurship 2 3. M asserts that the relocation of funds to result-oriented actors is in the children's interest 4. V argues that it is irresponsible to stop the aid to UNRWA as it risks children in Gaza 5 6. V believes that it is serious to cut the aid to Afghanistan 5 6. V wants the support to UNRWA to be reinstated 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! Lotta Johnsson Fornarve has asked me in what way I will work to guarantee that children's rights are taken into account in Swedish aid and work to ensure that girls' rights are guaranteed in the aid without a feminist foreign policy, as well as whether the government has conducted any impact assessment based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child of the new reform agenda for aid.
The government's reform agenda Aid for a new era - Freedom, empowerment and sustainable growth clearly shows that the government highlights children and children's freedoms and rights. Just as Lotta Johnsson Fornarve writes, the government notes in the reform agenda that children are often those who are most vulnerable and are hit hardest by poverty, war, climate change and disasters. Finding synergies between aid and trade is central in the government's reform agenda to counteract poverty among children in the long term. It is also through investments in the younger generation that aid can help lay the foundation for a more long-term positive change in the level of prosperity in poor countries.
It is incorrect that the government's reduction of aid would mean worsened conditions to meet children's freedoms, rights, and needs in the world. Increased aid effectiveness contributes to more children being reached by resources and fewer resources going to the wrong actors or corruption. Swedish aid policy remains generous. With an aid budget for 2023-2026 of 56 billion kronor per year and a cap for migration offsets - at most 8 percent of the aid budget - the government has created better conditions to be able to plan a predictable and effective operation.
In the reform agenda, it is clarified that the government is intensifying its work against harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and forced sterilization that risk affecting girls. It is an important part of the government's work to ensure that women and girls are free to decide for themselves over their lives and bodies.
That the aid shall also safeguard Swedish interests as specified in the reform agenda is in no way in contradiction to safeguarding the child's freedoms and rights. On the contrary, it is a core Swedish interest to contribute to the child's freedoms and rights globally.
The government's significant efforts to secure Ukrainian grain exports contribute to counteracting acute hunger in regions where children are at risk of starvation, for example in Yemen. The government's winter package to Ukraine included, among other things, 100 million kronor to Ukraine's grain exports via the UN's World Food Programme within the framework of the Grain from Ukraine initiative.
The government has also contributed 75 million kronor to UNESCO's crisis fund, which among other things supports the renovation and reconstruction of damaged and destroyed preschools and schools in Ukraine.
In addition to Sweden's large and maintained core support to Unicef, the government provided funds during 2023 for interventions following the earthquakes in Turkey and for humanitarian interventions for children in Gaza.
Sweden's children's rights policy is based, among other things, on the commitments Sweden has made by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children's rights policy is cross-sectoral, which means that children's freedoms, rights, and interests shall permeate all policies and all activities concerning children.
Regarding feminist foreign policy, the government's view is that the use of the term feminist foreign policy has led to the label obscuring the content of the policy. Commitment to equality shall yield concrete results and focus on content, not labeling.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer to my interpellation!
Every fifth child in the world lives today in a conflict zone. According to Save the Children's report from 2020, it concerns at least 420 million children. It is more than ever before.
Some of the most dangerous countries to live in as a child are Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Ukraine.
The situation in Gaza is unparalleled. About half of those who have fallen victim to Israel's violence are children. According to the UN, more children have been killed in Gaza than in all other conflict zones on earth in the past year. Three months of bombings have resulted in thousands of injured and killed children. Nearly one million children have been forcibly displaced and now live in cramped, overcrowded areas without sufficient access to water, food, and shelter. The children suffer from serious injuries such as burns and amputations and are severely traumatized.
Does the Minister believe that the government has done its utmost to protect the children in Gaza with the help of aid? I do not think so, considering that the aid to UNRWA has now been stopped. It is the organization that ensures the aid reaches out. There is no alternative to UNRWA; this is also confirmed by Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative. It is irresponsible to stop the aid to UNRWA and risk the lives of thousands of children in Gaza.
