Scandinavian Human Dignity Award 2017 to the Swedish Salvation Army for their work against trafficking in human beings

         

Members of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee together with the award winners. Photographer: Johan Rudén

On November 22, the Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers and the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee awarded the Swedish Salvation Army with the Scandinavian Human Dignity Award. The award was given to the managers of the Salvation Army's sheltered housing for women exposed to trafficking, abuse and exploitation. The award ceremony took place in the Salvation Army's headquarters in Stockholm, with the presence of women and children living in the shelters of the Salvation Army.

- In recent years, Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers have collaborated with the shelters of the Salvation Army and closely monitored how the practical relief efforts contribute to the protection, support and restoration of some of the society's most vulnerable. The Salvation Army also works with preventive efforts by spreading information and raising awareness about the issue and has developed a very good educational material. They also conduct outreach activities, which is very important, as many victims of trafficking do not dare to report the crimes they have been exposed to, the police. We are very pleased about the cooperation with the Salvation Army and to be able to award the managers of the shelters for victims of human trafficking with the Scandinavian Human Dignity Award 2017, said Ruth Nordström, Senior Legal Counsel and Chairman of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee.

- The Salvation Army comes into contact with human trafficking daily through its extensive social work and through a national support program, the vulnerable victims of trafficking and violence and their families are accommodated in housing. Trafficking in human beings is the slavery of our time and constitute serious violations of a number of human rights, where women and children are particularly vulnerable victims. The Salvation Army's efforts to protect vulnerable victims of trafficking in human beings and to strengthen their hope and belief in the future, give them confidence and promote their rights and freedoms, are highly honorable, said Rebecca Ahlstrand, lawyer and member of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee.

-In my work to help the prostitutes on Malmskillnadsgatan, I meet the vulnerable of society, and I have been exposed to sexual abuse and sold to prostitution myself. When I received the prize in 2013, I was deeply moved to see the statue, which showed a broken man who rises to his full human dignity. I felt it was my life that was symbolized. The Salvation Army's work, which is unique, is based on the value of all human beings. The Scandinavian Human Dignity Award symbolizes their work to give people an established human worth, said Elise Lindqvist, member of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committée.

Members of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee are: Senior Legal Counsel, Ruth Nordström, President, Professor Reinhold Fahlbeck, Professor Kjell O Leijon, Elise Lindqvist, the “Angel in Malmskillnadsgatan” (the prostitution street of Stockholm), Johan Rudén, Education Advisor, Rebecca Ahlstrand, Lawyer, and Marianne Lidskog, Deacon and former Diplomat.

In 2013, Elise Lindqvist, the “Angel in Malmskillnadsgatan” (the prostitution street of Stockholm) received award. Year 2014, the prize ceremony was held in the European Parliament in Brussels and awarded to the Council of Europe's Trafficking Report, José Mendes Bota, at a seminar about trafficking and the Swedish sex purchase law. The Scandinavian Human Dignity Award 2015 was awarded Lars Adaktusson at a parliamentary seminar with the theme: "There is a genocide in the Middle East - What are we doing about it?"

The 2016 winner of prize was Dr. Denis Mukwege, chief physician at Panzis Hospital in east DR Congo, where tens of thousands of women and children, exposed to sexual violence, have received care. Dr. Mukwege is world-renowned for his work for raped and sexually abused women and he has challenged both the UN and the international community and has become a spokesperson for war victims in Congo.

For more information, see: http://humanrightslawyers.eu/scandinavian-human-dignity-award/

For more info contact:

Senior Legal Counsel Ruth Nordström
Phone: +46 (0)18 - 750 52 11
Mobile +46 (0)70 - 725 19 17
E-mail: info@shrl.eu
Web: www.shrl.eu

Kremena Hultby and Carolina Nilsson, Salvation Army´s managers of the shelters for victims of human trafficking. Photographer: Johan Rudén

Swedish Salvation Army´s Chief Secretary Kjell Olausson, receiving the Scandinavian Human Dignity Award together with the managers of the shelters for victims of human trafficking. Photographer: Johan Rudén

Elise Lindqvist, the Angel in Malmskillnadsgatan (the prostitution street of Stockholm), Rebecca Ahlstrand, lawyer, and Ruth Nordström, president of the Scandinavian Human Rights Committee. Photographer: Johan Rudén

Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers is a Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights and human dignity in Scandinavia and Europe. Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers implements an effective strategy of advocacy, networking and education on legal issues.

Human trafficking, sexual abuse and violence - how can we cooperate to make a change?

Press release November 10, 2017

Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers
Nov 10, 2017 - PRESS RELEASE
Phone:  +46 (0) 18 – 750 52 11 / Email: info@shrl.eu

Human trafficking, sexual abuse and violence - how can we cooperate to make a change?

On November 9, representatives from Uppsala University, the police authority, lawyers, researchers and NGO:s will gathered for a conference at Uppsala Concert and Congress Hall. The conference was part of an EU project called Pro Victims Justice through an Enhanced Rights Protection and Stakeholders Cooperation. 
 
The presentations from the seminar can be watched here: https://media.medfarm.uu.se/play/video/7425
Pictures from the seminar here

 

Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers is a Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights and human dignity in Scandinavia and Europe. Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers implements an effective strategy of advocacy, networking and education on legal issues.

Trafficking Case - Savka

WHEN SAVKA* WAS 15 years old she was forced by her father to marry a man who used drugs and was aggressive. After some time, she gave birth to a daughter who died after two months. She left her husband and returned to her father who sold her to a man in Sweden after one week’s time. When Savka refused to go she was abused by her father.

SHORTLY AFTERWARDS THREE men came and took her by force from her home country in South Eastern Europe to a town in the western part of Sweden. She was locked in during two months and was abused several times before she was taken to an apartment in the central parts of Sweden, owned by the man she was sold to. In his apartment she was raped many times by that man and his father before she managed to escape.

AFTER HER ESCAPE, Savka applied for asylum and the Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers were appointed as her public counsels. Despite coming to Sweden as a victim of human trafficking, the Swedish Migration Board decided to deny her application for protection.

SAVKA'S APPEALS WERE also rejected. She was banned from returning to to Sweden and the case was handed over to the police authorities for execution.

* Savka is really called something else.

Human trafficking, sexual abuse and violence - how can we cooperate to make a change?

The #MeToo campaign has spread throughout the world and raised a huge debate, even in Sweden. How can we support and protect victims of sexual abuse, domestic and honor-related violence and human trafficking? How can stakeholders cooperate to make a change?

On November 9, representatives from Uppsala University, the police authority, lawyers, researchers and NGO:s will gather for a conference at Uppsala Concert and Congress. Even Elise Lindqvist - The Angel on Malmskillnadsgatan, the prostitution street of Stockholm, will participate.
The conference is part of an EU project, funded by the EU Commission, called Pro Victims Justice through an Enhanced Rights Protection and Stakeholders Cooperation, in collaboration with UFOLD, Uppsala University, Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers, Landespräventionsrat Niedersachen am Justizministerium Niedersachen, Germany, Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria, Uniunea Nationala a Barourilor your Romania, Romania, and ASOCIATA PRO REFUGIU, Romania.
Note: Limited number of seats, only a few places left. Sign up for your interest in the conference at info@shrl.eu
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