About

What is the Swedish Forum for Human Rights? 

The Swedish Forum for Human Rights is the biggest annual forum about human rights in the Nordic countries. The forum is held in November every year in various places in Sweden focusing on a variety of themes concerning human rights. More than 2.000 participants from non-governmental organizations, Universities, business and authorities on a central, regional and local level as well as teachers and students from secondary schools and colleges have taken part in various seminars and workshops.

Previous speakers at the Swedish Forum for Human Rights include: Ryszard Kapusinski, Jan Eliasson,Louise Fréchette, Hans Blix,Vandana Shiva, Hans Corell,Anna Politkovskaja and Susan Nathan.

Why a Swedish Forum for Human Rights?

The idea of Human Rights is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. The respect for Human Rights is a foundation for peace, freedom, justice, democracy and sustainable development. The main purpose of the Swedish Forum for Human Rights is for Swedish society to become permeated with respect for Human Rights.

The aims of The Swedish Forum for Human Rights are to discuss challenges in the field of human rights, to put human rights issues higher up on the political agenda and to promote cooperation between civil society organizations, businesses and authorities responsible for protecting human rights. The Swedish Forum for Human Rights is organized by a coalition of Swedish human rights organizations including the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, the Swedish Red Cross, the Church of Sweden and the University of Gothenburg with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Folke Bernadotte Academy.

History of the Swedish Forum for Human Rights!
The initiative to create the Swedish Forum for Human Rights was taken in the year 2000 by the association Ordfront, the Academy of Democracy, the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights, the Stockholm School of Theology and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. The idea was to create a meeting place between research and practice concerning Human Rights and to move Human Rights further up the political agenda.

Since 2004 the Swedish Forum for Human Rights takes place on an annual basis, the location alternating between Stockholm and another Swedish city every second year. Since 2007, a total of eleven organizations host the conference together.

In addition to the five founding organizations, Diakonia, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Sensus, the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights, the Church of Sweden and the Swedish Red Cross are all co-hosts of the Swedish Forum for Human Rights. Moreover, at each Swedish Forum for Human Rights conference, a large number of other organizations contribute as exhibitors and as organizers of seminars.