Democracy and human rights

Discussions on the situation in Russia and how the EU should manage it, along with LGBTIQ issues, dominated the EU summit on 24–25 June. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and other EU leaders also addressed the COVID-19 situation and the economic recovery.

When the EU’s heads of state and government meet in Brussels on 24–25 June, they will discuss the economic situation in the EU, migration and a number of foreign policy issues. They will also look at activities related to COVID-19. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his colleagues will kick off the summit with a working lunch with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Webinar 28 May 2021, organised by the Academy of Finland project ‘Transparency in the EU – From Reaction to Manifesto’ (TrUE), Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights and in cooperation with the Open Government in the EU Blog Check against delivery

This material provides an overview of main areas of the Government policy on gender equality. It describes current political goals and strategies and gives a brief historical background to important reforms. It also identifies further remaining challenges and explains how the feminist Government is addressing these and what measures are taken in order to initiate change.

Special session of the General Assembly, United Nations, New York, 2–4 June 2021 Check against delivery

Discussions at the special meeting of the European Council on 24 May were dominated by the events in Belarus involving the forced landing of a passenger plane in Minsk to detain a journalist. The EU leaders also discussed the situation in Russia. On 25 May, discussions mainly centred on EU climate action and vaccine coordination.

The Government decided today to support the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in a case before the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning new rules to make the EU budget conditional on respect for the rule of law.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) is responsible for Sweden’s relations with other countries and international organisations, and for development cooperation policy and international trade policy. The MFA together with more than 100 missions abroad make up the Swedish Foreign Service. A mission abroad may be be an embassy, consulate-general, delegation or representation. The MFA is part of the Government Offices and is the largest ministry.

On 11 May 2021, the Swedish Government will join the international celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is the informal name of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

Speech by H.E. Mikael Damberg, Minister for Home Affairs, Sweden, in the Closing Session of the 2021 OSCE Counter-Terrorism Conference. The conference was held virtually, 21 April 2021.