In Afghanistan, two-thirds of all children are dependent on emergency aid to survive. The country faces the worst food crisis ever. After the earthquake on October 7 last year, the situation is particularly difficult. More and more children are forced to work instead of going to school, and the Taliban regime's restrictions limit girls' freedoms and rights. In this situation, the government chooses to cut aid to Afghanistan. It is both wrong and serious.
The war in Yemen is in its ninth year. Those who are hit hardest are children. UNDP estimates that 259,000 people, almost 70 percent of those killed, are children. But even in countries like Mexico, the Philippines or Myanmar, children are not guaranteed full rights.
War and conflicts also hit hard all children who are forced to flee. Children are directly affected by violence and conflicts but also by poverty and malnutrition, lack of water and sanitation, and lack of education and healthcare.
Since 1 January 2020, the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been law in Sweden. Sweden shall be a country that takes a stand for children's rights both nationally and internationally. In the new reform agenda for aid, the government states that children are often those who are most vulnerable. It is also written that there are reasons to pay attention to children when Swedish aid is implemented.
But at the same time, it is difficult to see how this can happen in a satisfactory way with the government's cuts and reallocation of aid. Instead, I see children being abandoned in Gaza, in Afghanistan, and in other places. Has the government conducted any impact assessment based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the new reform agenda for aid? I would like to have an answer to that question.
Girls are particularly hard hit. The Minister says that the reform agenda clarifies that the government is intensifying its work against harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and forced sterilization that risk affecting girls. That is good, but at the same time, the support to UN Women, which does an immensely important work to counteract exactly female genital mutilation and to strengthen the rights of girls and women, is being halved. That does not really align with the talk of prioritizing girls and women.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, for an interpellation on a very important issue! I believe that we are fundamentally in agreement, Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, the House and I, that we see appalling problems today where very many children suffer greatly in large parts of the world. It concerns regions and countries where the problems unfortunately have been frequent for a long time, not least in the wake of poverty, oppression, and war. But it also concerns new places in the world, where we have not seen this type of problem previously.
It is terrible scenes that are unfolding in, for example, Gaza right now; no one can remain unmoved by this. We also think of the children who were subjected to Hamas's terrible terror attack on October 7.
We also see, connected to for example poverty, something that has been underscored for me on the various trips I have made. It is not just about traditional low-income environments, but we also see a great poverty in many middle-income countries. It is actually even the case that a clear majority of the world's poor live precisely in middle-income countries. So far, Madam Speaker, we are in agreement.
Since then, it has not always been completely simple to operate in these countries. Afghanistan, for example, is a country that Sweden has had a large international cooperation with for a long time. Now, unfortunately, one has received a regime in Afghanistan that does not want international aid on the ground and which even says that Sweden should apologize for operating on the ground in Afghanistan, helping women and children etcetera. It has also been clarified that female aid workers are no longer welcome in Afghanistan.
Then it is difficult to act. I regret that, because the government thinks it is important to help. But we naturally also have a responsibility for the aid workers and the people that Sweden sends out and for their safety. It is therefore not always that these things are in the Swedish government's hands, but we unfortunately encounter an environment out there that is very difficult.
It becomes a bit strange when the interpellator accuses the government of making the situation worse. I just want to point out that if one looks at, for example, the support to UNICEF, one sees that Sweden in 2023 was the seventh largest donor in the entire world. When it comes to core support, Sweden is the third largest donor in the entire world. That is not so bad for a country with 10 million people.
The other day, the government made a decision on a completely new strategy for human freedoms and rights with a clear focus on, among other things, children's rights. It concerns 900 million for 2024. We are also clear, Madam Speaker, in the reform agenda that we have presented to the Riksdag regarding how central these issues are.
We are changing the aid policy. We are changing it because we are concerned that Swedish aid money should always go to the right things and that we should always achieve results. We shall leave the traditional focus where we almost only talk about how much money we spend on something but more rarely about what we actually achieve.
If one does not show results and if one is not interested in changing when receiving criticism, we from the government's side believe it is a responsible stance to relocate funds to other organizations and actors who are more interested in working with quality. This is not least in the children's interest.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for further answers to my interpellation! I am glad that we agree that it is important to support children with the help of assistance. But it must also be shown in concrete action. I would like to receive an answer to the question of whether the government has conducted any impact assessment in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the reform agenda for assistance.
