Response to interpellation 2024/25:179 on the activities of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the Raoul Wallenberg Institute's role and funding to secure research on human rights. Håkansson (S) argues that the institute is a unique resource for international knowledge and warns that the budget risks destroying its work 1. He emphasizes that the institute is an independent foundation that is important for academia and international exchanges 2. Brandberg (L) responds that she cannot take initiative for the institute since it is not an agency 3. She argues that research on human rights is important and that the government should continue to be a role model internationally 4 5.
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 Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! Per-Arne Håkansson has asked me if I intend to take the initiative to ensure in the long term that research and development can be conducted regarding human rights and humanitarian law at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.
The goal of the policy for human rights at the national level is to ensure full respect for Sweden's international commitments on human rights. The goal is cross-sectoral and shall permeate all policy.
The Ministry of Employment is responsible for the Institute for Human Rights, which Per-Arne Håkansson mentions in the interpellation. The Institute for Human Rights is an agency under the government, and like other agencies, it has an administrative appropriation. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute is not an agency, and there is no possibility for me, within my area of responsibility, to take initiative regarding the long-term securing of research and development at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the interpellor for his commitment to issues regarding human rights, a commitment that I share.
Per-Arne Håkansson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank you for the answer from Paulina Brandberg.
The purpose of the interpellation was to highlight the Raoul Wallenberg Institute's almost unique position as a resource in the work of promoting research and disseminating important knowledge about human rights. If I have understood the situation correctly, Paulina Brandberg is responsible in the government for issues regarding democracy and equality, and for that reason, I addressed my interpellation to her. I do, however, have full respect for the coordination that can take place within the Government Offices regarding specific matters.
That I raised the issue has its background in a meeting with the County Administrative Board in Skåne recently, which I participated in. The executive director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute sounded the alarm that there is an obvious and acute risk that all the knowledge one has regarding international law and humanitarian law in a global perspective will be lost for the public and students through the budget for coming years that the government has prepared and the Riksdag is now processing. In that situation, I consider it important to act and alert the government to the problem.
In this context, it should be emphasized that the Raoul Wallenberg Institute is an independent foundation. Even though it was founded 40 years ago by Professor Göran Melander at Lund University, it is not part of the university's organization in any other way than that a number of students and researchers use the institute's library and databases.
A large part of the institute's collective knowledge forms the basis for efforts that have been and are being carried out internationally for democratic development and universal human rights.
Let us for a few moments look back 40 years to when the Raoul Wallenberg Institute was formed! It took place during the time of the Cold War and was perhaps also prompted by the fact that human rights in the mid-1970s were in a particular focus with the Democrats' Jimmy Carter as president in the USA.
Carter raised these issues on the agenda in decisive contrast to the then Eastern Bloc's one-party states. One can also claim that it led to a resurgence over a couple of decades for democratic ideals and the development of some conventions that we are now working with. It concerns economic, social and cultural rights and not least the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been Swedish law for some years now. In all these issues, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute has a deep and profound knowledge, which they share in various ways.
Violations of international law are mapped in what I understand to be designated as the world's first database of its kind. At the institute, research in human rights is combined with direct engagement on the ground in cooperation with local partners in over 40 countries. The institute operates in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe. Now there are also far advanced plans to establish offices in Kyiv in Ukraine, to be on the ground as a cooperation partner and resource in the upcoming EU accession process.
In the response, Minister Paulina Brandberg emphasizes that the policy's goal is to ensure full respect for Sweden's international commitments and that this goal is cross-sectoral and should permeate all policy. I would therefore like to follow up with a question on whether Paulina Brandberg considers the Raoul Wallenberg Institute's collective knowledge and databases on human rights to be valuable and thus need to be protected for the sake of future and ongoing research. If so, perhaps there is hope for some form of initiative to protect the operations.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! Just like the interpellor, I am from Skåne. I grew up in Lund and studied at Juridicum, which is located next to the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. I am well acquainted with its activities.
Work regarding human rights, just as the Raoul Wallenberg Institute carries out, is very important - not least in the time we live in. The global situation constantly reminds us that we must never take human rights for granted and that we always need to strive to move the positions forward.
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute is, as I said in my first answer, not an authority. When it comes to the financing of the operations, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, just like other operations, has a responsibility to ensure that the required economic resources are available, and this is an institute that today is financed via several different sources. A request for funding has also been submitted to the Ministry of Education, and that request is being processed within the Government Offices. I cannot precede that process.
I think that all research and dissemination of knowledge regarding human rights is important, not least in the time we live in.
Per-Arne Håkansson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer and the reasoning that Paulina Brandberg set out regarding the issues I raised!
