No political boycott at China Olympics 2008

All talks of a political boycott of the 2008 Olympics in China has run out of steam. When the games open in two weeks, political heavyweights like USA President George Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin will be in place. From Norway will come King Harald as well as the Swedish royal couple King Gustav and Queen Silvia.

The Swedish government has no thoughts of showing any criticisms against the Chinese government for its iron-handling of the Tibetan monks' protest by absenting itself from the gala opening ceremony. "We never had any positions to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony," says Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has no demands either to boycott the Olympics. It has been a Swedish tradition to send the culture minister to the Olympics inauguration, followed later by the Royal couple's visit from Aug. 14 to 24.

It is not yet clear which heads of states are attending the Olympics 2008, although Reuters has reported that USA's George Bush, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also currently holding the EU presidency will be attending, as well as Russia's Vladimir Putin and Israel's Shimon Peres. Finland will be represented by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. Netherlands, Japan, Australia and Italy will also be represented by the respective heads of states.

Earlier this year, China was very much in world focus for its handling of the protesting Tibetan monks. It was then that talks of a political boycott of the Olympic games became heard, especially from French President Sarkozy. But he says now: "I believe that insulting China is not the best way of showing respect for human rights. I do not believe that one can boycott 1.3 billion people which is one-fourth of the world's population."

Other leading politicians like Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and United Kingdom's Gordon Brown have clearly stated they will not attend the opening ceremony. But according to Us CBS News, Brown is thinking of coming for the closing ceremony.

(Translation made from DN, 28 July 2008))

Parliament to vote on a law that violates private person's integrity

In two days time, the Swedish parliament is set to vote on the passing of a new law designed to give free reign to the state information system, to listen to and intercept all forms of communication via the Internet and telephone. The motivation behind this draconian measure that will trespass on the citizen's right to integrity is a presumed threat of external terrorism.

Dagens Nyheter's columnist Niklas Ekdal writes: " One does not need to have paranoia or sharp imagination to see how the state information can be abused. Sources, confidential letters and other matters of course disappear simply by pressing 'Delete'."

Listening devices have played an important role in the last two World Wars as well as during the Cold War. The art of intercepting enemy communication, at sea or land and reacting in time to subvert an attack was due to inventions in the field of information. But times have changed with the discovery of highly sophisticated information technology. World politics is changed and may require an even more advanced system of security surveillance. But not at the expense of the people's right to privacy and integrity.

Enacting a law that allows the state to intrude into the private realm of the citizen's life sends a jolting reality in a democratic society where person's integrity is sanctified in law. That this is happening in Sweden is unimaginable and speaks of ignorance on the part of parliamentarians with bad security advisers. This is heading for totalitarianism through information control, which is what happens in China and other dictatorships around the world. What a terrible setback in a democratic society!

Forced marriages and marriages for sale

The Swedish Migration Board is once again on the limelight for failing to do a proper investigation into an arranged marriage that took place in Iran whereby the supposed bride was brought to Sweden, wherein said marriage did not last the legally-mandated two-year period to allow a permanent residence permit. The Iranian woman is now due for deportation back to Iran where she allegedly faces death threat from her own family.

The Migration Board has become more generous in its assumption that Swedes and holders of permanent residence permits who marries abroad, or finds a partner abroad and returns to Sweden "stays married" because they found love. Indeed it is naive to pursue such an assumption as basis for a migration policy. It smacks of ignorance of the thriving marriage business, whereby a Swedish national or holder of a residence permit can enter into a marriage contract for the cost of no less than 100,000 Swedish crowns. Poor parents in some remote villages in Asia, Africa and even Latin-America could easily welcome the idea of marrying off their daughters, or sons in exchange for hard currency.

The waiting time of two years to prove serious marital intent may protect the women from immediate deportation but it does not control the flourishing marriage business nor put a hinder to parentally-arranged marriages. Nothing is more detrimental to women than to be forced into a loveless marriage, a marriage where violence and domestic abuses happen.

According to Dagens Nyheter ( June 10, 2008) there were around 16,000 persons last year who were granted temporary permanent residences and a large number were women from Thailand. It is pre-supposed that even in these cases, some were made out of a business arrangement. It is a known fact that in Thailand's remote villages, poor parents sell their daughters if not to marriages, then to brothels and sex procurers.

It is lamentable that the Migration Board should adopt an indifferent attitude towards the real possibility of human trafficking disguised as marriages, or that it should presume that nationals bringing potential brides to Sweden are motivated by the noblest emotion called love.

Iraq asks conference for a debt write-off

The International Conference on Iraq held in Stockholm on Thursday, May 29th did not achieve any dramatic results but was judged by many as a positive step forward. The United Nations and international community urged the Iraq government to build a working state governed by law, while at the same time getting good words for the progress it has achieved.

"The international community is pressing Iraq's elected leaders to report on what it has done, something one cannot underestimate", says Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Speaker after speaker have reiterated that Iraq has actually achieved economic, political and security progress during the recent year. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who chaired the conference and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Maliki said that violence in Iraq has decreased in comparison to the alarming level during 2006 and start of 2007.

Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Maliki reported in a long speech the progress made on the economy and security, while at the same time stating that "significant challenges" remain, and that a big number of civilians face military violence, plus the unsettled division between Shites, Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq. Nuri urged the conference for a write-off of Iraq's debts, a big part of which was left behind by the Saddam regime - which includes war damages to Kuwait after Saddam's invasion of 1990. For this, Iraq must pay 5 percent of its yearly oil revenues to the tune of 3.5 billion US dollars.

