RESEARCH INITIATIVE: HUMAN RIGHTS IN SWEDEN AT LOCAL LEVEL

Many researchers at Uppsala University work with issues of Human Rights. Many ofour researchers also contribute to teaching on human rights both at the university and at various external events. We want to see knowledge of this research reaching more people, being communicated to wider society and being put to practical use. The field of human rights is, in itself interdisciplinary and a number of researchers at this broad university are involved in research which directly or indirectly has to do with human rights. At the Centre for multidisciplinary research on religion and society (CRS) we have therefore chosen to initiate a research network which focuses on Human rights at local level in Sweden. Within this initiative we are working with seminars, research and collaboration.

The following are examples of questions we are working with: How do human rights relate to the realisation of local government? What impact do conventions and national legislation have in the 21 regions and 290 local authorities which are responsible for the implementation of human rights? The realisation of the public mission is facing new challenges at local level, as a result of globalisation and internationalisation, but also as a result of an altered political culture and unclear boundaries between the private and the public. The decentralised Sweden (local authorities and regions) are de facto the Sweden which to the largest extent is responsible for realising these rights. But this part of the public sector is not built to bring about individual human rights, but is rather by its very nature more focused on prioritising the public and being of value for society at large.

The role of the public authorities is today more multifaceted and pluralistic in its nature, which becomes visible at local level. The realisation of human rights changes. Today it happens based on new parameters which did not exist when Sweden, for example, implemented the European convention in the mid 1990s.

This development actualises important ethical, legal and political considerations. How society responds to these questions influences how we understand democracy and the realisation of the constitutional state, but also how the legitimacy is expressed in the meeting between individual, collective and the public.

For more information on the initiative and activities organised by the network contact coordinator Victoria Enkvist, Department of Law, Uppsala university (victoria.enkvist@jur.uu.se) eller Anna Sara Lind, Scientific leader at CRS (anna-sara.lind@jur.uu.se).