Countries That Care the Most About Human Rights - Sweden

              The third and last text about the countries that recognized the importance of human rights is a tribute to Sweden. This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at    https://sweden.se/society/sweden-and-human-rights/. The second was published at   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Sweden

              Sweden and human rights have a long history. In 1766, Sweden became the first country to introduce freedom of the press. Today, human rights are central to Swedish foreign policy. Sweden aspires to be a clear voice for human rights around the world, not just in words but also in actions. To the Sweden government, the respect of human rights is not just a foreign policy goal in itself, but also a means for global development and security. Human Rights largely begin at home. As Sweden strives to walk its talk, it is important to ensure that the values promoted abroad are upheld at home. Therefore, Sweden's promotional work on human rights centres mainly on areas where Sweden is at the forefront. For the period of 2017-2018, Sweden was a member of the U.N. Security Council, promoting international peace and security as well as the Swedish view on democracy, human rights, gender equality and development. In 2008, the Swedish government chose eight prioritised areas in its foreign policy work for human rights: 1) Build democracy - With millions of people still living in dictatorships, Sweden wants to strengthen public opinion in favour of democracy, support the work of NGOs and establish better ties with democratic states. 2) Strengthen freedom of expression - Sweden believes freedom of expression is a moral necessity and a practical tool in the fight for human rights. 3) Abolish the death penalty. 4) Combat torture. 5) Combat summary executions and arbitrary detention. 6) Protect the rule of law. 7) Protect human rights and international humanitarian law ) Sweden works actively with the goal that all states, large and small, should respect international law. 8) Fight discrimination - In many countries, large groups of people receive far from equal treatment. The Swedish government wants to direct special attention to the rights of women, children and people with disabilities.   Human rights must be embraced at grass-roots level. In Sweden, plenty of NGOs as well as individual activists are involved in the advancement of human rights. Among the Swedish organisations active both at home and abroad is Civil Rights Defenders. Which works to empower human rights activists at risk. Sweden works actively to reduce the digital gap in the world, to make sure that more people have internet access.. Sweden's stance is that access to the internet makes it possible for people to fully exercise their rights to freedom o expression and opinion. States have a responsibility to ensure that internet access is broadly available, and should not unreasonably restrict an individual's internet access. 

            Human rights in Sweden are largely protected in their constitution and ratified international law. Sweden regards itself as a global leader in protecting and advocating human rights. According to the Ministry of foreign affairs, their position on human rights is strongly linked to democracy and the rule of law. Sweden's protection of asylum seekers and refugees has historically been viewed as progressive and ambitious. They received the largest number of refugees and asylum seekers per capita among the countries in the OECD.