Swedish Prime Minister visits RWI in China

human rights China
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven greeted by Merethe Borge MacLeod, the head of RWI’s field office in Beijing.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven visited the Beijing field office of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law on 27 March. He met with Merethe Borge MacLeod, the head of RWI’s Beijing field office, as well as with Chinese human rights professors and students.

“We really appreciated this opportunity to introduce the Prime Minister to some of our excellent academic partners in China. RWI’s programme in China is fully financed by Swedish Development Cooperation, so it was good to be able to showcase our work directly to the Prime Minister,” says Borge MacLeod.

Kina Stefan Löfven
Explaining what it means to be a feminist government

The discussions between the Prime Minister and the Chinese professors and students centered around the importance of education in bridging inequalities, the need for an established Rule of Law to protect human rights, and the opportunities for cooperation on human rights challenges.

merethe“The Chinese scholars were particularly interested in Sweden’s reputation for gender equality, and had the chance to ask the Prime Minister about Sweden’s policies when it comes to equal pay, childcare arrangements and parental leave,” says Borge MacLeod.

The Prime Minister said that his government labels itself a feminist government because “there are structural differences built on the fact that men and women don’t get the same treatment.”

RWI has been working in China for almost 20 years. The Institute currently runs about 10 projects across China focusing on human rights education at universities, research on policy-relevant human rights topics such as disability and discrimination in employment, incorporation of human rights into the professional training of prosecutors and police, and better protection the human rights of juveniles going through criminal procedures.

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