As I see it, there is a significant public interest in utilizing the knowledge acquired at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. It was interesting to receive the information that there is a demand from the Ministry of Education in this context.
The Swedish Institute for Human Rights also came up in the debate. It was formed after several years of investigation and preparatory work – not least in the Committee on the Constitution, of which I am a member. The Institute is now on its way to receiving the highest quality stamp globally in the form of A-status. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute was a highly involved and important actor in its creation.
Each of these institutes has important and pressing tasks to perform, and one could perhaps say that the Institute for Human Rights represents the national perspective while the Raoul Wallenberg Institute works internationally. These are issues that Sweden has championed over the years through active work with diplomacy and in the Council of Europe, the UN, and similar bodies.
Madam Speaker! The democracy measurements and indices from, among others, the Varieties of Democracy Institute at the University of Gothenburg, which I can refer to here, show that democracy is unfortunately in decline in large parts of the world. Among the causes for concern are the increasingly authoritarian forces that seem to uphold civil and political rights only when it serves their own interests.
The presidential election and the style of debate in the USA, and the promises made, may perhaps exacerbate this concern further. The retreat for democracy is perhaps most noticeable in Eastern Europe and South and Central Asia. According to measurements from forskning.se, where Swedish educational institutions are presented, 71 percent of the world's population now live in what can be described as authoritarian states. Paulina Brandberg is liberal, and therefore I think these should be questions that make her reflect on how we can reverse this gloomy development.
Some time ago, Paulina Brandberg and I had a debate in this chamber regarding the Institute for Human Rights, this being in connection with the fact that both the government's largest party, Sverigedemokraterna, and Moderaterna had previously questioned its continued existence. Now, thankfully, it remains in this year's budget, but I would like to assert that the recent years have been turbulent times for issues concerning human rights even here at home in Sweden.
Knowledge, access to information, and ensuring source criticism are prerequisites that are often mentioned for developing democracy and strengthening awareness on a broad level. I want to ask Paulina Brandberg whether, from this perspective, one still does not see opportunities to participate and contribute to ensuring that the facts, the knowledge, and the research gathered at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute can play an important role in this work moving forward.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! Just as the interpellor describes, we have various activities and institutions in Sweden that work with the issue of human rights. Some have a more national focus, and some have a more international focus.
All actors who focus on these issues are important cogs in the work, and there I see that there is a consensus that the work is perhaps more important than it has been in a very long time given the world around us and that we should not take it for granted.
The government also continues the work on various levels. As a minister, I am responsible for human rights at the national level, everything we do in Sweden and our commitments, and we in the government are in complete agreement that everything we do shall be compatible with the international conventions that Sweden has committed to follow.
Sweden has, of course, an important role internationally, and we are often seen as an example when it comes to human rights. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to include issues concerning gender equality and the rights of hbtqi persons, which are also an important part of fundamental human rights.
When I meet colleagues abroad, for example when I am in Brussels and meet my EU colleagues or when I am in New York and at the UN, I often notice that Sweden has a high reputation in these issues. We shall use that to be a role model there, and we shall continue to be at the forefront. We shall, of course, also in different contexts use our voice to highlight the importance of respect for human rights. The government will continue to do this in the future as well.
Per-Arne Håkansson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Paulina Brandberg, and for the reasoning regarding these questions!
I can inform that as recently as these past few days, I received a petition from about forty students in the Master's program in Human Rights, which may also have been sent to the Government Offices. In it, they collectively emphasize the importance of the collective knowledge available at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and the meeting place that exists there, and how important it has been in their work and studies.
I want to emphasize once again that it is an institute independent from the university, but that it is of great importance for academia and research and for a large number of students.
On two occasions, I have personally had the pleasure of receiving a delegation from Harare in Zimbabwe here in the Riksdag at the initiative of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. It was one of several visits the delegation made to various Swedish social institutions in the ongoing work that, in the long run, is intended to help combat poverty, increase knowledge and insight into democratic work, and counter violations of international law and humanitarian law, whether it concerns Zimbabwe, as in this case, or other parts of the world.
It is valuable, as I see it, with international exchanges. I am convinced that they will also benefit our own society, precisely to strengthen the issues of democracy and equality.
I look forward to following up on these issues in the future as well and hope that Paulina Brandberg is also prepared then. I believe it is important that we highlight this. What is mentioned regarding the Raoul Wallenberg Institute is a fundamental matter for strengthening democracy work moving forward.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank you for this debate and for the interpellant's commitment to these important issues. I hope that we can continue to have meaningful discussions about this in the future as well.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.