UNHCR tops the bill at Human Rights Days

The Swedish Forum for Human Rights at Kulturhuset in Stockholm 14-15 November attracted more than 2000 students and representatives from academia, civil society, government, authorities, municipalities and media. A jamboree of ideas and debate under the overall heading "Unlimited rights? Migration, citizenship and human rights". UNHCR participated in force.

Cold and dark outside. Hospitable and enlightened inside. Stockholm House of Culture was bubbling with human rights debates and UNHCR was everywhere to be seen. At the opening, keynote speaker Barbara Hendricks, Honorary Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, stressed that human rights begin at home, in everyday relations, and that political opportunism too often stands in the way of action.

Participants next had a choice of parallel seminars to attend and people queued to hear about the forgotten global problem of statelessness and the continued relevance of the 60 year old Refugee Convention – UNHCR’s two selected topics.

- Statelessness affects an estimated 12 million people and has a terrible impact on the lives of individuals. Possession of nationality is needed for full participation in society and a precondition for the enjoyment of the full range of human rights, explained Mirna Adjami, statelessness expert from UNHCR’s Headquarters in Geneva.

The problems relating to determination, protection and reduction of statelessness raised many questions among the public. For many people the issue of statelessness was relatively new. The fact that so many people are affected raised concern. UNHCR has had the mandate to protect the rights of stateless persons since 1954. This year is the 50^th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Hans Corell: “If human rights were respected there would be no refugees”

The second seminar organized by UNHCR discussed the continued relevance of the 60-year old refugee convention.

- Few persons are satisfied with the Refugee Convention, said Liv Feijen, researcher at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Feijen stressed the importance of the historical context in which the convention was created, after the Second World War. - It does not take into account new challenges, such as people fleeing within their country’s own borders or people forced to move due to climate change, Feijen explained, but the Convention has proven to be a flexible and relevant tool for the protection of displaced for the last six decades.

Ambassador Hans Corell, former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of United Nations, also stressed the continued importance of the Convention. He argued that it should not be redrafted or abolished and referred to important supplements such as the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Corell stressed that if human rights were respected in the first place, there would be no refugees.

Hanne Mathisen, UNHCR Stockholm, outlined the challenges posed by internal and external displacement caused by climate change and the different legal and institutional responses need in cases of sudden and slow onset. The newly formulated Nansen Principles will be helpful in this regard.

During the two days Swedish Forum on Human Rights, UNHCR staff discussed refugee issues with persons visiting the exhibition square at Kulturhuset. UNHCR was one of 100 organizations displaying its work with human rights. In UNHCR’s exhibition booth people gained more knowledge about UNHCR’s work to protect refugees and stateless persons, and they also had the opportunity to taste emergency food, participate in a quiz and sign up for our Baltic and Nordic Headlines newsletter.

Per Anger Human Rights Award

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Barbara Hendricks gave a mesmerizing performance during the award ceremony of the Swedish Government’s Per Anger prize, a prize awarded for humanitarian work and initiatives in the name of democracy. This year’s prize was awarded to Iranian Narges Mohammadi for her courage while struggling for human rights in Iran.

The Swedish Forum for Human Rights (in Swedish known as Mänskliga rättighetsdagarna or MR-dagarna) is the largest and most important meeting place in the Nordic countries for people working with or interested in human rights issues. This year’s programme was packed with debates, seminars and film screenings and took place at Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

« back