Human rights

Scandinavian human rights lawyers are tasked with protecting and promoting the freedoms and rights of individuals. We offer legal expert assistance, conduct legal proceedings and participate in the public debate on human rights.
The fundamental principle behind human rights is that every human being is born free and that all human beings have exactly the same inviolable human value and rights. These rights are universal and apply to all people, regardless of country, culture and context. Human rights regulate the relationship between the state and individuals and limit the state’s power over the individual and establish certain obligations for the state towards the individual.

Human rights are part of international law and the rights are enshrined in various types of international agreements, conventions and protocols. We base our work on a few major governing documents: The European Convention on Human Rights, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Declaration with its conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Article 2: Right to life

We regularly represent clients who risk the death penalty in the event of deportation to their home country.

European Convention on Human Rights:

Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one
shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of
a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which
this penalty is provided by law.
Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in
contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force
which is no more than absolutely necessary:
(a) in defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape
of a person lawfully detained;
(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot
or insurrection.

Article 3: Prohibition of torture

We regularly represent clients who risk torture in the event of deportation to their home country. In recent years, we have submitted over 50 complaints to the UN Committee against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee.

Read current case

United Nations (U.N.) Committee against Torture, finds that Sweden violated the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, when decided to expel a convert from Afghanistan.

In its decision, The U.N. Committee against Torture, finds that Swedish migration authorities have failed in their obligation to make an individualized assessment of the personal and real risk that the complainant would face in Afghanistan. Failure to evaluate the evidence presented in the case, including his dissemination of the Christian message on social media, failure to take into account his cultural and educational background, failure to obtain and include in his assessment independent medical evidence of his health condition, failure to consider the evidence in combination and failure to correctly assess the answers from the applicant, especially the evidence that has been used to form the basis for the credibility assessment. According to the Committee, all these factors contributed to the decision.

Read the decision.

Article 4: Prohibition of slavery and forced labour

We regularly represent clients who have been victims of human trafficking and forced labour

Read case

Victims of human traffickingare granted asylum and international protectionin Sweden after 6 years of legal struggle

Scandinavian human rights lawyers represent Joy, who survived human trafficking for sexual purposes, and her little son. Joy was only 15 years old when she was sold as a sex slave to Greece. She was severely beaten, raped and forced to sell her body during horrific circumstances, guarded by five pimps around the clock. She became pregnant with one of the traffickers and fled to Sweden to seek asylum. In 2013, the Swedish Migration Agency decided to deport her and her little son despite the enormous risk of re-trafficking. After we lost the case in several proceedings in Swedish courts, we brought a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture(CAT)and claimed that the decision of expulsion constituted a violation of human rights and the Convention against Torture. Finally, the UN committee decided to stop deportation and now, after a renewed asylum investigation, the family has been granted asylum and international protection in Sweden.

*The names are feigned

Article 6: Right to a fair trial

We regularly represent clients at international human rights bodies to ensure a fair and law-abiding judicial process within a reasonable time.

European Convention on Human Rights:

In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interests of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.
Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.
Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:
(a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him;
(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;
(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require;
(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
(e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court.

Article 8: Right to respect for private and family life

We represent individuals whose right to respect for their private and family life has been violated by public authorities.

European Convention on Human Rights:

Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Read previous case

Dad wins lawsuit against Orust municipality

Chief Lawyer Ruth Nordström and Attorney Jörgen Olson have represented a father, Olof Hulling, whose son, at the age of two, acquired a brain injury due to a malpractice and overdose of morphine in connection with a surgery. Orust municipality has since then decided to medicate the son against the father's will and in violation of an agreement that the medication would be discontinued if it was not beneficial to the son. The Orust municipality has been.

Article 9: Freedom of though, conscience and religion

We represent clients whose right to freedom of thought, conscience and / or religion has been violated.

European Convention on Human Rights:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

The case of Ellinor Grimmark against Sweden in the European Court of Justice

The case of Ellinor Grimmark against Sweden in the European Court of Justice The Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers represent the midwife Ellinor Grimmark, who was denied work as a midwife at maternity clinics at several hospitals in the Jönköping Region because she, due to her conscience and deep religious convictions, can not perform abortions or any act that in her opinion extinguishes human life.

Article 10: Freedom of expression

We represent clients whoright to freedom of expression has been violated.

European Convention on Human Rights:

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

Read previous case: Mostafa

The UN Committee on Human Rights stops deportation

The UN Human Rights Committee has decided to stop the deportation of Mostafa, who risks the death penalty and torture during deportation to Afghanistan, because he converted from Islam to Christianity. Mostafa has tattooed JESUS and a cross on his neck. The Swedish Migration Agency claims that Mostafa is not a Christian and that he can "easily" "hide" his tattoo in Afghanistan when he is deported there. We claim in the complaint that the decision to refuse Mostafa protection under the Aliens Act was manifestly arbitrary and a denial of justice and in violation of the provisions on the prohibition of torture and the right to religious freedom and expression in the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention.

Article 13: Right to an effective remedy

We represent clients at international bodies, in cases where there is a lack of an effective national remedy.

European Convention on Human Rights:

Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in this Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.

Article 14: Prohibition of discrimination

We represent clients whose rights and opportunities have been violated because of their religion or other beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, disability, or age.

European Convention on Human Rights:

The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

According to Article 14 of the European Convention, the freedoms and rights enshrined in the European Convention must be guaranteed to everyone without discrimination on grounds of sex, race, color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, affiliation to national minority, wealth, birth or position in general. Equal cases should be treated equally. The article does not imply a general prohibition of discrimination, but it does prohibit discrimination in the treatment of the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the European Convention. The article is thus applied in conjunction with any of the other freedoms and rights and not as an independent basis.

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