In Ukraine, children and families have been hit hard by the war. Their lives have been destroyed. Children have lost family members, their homes, and their schools. Air raid sirens and shelters have become part of the new normal. Unicef is a UN organization that has been in the country since day one when the war broke out and which continues to be on the ground. It is good that Sweden supports Unesco's crisis fund, which, among other things, supports the renovation and reconstruction of damaged and destroyed preschools and schools in Ukraine.
But I am concerned that Sweden is now cutting back on core support to the UN. The UN has the muscles required to be quickly on the ground in an acute crisis situation such as in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Palestine. The core support should rather be strengthened.
When it comes to the feminist foreign policy, the minister says that it has only been a label. But the evaluation shows that the feminist foreign policy has had an effect and that several countries have followed the Swedish example. To abandon it now is to send the wrong signals, which can jeopardize the strategic work for girls' rights.
More than 40 percent of Afghanistan's population is under 15 years of age. According to the UN, 23.7 million Afghans are estimated to be in need of acute aid during 2024. That is more than half of the population. The majority of these are children and women. More than 3 million children under five are malnourished. Child labor and child marriage are increasing, and the frequency of domestic violence is reported to be rising. Girls' education is threatened as a result of the Taliban regime's anti-women legislation. Only 3 percent of the country's girls have access to education beyond grade 6. Here, the efforts of Rädda Barnen, Unicef, and Svenska Afghanistankommittén are very important to provide, for example, education to girls.
This support could have been continued without any problems, as I see it. It is serious that the government is now cutting back on the support to Afghanistan. Why does the government choose to reduce Sweden's support to Afghan children and women when it is needed most?
The children in Gaza are probably the children who today are the most vulnerable. Thousands of children have been killed and even more injured and had legs or arms amputated - not to mention all the children who are severely traumatized after having experienced and witnessed how their loved ones were killed and injured. To stop the aid to UNRWA in this situation is a hard blow to the children in Gaza.
The Minister has previously said that it is possible to redistribute the aid to other organizations in Gaza, but it is not possible. This is confirmed by the organizations themselves, which say: We cannot do this. We are dependent on UNRWA to get the support out. There is no other organization that can reach out to those in need in Gaza in the way that UNRWA does. 2.2 million people in Gaza are on the brink of a famine catastrophe, which obviously hits the children the hardest. Here, the government must rethink and think correctly.
It is obvious that the government must do more to guarantee that children's rights are taken into account in Swedish aid.
I want to once again get an answer to the question: Has the government conducted any impact assessment based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the new reform agenda for aid?
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! I am pleased that Lotta Johnsson Fornarve attaches such great importance to the government's reform agenda for aid. We see great opportunities to change aid to achieve better results and to focus on precisely quality and efficiency, something that has for a long time been quite forgotten in the aid debate in favor of instead paying out as much money as possible. This is the direction that we want to see for Swedish aid. Then we will operationalize this in various country strategies, in bilateral strategies, and in thematic strategies. That is how the aid policy is designed.
This is no news, and Lotta Johnsson Fornarve knows that. That is how aid has functioned under different governments of different political colors. Regarding support to organizations working with children's issues, I want to emphasize once again that Sweden is, therefore, the seventh largest donor to the UN Children's Fund - a country with 10 million people is the seventh largest and regarding core support the third largest. This does not quite rhyme with the description that Lotta Johnsson Fornarve wants to make regarding this, namely that this should not be prioritized. It is quite obvious that we are prioritized, otherwise Sweden would not have been such a large donor.
We also want this to permeate many of the strategies and works that we have, and there are also clear formulations regarding this in the government's reform agenda.
It is a terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza, but it is also important to remember that this is not an argument against ensuring that the aid funds reach and make a difference and do not end up in the wrong hands. It is rather an argument for ensuring that the money reaches the children and women in Gaza who are experiencing a very difficult situation. Money should not end up with persons who may even have participated in terrorist activities or express support for terrorism. Swedish aid should never, ever come anywhere near terrorism.
