On June 3rd, Justice Initiative organised a high-level conference in Stockholm, attended by numerous prominent figures. During the opening ceremony, Guido Fluri discussed how Switzerland’s process of confronting its past has brought about social change.
Only comprehensive processing can break the wall of silence, the founder of the Justice Initiative emphasised in his keynote speech. Attendees showed great interest in both the Swiss reparation initiative and the Council of Europe resolution, the latter of which was made possible by the political work of the Guido Fluri Foundation’s Justice Initiative.
Ylva Johansson, one of Sweden’s best-known politicians, opened the event. Johansson held various ministerial posts in several Swedish governments before becoming Commissioner for Home Affairs. In this role, she has worked tirelessly to protect children. She explained that in her country, attention to past crimes is unevenly distributed. While everyone talks about gang crime involving bombings and shootings, too little is said about abuse because it is a ‘silent crime’.
The urgent need for action by Swedish politicians was also highlighted by Minna, Saga and Scharliina, who shared their experiences of abuse in Finland and Sweden. Scharityna, who suffered serious abuse as a child, said that she had not yet received justice or support in Sweden.
Juno Blom, Sweden’s children’s ombudsman, appeared visibly moved. She emphasised that more needs to be done for children in Sweden. She announced that she would launch an investigation into the authorities’ handling of abuse cases, asking survivors what had helped them in their fight against abuse or in coming to terms with their traumatic experiences, and what had been lacking so far. Minna Ljunggren, State Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs, also emphasised that sexual violence against children is completely unacceptable, and that new laws are being introduced to enable social services to intervene promptly in cases of suspected abuse. Other speakers included Paulina Brandberg, former Swedish Minister for Gender Equality.
After the opening session, Eva Díaz Bethencourt, a specialist and human rights lawyer at Protect Children, presented the voices and wisdom of 850 Swedish-speaking victims and survivors of childhood sexual violence who participated in the Global Our Voice Survivor Survey for the first time. Most of the victims suffered abuse during childhood and many have never spoken about it. Consequently, the perpetrators are never brought to justice. Almost 70% of those interviewed reported that they had received no support from the state or society.
To conclude, a panel discussion was held where leaders of child protection organisations in Sweden explored how to join forces to prevent and end child sexual abuse and exploitation in the Nordic countries. The panellists were Elise Thoen (Head of Policy and Programmes at ChildX), Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist (Secretary General for ECPAT Sverige), Joel Borgström (Senior Programme Advisor, Child Protection at the World Childhood Foundation) and Elin Wernquist (Secretary General of Barnrättsbryrån).