In the final conference declaration it was emphasized that protection of women and minorities and other exploited groups was of paramount concern for Iraq's government. The next international conference is planned next year in Baghdad. ( Translation made from DN news report, May 30, 2008)

Reinfeldt satisfied with US promise to take in more refugees

US State Secretary Condoleeza Rice promised the Swedish Prime Minister that USA will open its doors to more Iraq refugees, a priority concern that was taken up during a meeting on Thursday morning. She mentioned a figure of some 12,000 refugees. Iraqi refugees that sought refuge in the small county of Södertälje told the prime minister that they came to Sweden because it has an "open door" when others were closed.

Rice expressed her gratitude and appreciation of the generous Swedish refugee policy. "Sweden has really taken a significant responsibility for Iraqi refugees. It is much appreciated both by Iraq and the US." She added that US is trying to improve its refugee reception capacity and that she has a close refugee coordinator working with her. She added that, "if we succeed in making Iraq a safe place, people can return home."#

Crises and challenges facing the coalition gov't.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is back home after his reported successful state visits to China and Japan where he laid the ground for Sweden's presidency of the European Union in autumn 2009. Topping the list of his agenda was a program for achieving the environmental goal of reducing carbon dioxide emission.

Reinfeldt's high diplomatic profile is further highlighted when Sweden hosts an international conference on Iraq at the end of this month. The conference which will be attended by some 80 delegates from different countries and will tackle the problem of Iraq's reconstruction and democratization. U.S. Foreign Minister Condoleeza Rice who will be attending will be received by the Swedish Prime Minister, who will inform her that Sweden has taken a large number of Iraqi asylum-seekers, much more than USA and EU combined.

It is Sweden's generous reception of Iraqi refugees that made it a suitable conference venue for the international meeting. For a small country that had nothing to do with the decision to go to war in Iraq, Sweden has indeed gone out of its way to be accommodating to the Iraqis. The chairmanship of the conference will be held by UN and the Iraqi government. An important topic of discussion will be the appropriation and use of Iraq's oil resources.

While the Swedish government is earning merits in diplomacy and humanitarian assistance, there are rumblings in the homefront that hits the basic humanitarian values of a democratic society. These three issues, outlined in Dagen Nyheter's editorial of May 17, are occuring simultaneously. The first concerns the near bankrupt defense establishment which questions seriously the credibility and ability of the Swedish defense to perform its role domestically and internationally. The second, is the inability of the country's justice system to prosecute an increasing number of cases due to lack of funds. As the cliche goes, " Justice delayed is justice denied." The third is the situation of refugees without legal documents who have no access to medical care and hospitalization.

The burden of solving these crises, as well as of facing challenges rests upon the Coalition government, and not upon any single political party in power. One reported reason why refugees in hiding are not given access to medical care is the apprehension that they will find stronger reasons to stay. #

Where's the Aid Money?

A large part of the Swedish National Audit's devastating report on irregularities concerning development aid money in certain African countries is being challenged by a new report issued recently by SIDA (Swedish International Development Authority). But the National Audit Authority is not changing its view.

In autumn last year, the Swedish National Audit conducted an investigation of 15 SIDA-financed projects and none was found faultless. Ten were found with serious accounting irregularities; five were fraudulent and two had serious indications of irregularities and errors.

It was discovered in the autumn audit that some aid money disappeared without a trace. The audit investigation was made on SIDA-financed projects in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania - with a total budget of SEK36 million. The money was not properly accounted for in the books, accounting procedure was wrong and certain projects were non-existent, to name a few shortcomings.

SIDA, stung by the criticism conducted its own investigation. " Of the National Audit's 30 suspected irregularities 12 were confirmed", says Sture Eriksson, auditor at Allegretto which did the audit for SIDA. He claims that they have investigated deeper into the supposedly 30 suspected projects, which is why they disclaim errors in about half of them. But the new SIDA audit also found irregularities in the accounting.

Regardless of what the SIDA audit found as mitigating circumstances in the use of aid money, the National Audit stands on its own report. A SIDA-supported NGO, Forum Syd is one one of those whose project was criticized. (Translation made from DN report, 20 March 2008)

Swedish Forces in Afghanistan to get reinforcement

Both the Swedish government and the Ministry of Defence have agreed to increase the military reinforcement in Afghanistan, reported Dagens Nyheter recently. It will consist of an additional 130 to 150 men from today's 300.

Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors says however that the government has not taken any definite decisions as to the size of reinforcement. He says that, his ambition is to increase the Swedish military presence and he prioritises the sending of three helicopter ambulances to improve the medical chain and insure the safety of the ground troops.

The mandate for the current Swedish troops in Afghanistan runs out in December and it will be up to the government and the parliament to decide on any prolongations. Earlier, there was a controversy on pulling out the troops after six months due to costs and the rainy season.

It is not clear as of today what specific duty the additional soldiers will have. It could mean reinforcement in the Provincial Reconstruction Team, PRT, in Mazar-i-Sharif in north Afghanistan which is headed by Sweden. Tolgfors however assured that no Swedish soldiers will go to the southern part where the security situation is bad. It does not mean however that the same problem does not exist in the north, he adds.

As to where JAS fighter planes will be offered to the forces in Afghanistan remains a question. Tolgfors says that this is a matter for NATO which leads the Isaf-forces in Afghanistan. He reiterates that his priority are ambulance helicopter planes. "There are other EU countries that can supply the fighting planes," he says.