I want to point out that this government has increased the humanitarian support to the civilian population in Gaza. This autumn, we presented a total support package of 210 million kronor in reinforced humanitarian support. Those funds were distributed to organizations other than UNRWA. Now it concerns 31 million kronor, and it is clear that if it was possible to distribute 210 million kronor just a few months ago in humanitarian support to other organizations, I believe there are good conditions to succeed in distributing 31 million kronor right now.
But it is important that we get to the bottom of this very serious information. It is not responsible to sweep the problems under the rug and just pay out money before we know how things stand. Is this the tip of an iceberg, and is there more information or not? It is a clear prioritization from the government's side to ensure the quality of the aid. Therefore, we do not stop the aid, but we redistribute it to other humanitarian organizations.
What can provide a positive development for many children in the world in the long term is more trade, entrepreneurship, innovation, and market economy. All historical experience shows that it is precisely this that lifts countries and inhabitants out of poverty. It also runs as a common thread through our reform agenda to find the types of synergies that are so important. It is also something that the recipient countries themselves demand. They want more investments, more trade, and jobs. My question to Lotta Johnsson Fornarve naturally becomes whether Vänsterpartiet wants to stand behind these important reforms to help the recipient countries lift themselves out of poverty and trade more and get more companies with higher growth and more jobs.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the further answer! The Minister indicates that the previous aid has been ineffective and has not functioned. That is simply not true. Sweden's aid has received extremely high ratings in international comparisons and has landed at the top, so to speak.
It is good that one supports UNICEF, but it does not mean that one should cut back on support to other important areas, for example Afghanistan and to UNRWA in Gaza, because it hits the most vulnerable children very hard. It is clear that the money must reach its destination.
We know today that it is UNRWA that ensures the money reaches Gaza. All the major international aid organizations say this. They are dependent on UNRWA to get the aid out. It is UNRWA that, on the ground, ensures that the aid reaches out. This is also something that several countries have seen and which the EU's foreign minister, High Representative Josep Borrell, has also underlined: Do not stop the aid to UNRWA. Also, the UN Secretary-General urges the world's countries not to stop this aid, because it hits the population in Palestine extremely hard.
Of course, the allegations must be investigated, but one cannot punish the entire organization with thousands of employees. Above all, one cannot punish the entire Palestinian population and risk that 2.2 million people end up in famine, which naturally hits the children particularly hard.
Sweden must do the right thing here and ensure that support for UNRWA is restored. We must work for a ceasefire. We must continue to support children around the world. It is simply necessary because the situation regarding children looks appalling. We must conduct a proper impact assessment based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the new reform agenda for aid.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me just emphasize that there are plenty of different evaluations pointing out that, not least, the management of Swedish aid has been substandard. It is also a fact emphasized in other evaluations that very many countries that have received very large sums, amounts of many billions even, in Swedish aid, sometimes over several decades, continue to be just as dependent on aid now as they were then. Then one can, of course, continue to do as one has always done - and continue to expect that it will be roughly as it is today - or try to break new ground.
We are keen that the focus in aid policy should be more on what we achieve and on quality and efficiency rather than just how much money is paid out. It is important to try to find synergies with the important trade policy, entrepreneurship and small business ownership, so that people get a job to go to and can have their own livelihood. Then you lift entire families out of poverty as well. This is the fantastic journey we see that many countries have succeeded in making.
We must support that development and ensure that we have a situation where trade and aid are not seen as two different things but as two sides of the same coin. There must be a synergy. This is what a very large part of our reform agenda is about.
Regarding Afghanistan, it is difficult to operate on the ground in the country because the Taliban do not want any aid workers there. For example, women are not allowed into the country. It is very difficult to get around the fact that the conditions have changed drastically in a short time. I regret it, but it is a decision that has been made by the Taliban regime.
I also want to point out that UNRWA funds are being relocated to other humanitarian organizations while we are getting to the bottom of these serious allegations. I hope that we will be able to have those types of investigations on our table very soon and be able to take a position on them. Thank you, Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, for the debate!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.